Cover Picture
References
- Title: Singing Archaeology: Philip Glass's Akhnaten.
- Author: John Richardson.
- Published by University Press of New England, Hanover (USA) and London (UK).
- © 1999 by University Press of New England.
- ISBN: 0-8195-6317-X (Cloth).
- ISBN: 0-8195-6342-0 (Paper).
Contents
vii. List of Illustrations.
ix. Acknowledgements.
xi. Introduction.
001. Oedipus and Akhnaton: Of Origins and Archaeologies.
019. Glass's Poetics of Postmodernism.
053. The Musical Language of Akhnaten.
090. Narrating from a Distance: Representations of the Old Order in the Prelude and the First Two Scenes.
131. Higher Love: New Geometries of Power, Desire, and Exclusion in the Trio and Two "Duets" of Akhnaten, Nefertiti, and Tye.
185. The Illusion of Autonomy: Apotheosis and Degeneration in Akhnaten's Hymn to the Sun and in the Family Scene.
232. Repudiation and Resurrection: The Final Three Scenes.
245. Some Thoughts on the Reception of Akhnaten.
257. Notes.
287. Index.Total Pages 294, 7 illustrations and 36 scores.
Notes
Philip Glass is one of America's best-known classical composers, whose work includes film scores for Koyaanisqatsi, The Thin Blue Line, and Kundun; the famous opera trilogy of Einstein on the Beach, Satyagraha, and Akhnaten; and numerous symphonies and popular works. At the same time, Glass's non-traditional musical syntax, his experimental, minimalist approach, and his ambiguous tonality have long resisted interpretation, and indeed very few analyses of his compositional techniques have been published. In this in-depth study, John Richardson develops new theoretical models through which to analyze both Glass's work and its genesis.
Richardson focuses on Akhnaten, the third opera of Glass's trilogy, to show how the composer's concepts of sound and dramatic context, cultural theory, and gender construction intersect, providing perhaps the best demonstration of "the very nature of Glass's aesthetic, which places a strong emphasis on implicit levels of signification and steers clear of conventional 'story telling' narrative strategies." Careful explanations of theory and compositional strategies, close readings of the work itself, considerations of the collaborative aspects of the opera's evolution, and incorporation of previously unpublished interviews with Glass himself combine to illuminate both a landmark work of contemporary music theater and a dominant figure on the American musical landscape.
JOHN RICHARDSON, Ph.D., is a musician, journalist, and musicologist who has taught at Universities in Finland and conducted research at several institutions in North America. He currently teaches at the Department of Musicology at the University of Jyväskylä, in Finland.
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