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{{short description|Experimental performance genre}}
{{About|music theatre in the tradition of the 1960s avant-garde|musicals and musical comedy in the tradition of Broadway|Musical theatre{{!}}Musical theatre}} {{About|music theatre in the tradition of the 1960s avant-garde|musicals and musical comedy in the tradition of Broadway and the West End|Musical theatre{{!}}Musical theatre}}
'''Music theatre''' is a performance genre that emerged over the course of the 20th century, in opposition to more conventional genres like ] and ]. The term came to prominence in the 1960s and 1970s to describe an avant-garde approach to instrumental and vocal composition that included non-sonic gesture, movement, costume and other visual elements within the score. Unlike operas, these compositions (such as ]’s ''Aventures'' (1962), ]’s ''Match'' (1964) and ]’s ''Eight Songs for a Mad King'' (1968)) were intended to be performed on a concert hall stage, potentially as part of a longer programme of pieces. '''Music theatre''' is a performance genre that emerged over the course of the 20th century, in opposition to more conventional genres like ] and ].{{sfn|Salzman|Desi|2008|p=5}}{{sfn|Rebstock|2017|p=528}} The term came to prominence in the 1960s and 1970s to describe an ] approach to instrumental and vocal composition that included non-sonic gesture, movement, costume and other visual elements within the score.{{sfn|Clements|2001}} These compositions (such as ]’s ''Aventures'' (1962), ]’s ''Match'' (1964) and ]’s '']'' (1968)) were intended to be performed on a concert hall stage, potentially as part of a longer programme of pieces.{{sfn|Hall|2015|pp=4–5}}
__TOC__
⚫ Since the 1980s, the term music theatre has come to include any live project that uses the techniques and theories of ] and performance art to experiment with new ways of combining music and theatre; this has been extended to include some of the historical works that influenced the music theatre of the 1960s, such as ]'s '']'' (1912), ]'s '']'' (1918) and ]'s '']'' (1927).{{sfn|Rebstock|2017|pp=527–531}}{{sfn|Hall|2015|p=4}}{{efn|The composer ] wrote, "I believed that new forms of Music Theatre, created by ourselves and like-minded friends, would only succeed if I could find a pedigree of existing related repertoire to perform along with the new pieces." {{harvnb|Hall|2015|p=x}}}} The unconventional scale and unfamiliar aesthetic language of this work often positions it outside of the established traditions, institutions and discourses of opera and musical theatre. For this reason, the genre has also been called '''new music theatre'''<ref>{{harvnb|Adlington|2019|pp=1–11}}</ref> and '''experimental music theatre'''.<ref>{{harvnb|Bithell|2013}}</ref>


⚫ Music theatre projects are often composer-led, with the composer deciding many elements of the text, staging and design which would usually be determined by a librettist, director or designer.{{sfn|Rebstock|Roesner|2012|p=21}} Examples of key music theatre artists who compose and direct their work include ] and ].{{sfn|Rebstock|2017|p=539}} Some music theatre artists, such as ], ] and ], also perform their own work.{{sfn|Rebstock|2017|p=561}} Other directors of music theatre include ] and ], and some pieces are created collectively by performance companies such as Poland's Song of the Goat and Germany's Die Maulwerker.{{sfn|Rebstock|2017|p=536, 538}}
⚫ Since the 1980s, the term ‘music theatre’ has come to include any live project that uses the techniques and theories of avant-garde theatre and performance art to experiment with new ways of combining music and theatre; this has been extended to include some of the historical works which influenced the music theatre of the 1960s, such as ]’s ''Pierrot Lunaire'' (1912), ]’s ''L’Histoire du soldat'' (1918) and ]’s ''Mahagonny Songspiel'' (1927). The unconventional scale and unfamiliar aesthetic language of this work often positions it outside of the established traditions, institutions and discourses of opera and musical theatre. For this reason, the genre has also been called '''new music theatre''' and '''experimental music theatre'''.


