1st Edition
Music and Sound in European Theatre Practices, Performances, Perspectives
The need for a research volume on European theatre music and sound is almost self-evident.
Musical and sonic practices have been an integral part of theatre ever since the artform was first established 2,500 years ago: not just in subsequent genres that are explicitly driven by music, such as opera, operetta, ballet, or musical theatre, but in all kinds of theatrical forms and conventions. Conversely, academic recognition of the role of theatre music, its aesthetics, creative processes, authorships, traditions, and innovations is still insufficient. This volume unites experts from different disciplines and backgrounds to make a significant contribution to the much-needed discourse on theatre music. The term itself is a shapeshifter that signifies different phenomena at different times: the book thus deliberately cast a wide net to explore both the highly contextual terminologies and the many ways in which different times and cultures understand ‘theatre music’. By treating theatre music as a practice, focusing on its role in creating and watching performances, the book appeals to a wide range of readerships: researchers and students of all levels, journalists, audiences, and practitioners.
It will be useful to universities and conservatoires alike and relevant for many disciplines in the humanities.
List of Contributors
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Ross Brown
Introduction
Tamara Yasmin Quick and David Roesner
Part 1. Setting the Scene
What is Theatre Music?
David Roesner
More Connecting than Dividing Features? On Historical Precedents of Contemporary Theatre Music
Ursula Kramer
Part 2. Theatre Music and Musical Heritages in Transition
‘For your time draweth fast, if ye will saved be’ – Ephemerality, Materiality, and the Challenges of Archiving the Theatre Music of the Play Jedermann
Natalie Stadler
Kilam as Theatre Music in Kurdish Theatre in Turkey
Duygu Çelik
Ways of Listening: Maqam Music on the Contemporary Stage
Deniz Başar
Mixtape Dramaturgy. The Case of Jan Klata
Anna R. Burzyńska
Part 3. Theatre Music and / as Performance
Theatre Music as Theatrical Scene – Reflections on a ‘Disciplinary Dilemma’
Tamara Yasmin Quick
Staging (Theatre) Music Reception: Voicing Unacoustics in Sophocles’ Trackers
Konstantinos Thomaidis
More Than Unseen Sounds – Foley on Stage. Performing Live Sound Effects as Musico-Theatrical Practice
Margarethe Maierhofer-Lischka
Part 4. Theatre Music and / as Experience
Overwhelmed by Sound? Staged Effects of Sound and Music on the Audience
Julia H. Schröder
The Tempest (2016) at the Royal Shakespeare Company: Music and Sound in a Literary Theatre
Millie Taylor
At the Interface of ‘Theatre Music’ and ‘Music Theatre’. An Analysis of the Joint Works of Ulrich Rasche and Monika Roscher
Helena Langewitz
The Relationship between Storytelling and Sound Experience in Theatre for Young Audiences
Christiane Plank-Baldauf
Part 5. Theatre Music Between and Beyond Genres
Performance Worlds? Reflections on Music Theatre Scenes Formerly Called Diegetic
Christine Fischer
Inside Yellow Sound and the Vibrations of the Audience’s Soul
Maria Kapsali
Narrating Exilic Stories through Composed Atmospheres: A Cognitive-Narratological Investigation of Music in Singulière Odyssée
Pieter Verstraete
Part 6. Theatre Music and Training
An Ethnographic Account of Learning and Training Theatre Music in the Czech and Slovak Independent Theatre Scene
Elia Moretti
The Shaping of “Good Sound” in Handbooks for Theatre Sound Creation
Katharina Rost
Index
Biography
David Roesner is Professor for Theatre and Music Theatre at the LMU Munich, Germany.
Tamara Yasmin Quick works as a Munich-based dramaturg, lecturer, associate researcher, and project coordinator at various academic and artistic institutions.
