Schikaneder was both an actor and a producer in Vienna for a playhouse that traditionally catered to "lowbrow" audiences (Loomis 2). Mozart's brand of comedy was just the thing for Schikaneder's theater. But "lowbrow" was merely one aspect of Mozart Continue Reading...
For example, the scene in which Andrea stands before the statue of Marat and sings "Credi al destino" fails to evoke for me any real sensation. Perhaps it is because, as Grout suggests, the opera is "laden with harmonies that are heavy and oldfashio Continue Reading...
Classical Symphony Music, like other forms of art, evolved from numerous traditions that, when taken together, formed a new way of thinking about, and performing, certain types of works. Audiences change over time, and certain musical compositions t Continue Reading...
As mentioned earlier on, the new political dispensation that took off is 1994 opened the "gates of creative possibility" (Roos,2010) for the opera producers since they were therefore able to juxtapose the Western and African art scenes. This was fue Continue Reading...
The key to his lust is easy -- voi sapete quell chef a (providing she wears a skirt). In other words, any female will do, as long as Giovanni can have the conquest. But this is too much for Leporello, and at the beginning of Act II he tells his mast Continue Reading...
On the other extreme, some held up Handel's music, especially his religious English oratorios, as the absolute embodiment of English musical style. As a result, English music and Handel in particular gained a false reputation on the European contine Continue Reading...
In fact, in 1968 Stanley Kubrick chose Strauss's tone poem "Also Sprach Zarathustra" as the theme music for the science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Strauss's inspiration for the tone poem also happened to be avant garde fellow German philoso Continue Reading...