⚫ The validity of music theatre as a genre distinct from opera and musical theatre varies according to the national context.{{sfn|Salzman|Desi|2008|p=4}}{{sfn|Rebstock|2017|p=529}} In some countries, like Germany and Belgium, the concept is widely understood and supported by a dedicated infrastructure of festivals, venues and funding bodies; in other countries, it is wholly subsumed within opera, theatre or performance art, or else banished to a marginal status beyond categorisation.{{sfn|Rebstock|2017|p=545}} Nevertheless, a renewed compositional interest in non-sonic, theatrical and "performative" elements from 21st century composers such as ], ] and ] has led to a resurgence in interest in the genre and its history.{{sfn|Adlington|2019|p=6}}{{sfn|Walshe|2016|p=5}}{{sfn|Shlomowitz|2018|p=72}}
⚫ Music theatre projects are often composer-led, with the composer deciding many elements of the text, staging and design which would usually be determined by a librettist, director or designer. Examples of key music theatre artists who compose and direct their work include ], ] and Ruedi Häusermann. Some music theatre artists, such as ], ] and ], also perform their own work. However, not all music theatre artists are composers. Some, like ] and ], are predominantly directors; others create work as part of an ensemble or collective of artists, such as Song of the Goat and Die Maulwerker.


==Notes==
⚫ The validity of music theatre as a genre distinct from opera and musicals varies according to the national context. In some countries, like Germany and Belgium, the concept is widely understood and supported by a dedicated infrastructure of festivals, venues and funding bodies; in other countries, it is wholly subsumed within opera, theatre or performance art, or else banished to a marginal status beyond categorisation. Nevertheless, a renewed compositional interest in non-sonic, theatrical and ‘performative’ elements from 21st century composers such as Johannes Kreidler, ] and ] has led to a resurgence in interest in the genre and its history.
{{notelist}}


===Sources=== == References ==
{{Reflist}}
* {{cite book |last=Adlington|first=Robert|editor-last=Cooke|editor-first=Mervyn|title=The Cambridge Companion to Twentieth-Century Opera|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=2005|pages=223–243|chapter=Chapter 14: Music theatre since the 1960s|isbn=0-521-78009-8}}

===Bibliography===
* {{cite book|editor-last=Adlington|editor-first=Robert|year=2019|title=New Music Theatre in Europe: Transformations between 1955–1975|location=Abingdon|publisher=Routledge}} * {{cite book|editor-last=Adlington|editor-first=Robert|year=2019|title=New Music Theatre in Europe: Transformations between 1955–1975|location=Abingdon|publisher=Routledge}}
* {{cite Grove|title = Experimental music theater|last = Bithell|first = David|year = 2013|id=A2240884}}
* {{cite Grove|title = Music theatre|last = Clements|first = Andrew|year = 2001|id=19452}}
* {{cite book|last=Hall|first=Michael|year=2015|title=Music Theatre in Britain 1960–1975|location=Woodbridge|publisher=The Boydell Press|isbn=978-1-78327-012-5}} * {{cite book|last=Hall|first=Michael|year=2015|title=Music Theatre in Britain 1960–1975|location=Woodbridge|publisher=The Boydell Press|isbn=978-1-78327-012-5}}
* {{cite book|last1=Salzman|first1=Eric|last2=Desi|first2=Thomas|year=2008|title=The New Music Theater: Seeing the Voice, Hearing the Body|location=New York|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-509936-2}} * {{cite book|editor-last1=Rebstock|editor-first1=Matthias|editor-last2=Roesner|editor-first2=David|year=2012|title=Composed Theatre: Aesthetics, Practices, Processes|location=Bristol|publisher=Intellect|isbn=978-1-84150-456-8}}
* {{cite book |last=Rebstock|first=Matthias|editor-last=Brauneck|editor-first=Manfred|title=Independent Theatre in Contemporary Europe: Structures–Aesthetics–Cultural Policy|location=Bielefeld|publisher=transcript|date=2017|pages=523–573|chapter=Varieties of Independent Music Theatre in Europe|isbn=978-3-8376-3243-9}}
* {{cite book|last1=Salzman|first1=Eric|last2=Desi|first2=Thomas|author-link=Eric Salzman|year=2008|title=The New Music Theater: Seeing the Voice, Hearing the Body|location=New York|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-509936-2}}
* {{cite journal |last=Shlomowitz |first=Matthew |author-link=Matthew Shlomowitz|date=July 2018 |title=Where Are We Now?|journal=]|volume=72 |issue=285 |pages=70–73 |doi=10.1017/S0040298218000116|s2cid=233361685 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Walshe |first=Jennifer |author-link=Jennifer Walshe|date=May 2016 |title=The New Discipline |journal={{ill|MusikTexte|de}}: Zeitschrift für Neue Musik |volume=149 |pages=3–25}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|last=Roesner|first=David|year=2014|title=Musicality in Theatre: Music as Model, Method and Metaphor in Theatre-Making|location=Farnham|publisher=Ashgate|isbn=978-1-4094-6101-2|ref=none}}
* {{cite book|editor-last1=Symonds|editor-first1=Dominic|editor-last2=Taylor|editor-first2=Millie|year=2014|title=Gestures of Music Theater: The Performativity of Song and Dance|location=Oxford|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-999716-9|ref=none}}


