Deborah Burton | Boston University (original) (raw)

Papers by Deborah Burton

The Opera Quarterly, 2011

Why do we need another book on Mozart’s operas? John A. Rice anticipates this question and answer... more Why do we need another book on Mozart’s operas? John A. Rice anticipates this question and answers it up front in the preface of his new book, Mozart on the Stage. In contrast to the traditional organizational schemes of books on Mozart’s operas (chronologically, by individual work, by the late operas as a group, or by other themes), Rice adopts an organization “by topics as relevant to the early operas as to the late ones,” in order to emphasize “what Mozart’s operas have in common” (xiii). Far more than another book on Mozart’s operas, this is a study of the theatrical world the composer inhabited. And Rice shows us not just what happened in that world but why it happened, providing new contexts for the appreciation of the works and how they came to be. We need this book not only for what the dust jacket justifiably claims is its “fresh approach to Mozart’s achievements as a composer for the stage” but also for the light it sheds on operatic production practice and the eighteenth-century theatrical experience. Rice’s approach in fact represents a synthesis and expansion of emphases of some earlier studies: its organization broadly reflects the stages in the creative process (its ten chapters are based on a “series of interactions” with individuals and influences), the operatic works are considered as they elucidate his topics, and production as a theme is increasingly attracting well-deserved attention by opera scholars. The book brings together a wealth of information, some of it well known (such as numerous quotations from the Mozart correspondence, the endnotes for which provide the locations in both Mozart: Briefe und Aufzeichnungen and the Anderson edition) and some of it newly presented, especially in the chapter on theaters and stage design. Carefully chosen references from familiar sources elucidate larger points, such as the passage from Lorenzo Da Ponte’s memoirs used to illustrate the “emotional tension that must have prevailed as Figaro neared performance” (chap. 7), or Leopold Mozart’s letter to his friend Lorenz Hagenauer (chap. 3), which, despite being one of the book’s lengthier excerpts, is welcome for its detailed view of “the passion that eighteenth-century operatic production could arouse” (58). The rehearsal process, an aspect of production for which frustratingly little evidence survives, is brought to life over two chapters. The chapter on singers (chap. 6) treats the collaborative process with which preparation of solo music began and explores the early, individual rehearsals that took place in private residences, with

Tra Ragione e Pazzia: saggi di esegesi, storiografia e drammaturgia musicale in onore di Fabrizio Della Seta, 2021

Singing in Signs: New Semiotic Explorations of Opera, 2020

It is precisely the strain, the distortion of the norm (elegantly? beautifully? wittily? cleverly... more It is precisely the strain, the distortion of the norm (elegantly? beautifully? wittily? cleverly? stormily? [. .. ]) for which the composer strives at the deformational moment.-Hepokoski and Darcy (2006, 614) * * * Operatic Formenlehre seems to be alive and well-witness the wealth of publications on the solita forma (after Ritorni 1841; Basevi 1859; Powers 1987 1) and on concerto-like sonata forms in Mozart arias as early as the 1768 La finta semplice (after Mann 1977; Rosen 1980 2). But even standard operatic forms have often been thwarted-throughout opera's long history-by dramatic exigencies; one need only observe recitatives popping up unexpectedly in the middle of Monteverdi's strophic march ("Qual honor") in act 4 of L'Orfeo, in Handel's da capo aria "V'adoro, pupille" from Giulio Cesare, or in the act 1 sonata-form trio "Cosa sento" in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. Just as it sometimes shatters conventions of harmonic syntax, regular meter, and any number of other musical "norms, " the hybrid relationship that operatic music maintains with drama and text often requires the disruption of "standard" musical forms-composers employ, shape, and bend them, if necessary, to evoke dramatic meaning. As Mozart wrote to his father on October 13, 1781, complaining about his librettist, "If we composers were always to stick so faithfully to our rules. .. we should be concocting music as unpalatable as their libretti. .. " (Anderson 1990, 163). It may seem fruitless, then, to search for consistent formal procedures in a musical genre that breaks its own rules by design. But analysts should not throw up their hands in frustration, because the continuum between form and formlessness still allows many operatic works to engage and play with conventional formal expectations. 3 Indeed, in order to create surprise-Aristotle's key element in invoking strong emotion 4-initial

Operatic Formenlehre seems to be alive and well—witness the wealth of publications on the solita ... more Operatic Formenlehre seems to be alive and well—witness the wealth of publications on the solita forma (after Ritorni, Basevi, and Powers) and on concerto-like sonata forms in Mozart arias as early as the 1768 La finta semplice (after Mann and Rosen). But even standard operatic forms have often been thwarted—throughout opera’s long history—by dramatic exigencies. The purpose of this chapter is to explore and define subcategories of deformations in operatic storm scenes by identifying formal types along the continuum between closed operatic numbers and continuous, fragmentary musical flow. Formal (and deformational) categories are examined here in light of the topos of storm scenes from operatic selections of the Baroque, Galant, and Romantic periods, and avoiding the more traditional loci of continuous music, such as act finales.

