Music vs. Theater

Hilary Hahn is one of the most successful classical music artists alive.  Debuted with Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at the age of 12, finished her bachelor requirements at Curtis at 16, signed with Sony at 17, and was named “America’s Best” young classical musician by Time Magazine at 22.  She recently turned 30, and like any good generation Y-er, she has a Twitter account.  Or, at least, her violin case has one.  (Take some time and click the link.  It’s ridiculously adorable.  But do come back.)

A few years ago I was torn between seeing her play a brief free show at Amoeba Records on Haight and seeing the a Blood Brothers opening for …And You will Know Us by the Trail of Dead  at the Fillmore.  It was a tough call.  I opted for the post-hardcore screamfest, figuring that Hilary was much less likely to flame out (or overdose) in the next five years.  The Blood Brothers were amazing, but the highlight of the evening was when Trail Of Dead announced a very special guest.  Out of nowhere, Hilary Hahn joined them on stage to play “To Russia My Homeland”, a song she recorded with them on their latest album, cuz that’s just how she rolls.  I had no idea.

Some things about Hilary.

• She likes defying genres (see above).
• She likes communicating directly with her audience (see further above)
• She’s a big proponent of new music.

Which brings me to my point.  (Almost.)

Hilary Hahn has a youtube channel where she keeps her fans up to date as she travels and tours.  As part of this channel, in conjunction with the new music blog Sequenza 21, she has a series of interviews with emerging composers.  What a great idea!  Here’s a popular and engaging classical violinist trying to get some traction for some folks making new music.

Here she is talking to Missy Mazzoli.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5PSH8oDvNU
But wait.  How many views does that have?  A little over 1,300?  Heck, The Richter Scales latest animation has more views than that and that’s our least successful video by far.  This is a truly world class musician talking to a composer who is no slouch herself.  And we’re getting more views with cutout animation, archival footage, and a dick joke?  Actually, our video is kinda cute, but come on, this is HILARY HAHN!

So my point?  Actually, I can’t remember. But it has something to do with the rewards for this new music thing being fairly meager.  It’s a pretty small pie we’re fighting for.  And you should all go subscribe to Hilary’s youtube channel and follow her tweets.  And if nothing else you should go take a few minutes to listen to her rock the hell out of the fourth movement of Stravinsky’s violin concerto.  Especially the end.  The Blood Brothers would be proud.

If they hadn’t flamed out in 2007.

Music vs Theater. What the heck do I mean by that? Is it a lawsuit? A wrestling match? A fight to the death? When I was pitching potential blog titles to my friends, some were confused by the implications of this particular one. After all, I’m trying to make works of music and theater, why would I want a title that makes it sound like they can’t work together?

Here.  Lemme splain…

Obviously, music and theater are separate things. And if you try to combine them in a single piece, they won’t necessarily work towards the same goal. They can operate on separate planes, like a form of macro counterpoint. Usually composers try to make the music act in tandem with the theater, illuminating nuances or internal states of characters, setting atmospheres, supporting the action. But it doesn’t always. How many musicals grind to a halt to make way for the dance number, or cram in a song that doesn’t advance the action one bit, but may sell an album? (I think I’m letting some of my preferences show through. That’s OK.  It’s a blog.)

Sometimes the music works against the theater due more to stylistic reasons. They’re different and sometimes incompatible languages.  Many audiences expect a degree of naturalism in their theater. Conversation on stage should sound like conversation in life. Sung theater immediately makes the conversation, well, less natural. The pacing of the action is altered. This isn’t always a bad thing, but it creates a challenge that must be addressed. In future posts we’ll take a look at different solutions through the eras and how well they’ve held up.

But perhaps it’s not so obviously true that music and theater are different things. After all, theater has innate music in its rhythms and sounds. And music relies on creating tension and resolution over time, a purely abstract form of drama or theater.

With Music vs Theater I’m interested in this overlap, the middle of the spectrum. The area where you’re not sure if  you’re experiencing the theater of music or the music of theater.

A friend of mine commented on Facebook that “the bulk of [his] generation’s exposure to classical music has been through Looney Toon cartoons.”  Upon reflection, I think he’s absolutely right.

A quick search shows that listverse has already compiled the “Top Ten Uses of Classical Music in Classic Cartoons” list for us. And who do you think topped that list?

Not much of a surprise, really. “What’s Opera, Doc”, the send-up of Wagner’s ring cycle.  (Ah.  “Kill de wabbit.”  Definitely something we can thank Wagner for.  Nazism, maybe not so much.)
Here’s an excerpt from around the 2:15 mark:
[audio:https://musicvstheater.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/WhatsOperaDoc.mp3|titles=WhatsOperaDoc]

When I heard that bit, I was reminded of the mini-operas for the toddler set on Nick Jr. The Wonder Pets.
[audio:https://musicvstheater.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/WonderPets.1.mp3|titles=WonderPetsTheme]

It’s interesting that both of these excerpts exploit one of opera’s great flaws (to great comic effect).  When you set text to music (particularly music from the classical period), you often end up needing to repeat yourself. The phrasing practically demands it. In both of these excerpts the same line is repeated several times in progressively higher registers to indicate increased tension.  To modern ears this sounds clunky, even silly. Hey Linny, instead of singing about the phone, just PICK THE DAMN THING UP! It’s a great example of the demands of the music working directly against the demands of the theater.

This gives me some ideas for future blog posts.  I expect we’ll be seeing more of these excerpts in the weeks to come…