Topic 2 - Operetta and America Flashcards
Includes Operetta and details of minstrel shows.
Why was imported work from Italy simplified when translated in America?
A lot of works imported from Italy were modified because translation in polyphonic texture became to difficult in language.
Minstrel Shows (origin)
Representation of black people played by white people, this was exploited and black people almost never make it onto the stage. - ‘Blackface’
Charles Matthews: Minstrel Shows
He studied mannerisms and behaviour; then imitated and exaggerated this when performing in ‘black-face.’
Who was Ed Christy, what did he develop…
Developed distinctive conventions of minstrel shows: which were divided into 3 contrasting acts.
Both instrumentalists and performers are swapping jokes about the ‘master of ceremonies’ in the middle of the circle.
Stephen Foster - Camptown Races
He used less dialect, taken from plantation songs.
Costuming in Minstrel shows?
- Long blue coats
- Striped shirts
- White trousers
What are the 3 different acts in minstrel shows?
Act 1: Song & Dance skits, choral singing and ended in a walk-around or cake-walk (the winner gets a cake shoved in their face = comedy)
Act 2: ‘olio’ or fantasia sequence which was extended specialities of odd instruments or female imitation and satire
Act 3: Operas, plays and politics at the time were ‘burlesqued.’
What is act 1 in a minstrel show?
Act 1: Song & Dance skits, choral singing and ended in a walk-around or cake-walk (the winner gets a cake shoved in their face = comedy)
What is act 2 in a minstrel show?
Act 2: ‘olio’ or fantasia sequence which was extended specialities of odd instruments or female imitation and satire
What is act 3 in a minstrel show?
Act 3: Operas, plays and politics at the time were ‘burlesqued.’
What was the music like in Minstrel shows?
Music was adapted from plantation songs from authentic african-american slaves. Including call&response. Song: Dixie Land
What is black-face?
a form of theatrical make-up used predominantly by non-black performers to represent a caricature of a black person.
What new American genres were developed in the later 19th Century? (5)
- Melodrama
- Extravaganza or spectacle
- Musical comedy - derived from opera bouffe
- Vaudeville, Variety show and Music hall - interchangeable terms
- Revue
What are the different types of Spectacles or extravaganzas
- Equestrian (horseback)
- Military-nautical (stage machines)
- Burlesque (girls, dance)
- Fairy (Animals, Magical)
- Romantic (Natural Disasters)
Why was Vaudeville, Music Hall and Variety shows so popular?
These types of shows had a ‘clean’ reputation as shows around the time were very negative and burlesque as developed in England.
