Britten's Musical Language (Music in the Twentieth Century, Series Number 17)

"Blending insights from linguistic and social theories of speech, ritual, and narrative with music-analytic and historical criticism, Britten's Musical Language offers fresh perspectives on the composer's fusion of verbal and musical utterance in opera and song. It provides close interpretative studies of the major scores (including Peter Grimes, Billy Budd, The Turn of the Screw, War Requiem, Curlew River, and Death in Venice) and explores Britten's ability to fashion complex and mysterious symbolic dramas from the interplay of texted song and a wordless discourse of motives and themes. Focusing on the performative and social basis of language, rather than on traditional notions of textual 'expression' in vocal music, Philip Rupprecht pursues topics such as the role of naming and hate speech in Peter Grimes; the disturbance of ritual certainty in the War Requiem; and the codes by which childish 'innocence' is enacted in The Turn of the Screw."--Publisher's description Blending insights from linguistic and social theories of speech, ritual and narrative with music-analytic and historical criticism, Britten's Musical Language offers interesting perspectives on the composer's fusion of verbal and musical utterance in opera and song. It provides close interpretative studies of the major scores (including Peter Grimes, Billy Budd, The Turn of the Screw, War Requiem, Curlew River and Death in Venice) and explores Britten's ability to fashion complex and mysterious symbolic dramas from the interplay of texted song and a wordless discourse of motives and themes. Focusing on the performative and social basis of language, Philip Rupprecht replaces traditional notions of textual'expression'in opera with the interpretation of topics such as the role of naming and hate speech in Peter Grimes; the disturbance of ritual certainty in the War Requiem; and the codes by which childish'innocence'is enacted in The Turn of the Screw. Frontmatter Acknowledgments (page ix) 1 Introduction: Britten's musical language (page 1) 2 Peter Grimes: The force of operatic utterance (page 32) 3 Motive and narrative in Billy Budd (page 75) 4 The Turn of the Screw: innocent performance (page 138) 5 Rituals: the War Requiem and Curlew River (page 187) 6 Subjectivity and perception in Death in Venice (page 245) Notes (page 297) Bibliography (page 337) Index (page 352) Focusing on the performative and social basis of language, rather than on traditional notions of textual "expression" in vocal music, Philip Rupprecht pursues topics such as the role of naming and hate speech in Peter Grimes; the disturbance of ritual certainty in the War Requiem; and the codes by which childish "innocence" is enacted in The Turn of the Screw."--Jacket Philip Rupprecht. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 337-351) And Index. Music, like speech, begins in the moment of utterance.