Revealing Masks: Exotic Influences and Ritualized Performance in Modernist Music Theater (California Studies in Twentieth Century Music)

W. Anthony Sheppard Considers A Wide-ranging Constellation Of Important Musical Works In This Fascinating Exploration Of Ritualized Performance In Twentieth-century Music. Revealing Masks Uncovers The Range Of Political, Didactic, And Aesthetic Intents That Inspired The Creators Of Modernist Music Theater. Sheppard Is Especially Interested In The Use Of The Exotic In Techniques Of Masking And Stylization, Identifying Japanese Noh, Medieval Christian Drama, And Ancient Greek Theater As The Most Prominent Exotic Models For The Creation Of Total Theater. Drawing On An Extraordinarily Diverse--and In Some Instances, Little-known--range Of Music Theater Pieces, Sheppard Cites The Work Of Igor Stravinsky, Benjamin Britten, Arthur Honegger, Peter Maxwell Davies, Harry Partch, And Leonard Bernstein, As Well As Andrew Lloyd Webber And Madonna. Artists In Literature, Theater, And Dance--such As William Butler Yeats, Paul Claudel, Bertolt Brecht, Isadora Duncan, Ida Rubenstein, And Edward Gordon Craig--also Play A Significant Role In This Study. Sheppard Poses Challenging Questions That Will Interest Readers Beyond Those In The Field Of Music Scholarship. For Example, What Is The Effect On The Audience And The Performers Of Depersonalizing Ritual Elements? Does Borrowing From Foreign Cultures Inevitably Amount To A Kind Of Predatory Appropriation? Revealing Masks Shows That Compositional Concerns And Cultural Themes Manifested In Music Theater Are Central To The History Of Twentieth-century Euro-american Music, Drama, And Dance. Defining Music Theater -- The Multiplicity Of The Exotic -- Ritual And Performance -- The Masks Of Modernism -- Freedom In A Tunic Versus Frieze-dried Classicism: Hellenism In Modernist Performance -- The Uses Of Noh -- Medievalism And The French Modernist Stage -- The Audience As Congregation -- Britten's Parables -- Later British Mysteries -- Orientalists And A Crusader -- Partch's Vision Of Integrated Corporeal Theater And Latter-day Rituals -- Bitter Rituals For A Lost Nation: Partch And Bernstein -- God In Popular Music(al) Theater -- Masking The Human And The Misogyny Of Masks -- Music Theater Now. W. Anthony Sheppard. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 323-338) And Index. W. Anthony Sheppard considers a wide-ranging constellation of important musical works in this fascinating exploration of ritualized performance in twentieth-century music. Revealing Masks uncovers the range of political, didactic, and aesthetic intents that inspired the creators of modernist music theater. Sheppard is especially interested in the use of the "exotic" in techniques of masking and stylization, identifying Japanese Noh, medieval Christian drama, and ancient Greek theater as the most prominent exotic models for the creation of "total theater."Drawing on an extraordinarily diverse -- and in some instances, little known -- range of music theater pieces, Sheppard cites the work of Igor Stravinsky, Benjamin Britten, Arthur Honegger, Peter Maxwell Davies, Harry Partch, and Leonard Bernstein, as well as Andrew Lloyd Webber and Madonna. Artists in literature, theater, and dance -- such as William Butler Yeats, Paul Claudel, Bertolt Brecht, Isadora Duncan, Ida Rubenstein, and Edward Gordon Craig -- also play a significant role in this study.Sheppard poses challenging questions that will interest readers beyond those in the field of music scholarship. For example, what is the effect on the audience and the performers of depersonalizing ritual elements? Does borrowing from foreign cultures inevitably amount to a kind of predatory appropriation? Revealing Masks shows that compositional concerns and cultural themes manifested in music theater are central to the history of twentieth-century Euro-American music, drama, and dance. Preliminaries......Page 1 Contents......Page 8 List of Illustrations......Page 10 Preface......Page 12 1 Defining Music Theater......Page 20 2 The Multiplicity of the Exotic......Page 27 3 Ritual and Performance......Page 32 4 The Masks of Modernism......Page 42 5 Freedom in a Tunic versus Frieze-Dried Classicism......Page 59 6 The Uses of Noh......Page 89 7 Medievalism and the French Modernist Stage......Page 113 8 The Audience as Congregation......Page 132 9 Britten’s Parables......Page 143 10 Later British Mysteries......Page 172 11 Orientalists and a Crusader......Page 186 12 Partch’s Vision of “Integrated Corporeal Theater” and “Latter-Day Rituals”......Page 197 13 Bitter Rituals for a Lost Nation: Partch and Bernstein......Page 221 14 God in Popular Music(al) Theater......Page 248 15 Masking the Human and the Misogyny of Masks......Page 260 16 Music Theater Now......Page 269 Appendices......Page 280 Notes......Page 286 Selected Bibliography......Page 340 Index......Page 356 W. Anthony Sheppard considers a wide-ranging constellation of important musical works in this exploration of ritualized performance in 20th-century music. 'Revealing Masks' uncovers the range of political, didactic, and aesthetic intents that inspired the creators of modernist music theatre Although reports of opera's death have been greatly exaggerated, interest was indeed focused on other genres for much of the twentieth century.