Perspectives of New Music

All trichords can be superimposed on some of its transpositions and inversions without doubling. ... more All trichords can be superimposed on some of its transpositions and inversions without doubling. In this way, they form various hexachords according to the transposition level of the embedding. Each trichord can also be superimposed on a different trichord, giving rise to mixture. This essay focuses on tiling six-part double canons on trichords, intended as pairs of three-note series that combine by simple, inverse, and retrograde motions without doubling. These canons are created by setting the various trichords on transposition levels determined by the module, a generative numerical sequence that defines the horizontal motion, in relationship with another numerical sequence, the inference, which defines the vertical quantities of a trichord, through the common tones among all its transpositions and inversions. The inference generates the common-tone vector, a sort of “genetic code” that highlights the good inversion entries, placed without common tones on the levels of transposition; the module generates the base module, showing the levels upon which trichords are transposed, and the differential vector, showing the relationship between the base module and all its transpositions, inversions and rotations, making possible a state of “chemusical” aggregation, in a sort of synthesis between chemistry and music, or Chemusic. (Translated from italian by Deborah Burton)

Music Theory and Analysis (MTA)

Theoria, 2004

Padre Martini was known as the "padre di tutti i maestri" and the "Dio della musica": it is diffi... more Padre Martini was known as the "padre di tutti i maestri" and the "Dio della musica": it is difficult to estimate his influence on music and musicians of the 18th century. His "Esemplare"—a manual based on his teaching notes—has been known to anglophones only partially through Alfred Mann's "The Study of Fugue", which leaves the impression that Martini never laid out contrapuntal rules. But Martini does indeed give specific rules for counterpoint in the preface to the "Esemplare". This preface is translated here into English for the first time, and it includes instructions for writing canons and fugues, definitions of fugal terminology, etc., along with glimpses of Martini's sense of humor and a sense of how to view the "stile antico" in the era of Mozart.

Studi Musicali , 2012

Unlike many of his contemporaries, such as Giordano, Mascagni and Romberg, and despite being a ci... more Unlike many of his contemporaries, such as Giordano, Mascagni and Romberg, and despite being a cinephile who had received offers to write for films, Puccini never wrote or arranged his music for the cinema. Yet perhaps in a way he did. Or rather, Puccini’s operatic scores have “cinematic” qualities that not only make them useful for soundtracks, but can also usurp narrative functions now usually carried out by filmic techniques, such as dissolves, fade-ins, fade-outs and superimpositions, to indicate the nature of spatial and temporal relationships with which to carry forward the narrative thread. Noël Burch labels these filmic codes “Institutional Modes of Representation” (IMR), as opposed to the primitive modes (PMR) of earlier film.
The term “Ariadne’s thread” can be used to denote a problem-solving system, in which logical steps are exhaustively applied to systematically explore all possible alternatives or routes, backtracking when necessary. Many scholars who have explored the nature of film music often seem to practice an Ariadne-like, step-by-step search.
This article, building upon the work of Leukel and Leydon, follows the thread of the intimate and intricate relationship between late 19th- and early 20th-century Italian operatic compositional trends and the birth of cinema during the same period, hypothesizing musical “cognates” of cinematic techniques in Puccini’s music. Finally, it explores, through the writings of Adorno, Eisler and others, the narrative functions of film music and the operatic score.

Music Theory and Analysis: International Journal of the Dutch-Flemish Society for Music Theory, 2017

Verdi’s operas display many non-normative 6/4 chords. The question for the opera analyst, however... more Verdi’s operas display many non-normative 6/4 chords. The question for the opera analyst, however, is not only what occurs musically, but why it does. Is there a dramatic function being served by this mix of harmonic-intervallic instability? We discuss four types of non-normative 6/4s in Verdi: arrival, wonder, evasion, and dissolving. But, even as we individuate these types, we note that they are all similar in one regard: they are all linked to a crucial dramatic statement that Verdi termed la parola scenica, a textual-musical signal that makes a dramatic situation suddenly evident.

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This is a tale of two theorists. When Padre Giambattista Martini died in August 1784, he was hail... more This is a tale of two theorists. When Padre Giambattista Martini died in August 1784, he was hailed as ??the God of Music of our times??; he had taught the young Mozart, Johann Christian Bach, and countless other as piring contrapuntists. He had traveled little???the ...

1 Bret Harte also wrote a short story about an independent woman thriving in the Wild West who ra... more 1 Bret Harte also wrote a short story about an independent woman thriving in the Wild West who ran an establishment called the Polka Saloon, and who could have been a model for Belasco's Girl: Bret Harte,???Miggles??? Overland monthly and Out West magazine, 2/6, June ...