Rock opera

In the modern era, musicians continue to play music that is reminiscent of the past. While new music is continuously produced, there is a desire to keep the musical pieces created by our ancestors alive. To honor the past, some artists have created new music that reflects the classical and baroque styles. In these pieces, the artists are free to use whichever instruments they please to create their musical effect. When a non-early music ensemble performs non-early music in the modern era, they…

AIDS-related deaths of celebrities such as Liberace and Rock Hudson sparked the culture wars around homosexuality. On one hand, California was filled with conservatives and the elite. On the other hand, however, Cathedral City, close to Liberace’s former home of Palm Springs, had been establishing itself as a “gay mecca,” with a noteworthy gay nightlife: “Sunday night whipped cream wrestling at Daddy Warbucks, monthly theme parties at Rocks, and dancing after hours at C.C. Construction Company…

Micaëla who was portrayed as a “sexless white middle-class woman who espouses family values” (Frisch). Carmen’s foreign ethnicity was highlighted through Bizet’s use of Spanish-style music while Micaëla was conveyed using a musical style more similar to Opéra-Comique (Frisch). Bizet use of exotic music was intended to differentiate the subject, the gypsies, from his own group or people. Because of Bizet’s desire to display Carmen as an outsider to the French bourgeoisie, primarily based on her…

Johann Hummel at one point was an opera director, because of that we here material of the operas that were common during his time (Phillips, 2008). Phillips (2008) discusses the important aspects of each movement of Concerto for Trumpet. As for movement III, he considers that there are three styles; contredanse, march…

In 1960, a telecast was recorded featuring George Balanchine’s Apollo Musagete. It was premiered on a DVD later released with the name New York City Ballet in Montreal, Vol. 5. This version of Apollo was choreographed by George Balanchine. The score for Apollo was done by Igor Stravinsky. The performance was done by Jacques d’Amboise, Melissa Hayden, Jillana, and Patricia Neary (New York City Ballet). This recording of Apollo emphasized George Balanchine’s aesthetic of ballet. In the…

with Texas Tech’s School of Music definitely did not disappoint with their amazing performance of Phantom of the Opera. This is one of the most well know and classical musicals but doesn’t fit into any specific category. It is not exactly classic musical theatre due to the music being for classically trained singers, but it is not exactly an opera either because it has dialogue while an opera is traditionally completely sung. This makes for a difficult mixture of is not for the faint of heart…

Both sonata and vocal forms influenced the development of concerto form as instrumental music practices and writing evolved from the middle to late Baroque (ca. 1680– 1730). This paper will examine the development of the instrumental concerto during the Baroque, focusing on analysis of the works and contributions to the form by Arcangelo Corelli (1653–1713) and Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741). Representing a span of one generation in time, and working in different musical centers within Italy,…

George Balanchine is recognized worldwide for his virtuosic, neoclassical ballets. Balanchine has been claimed as the father of American ballet, due to his prominent contributions to the twentieth century ballet culture. From the almost hundred ballets he created throughout his career, I believe “Jewels”, which premiered in 1967 at the New York City Ballet, New York State Theatre, to be one of his most stunning works. Jewels is a full evening length performance, consisting of three acts. Each…

West Side Story book turned musical was written in 1957 by Arthur Laurents. West Side Story is a musical interpretation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, giving it a modern spin and a change from the original class to race rivalry. The setting of this play is based in the 1950s in the Upper West Side of New York City. The rivalry is between two gangs called the Jets, a white gang, and the Sharks, a Puerto Rican gang. Comparable to Romeo and Juliet the main plot to this story is based on the…

Premiering in 1997, the musical Ragtime, written by the trio of Terrence McNally (Book/Script), Stephen Flaherty (Music), and Lynn Ahrens (Lyrics) was something along the lines of a smash hit. Featuring a star studded cast, with such luminaries as Brian Stokes Mitchell, Marin Mazzie, and Audra McDonald, the musical won four Tony Awards and was nominated for 14, including Best Musical. The musical is based on E.L. Doctorow’s 1974 novel Ragtime, a work of historical fiction that has various…