] ]
]
]
]

Latest revision as of 18:15, 3 October 2024

Experimental performance genre This article is about music theatre in the tradition of the 1960s avant-garde. For musicals and musical comedy in the tradition of Broadway and the West End, see Musical theatre.

Music theatre is a performance genre that emerged over the course of the 20th century, in opposition to more conventional genres like opera and musical theatre. The term came to prominence in the 1960s and 1970s to describe an avant-garde approach to instrumental and vocal composition that included non-sonic gesture, movement, costume and other visual elements within the score. These compositions (such as György Ligeti’s Aventures (1962), Mauricio Kagel’s Match (1964) and Peter Maxwell Davies’s Eight Songs for a Mad King (1968)) were intended to be performed on a concert hall stage, potentially as part of a longer programme of pieces.

Since the 1980s, the term music theatre has come to include any live project that uses the techniques and theories of avant-garde theatre and performance art to experiment with new ways of combining music and theatre; this has been extended to include some of the historical works that influenced the music theatre of the 1960s, such as Arnold Schoenberg's Pierrot lunaire (1912), Igor Stravinsky's L'Histoire du soldat (1918) and Kurt Weill's Mahagonny-Songspiel (1927). The unconventional scale and unfamiliar aesthetic language of this work often positions it outside of the established traditions, institutions and discourses of opera and musical theatre. For this reason, the genre has also been called new music theatre and experimental music theatre.

Music theatre projects are often composer-led, with the composer deciding many elements of the text, staging and design which would usually be determined by a librettist, director or designer. Examples of key music theatre artists who compose and direct their work include Georges Aperghis and Heiner Goebbels. Some music theatre artists, such as Laurie Anderson, Meredith Monk and Robert Ashley, also perform their own work. Other directors of music theatre include Robert Wilson and Christoph Marthaler, and some pieces are created collectively by performance companies such as Poland's Song of the Goat and Germany's Die Maulwerker.

The validity of music theatre as a genre distinct from opera and musical theatre varies according to the national context. In some countries, like Germany and Belgium, the concept is widely understood and supported by a dedicated infrastructure of festivals, venues and funding bodies; in other countries, it is wholly subsumed within opera, theatre or performance art, or else banished to a marginal status beyond categorisation. Nevertheless, a renewed compositional interest in non-sonic, theatrical and "performative" elements from 21st century composers such as Simon Steen-Andersen, Johannes Kreidler and Jennifer Walshe has led to a resurgence in interest in the genre and its history.

Notes

  1. The composer Alexander Goehr wrote, "I believed that new forms of Music Theatre, created by ourselves and like-minded friends, would only succeed if I could find a pedigree of existing related repertoire to perform along with the new pieces." Hall 2015, p. x

References

  1. Salzman & Desi 2008, p. 5.
  2. Rebstock 2017, p. 528.
  3. Clements 2001.
  4. Hall 2015, pp. 4–5.
  5. Rebstock 2017, pp. 527–531.
  6. Hall 2015, p. 4.
  7. Adlington 2019, pp. 1–11
  8. Bithell 2013
  9. Rebstock & Roesner 2012, p. 21.
  10. Rebstock 2017, p. 539.
  11. Rebstock 2017, p. 561.
  12. Rebstock 2017, p. 536, 538.
  13. Salzman & Desi 2008, p. 4.
  14. Rebstock 2017, p. 529.
  15. Rebstock 2017, p. 545.
  16. Adlington 2019, p. 6.
  17. Walshe 2016, p. 5.
  18. Shlomowitz 2018, p. 72.

Bibliography

Further reading

  • Roesner, David (2014). Musicality in Theatre: Music as Model, Method and Metaphor in Theatre-Making. Farnham: Ashgate. ISBN 978-1-4094-6101-2.
  • Symonds, Dominic; Taylor, Millie, eds. (2014). Gestures of Music Theater: The Performativity of Song and Dance. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-999716-9.
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