| Description |
ix, 358 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm. |
| Series |
Music in the 20th century ; [17]
|
|
Music in the twentieth century ; 17.
|
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 337-351) and index. |
| Contents |
1. Introduction: Britten's musical language -- 2. Peter Grimes: the force of operatic utterance -- 3. Motive and narrative in Billy Budd -- 4. Turn of the Screw: innocent performance -- 5. Rituals: the War Requiem and Curlew River -- 6. Subjectivity and perception in Death in Venice. |
| Summary |
"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 interpretive 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."--Jacket. |
| Subject |
Britten, Benjamin, 1913-1976 -- Criticism and interpretation.
|
|
Britten, Benjamin, 1913-1976. |
|
Criticism and interpretation. |
| Genre/Form |
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
|
| ISBN |
0521631548 |
|
9780521631549 |
|
9786610417452 |
|
6610417458 |
|
