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An analytical assessment of the audio-visual structure in Eisenstein's "Alexander Nevsky" which utilizes both primary and secondary sources. I focus on the functional and conceptual aspects of the film's score by contextualizing it within the framework of Eisenstein's theory of sound-film and the nature of Eisenstein-Prokofiev collaboration.

Summary:

As the title suggests, Gallez’s article examines two artists‘ collaboration not only on Nevsky, but also on Ivan the Terrible, a movie Eisenstein made few years after Nevsky. The essay is structured around the scope of Prokofiev’s film music and his collaboration with Eisenstein, in order to offer a comprehensive analysis of the audio-visual structure of Nevsky and Ivan (the latter is unimportant for the purpose of this bibliography). Gallez notes that although neither artist characterized their approach to Nevsky as approaching a production of an opera, when wedding music and film in this movie their style is ultimately “operatic”. Echoing another film critic Sadoul, Gallez argues that Nevsky is an instance of a “cinematographic opera”, employing “aural-visual counterpoint” (16) - it intertwines the realism of cinema per se (film as a medium of art) with the stylization of dramatic work (opera as an art form). However, for Gallez, the result of such mixing produced an “awkward result” (17). He identifies the “inconsistent design” as the major fault - Eisenstein switching between the realistic and symbolic approaches; between using pre-recorded score and altering the music to fit the edited material; and the overall absence of logic in musical entrances and exits (20). Nevertheless, Gallez also admits it is partly due to the obsolete film and sound equipment in the Soviet Union at that time, and ultimately declares that Nevsky is more than a clumsy attempt at creating a cinematic opera; because above all, it is a unique and totally original film music work that “should be judged for its overall merit and the totality of its effect” (28).

Evaluation & Analysis:

This article is by far the most outstanding academic work on Prokofiev-Eisenstein collaboration and with its special emphasis on placing the Nevsky score within the larger context of Prokofiev-Eisenstein teamwork, it is also the most significant one within this annotated bibliography. Gallez offers a very systematic and structural analysis – he divides the essay into various themes and topics and then peels off the unimportant stuff by either refuting, or taking useful insights, from others’ arguments, and eventually getting to the real core of the issue and offering his own standpoint. His research on this topic is the most extensive among others, he presents correct factual information, his reasoning is very sound and to-the-point, and his writing style is truly elaborate. In pure analytical terms, Gallez’s article does not have any logical inconsistencies. The only challenging aspect to Gallez is the fact that he is asking himself “How does the music relate to the film?” while he could be further asking “And how does the film relate to the music?”. But not to be unfair to Gallez, his thesis does state that he intends to consider “the merits of the music as support for the films and as pure music” and not vice-versa. From this perspective, Gallez’s assessment of the Eisenstein-Prokofiev collaboration and his analysis of the functional and conceptual aspects of Nevsky film score are unmatched in the academic circles.

tagged mobile opera test by vallhonr ...on 11-NOV-08
. Haydn yearbook = Das Haydn Jahrbuch. 0073-1390 series Bryn Mawr, Pa. : T. Presser Co., 1962-1998.
Call#: Van Pelt Library ML410.H4 A47

Yearbook 1 (1962) Landon "Marionette Operas and the Repertoire of the Marionette Theatre at Esterhaz Castle"

Yearbook 11 (1980) Robert Green "Haydn's and Regnard's 'Il Disttrato': A Re-examination"

 

tagged haydn opera by dkelly ...on 25-SEP-08
Bartha, Denes, 1908-1993 . Haydn als Opernkapellmeister : die Haydn-Dokumente der Esterhazy-Opernsammlung, bearb. von Denes Bartha und Laszlo Somfai. Budapest, Verlag der Ungarischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1960.
Call#: Van Pelt Library ML410.H4 B245 1960


tagged haydn opera by dkelly ...on 07-FEB-08
Two reports on trends in the arts include The Perfoming Arts in a New Era and Arts and Culture in the Metropolis. Both are available as full text PDFs on the RAND site.
tagged arts case_competition opera by bmarcell ...on 16-NOV-07
Includes detailed statistics on ticket sales for Broadway shows.
tagged case_competition competitors opera by bmarcell ...on 16-NOV-07
Reports results of 2002 National Endowment for the Arts Survey of Public Participation in the Arts. Includes demographic information about audiences. Done quinquennially.
tagged case_competition opera by bmarcell ...on 16-NOV-07
Metropolitan Opera HD movie theater schedule for 2007-8
tagged hd met opera by griscom ...on 01-JUL-07
Tambling, Jeremy. . Opera, ideology, and film / Jeremy Tambling. [0312007876 : ] New York : St. Martin's Press, 1987.
Call#: Van Pelt Library ML3858 .T35 1987


tagged opera by dkelly ...on 28-MAY-07
Body guards : the cultural politics of gender ambiguity / edited by Julia Epstein and Kristina Straub. [0415903882 ] New York : Routledge, 1991.
Call#: HQ71 .B57 1991

Rachel Lewis, "Love and Persuassion in Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione Di Poppea," Music and Letters 86.1 2005
According to the Galenic tradition with which Monteverdi would have been familiar, there was no stable biological divide between male and female; the Renaissance lackeda scientific discourse that could even claim to establish a definitive method by which one distinguished male from female.14 Sexual identity was relational, not a fixed bodily condition, but a response to contexts that were always changing.15

14 See Ann Rosalind Jones and Peter Stallybrass, 'Fetishizing Gender: Constructing the Hermaphrodite in Renaissance Europe', in Julia Epstein and Kristina Straub (eds.), Body Guards: The Cultural Politics of Gender Ambiguity (New York and London, 1991), 80–110 at 81.

15 Ibid. 104.

 

tagged gender opera by dkelly ...on 16-JAN-07
Chafe, Eric Thomas, 1946- . Monteverdi's tonal language / Eric T. Chafe. [0028704959 ] New York : Schirmer Books ; Toronto : Maxwell Macmillan Canada ; New York : Maxwell Macmillan Intenational, c1992.
Call#: Van Pelt Library ML410.M77 C4 1992


tagged opera teaching by dkelly ...on 16-JAN-07
Monteverdi, Claudio, 1567-1643. . Incoronazione di Poppea / introduzione di Giacomo Benvenuti. Milano : Fratelli Bocca, 1938.
Call#: Oblong ML96.5.M66 I5 1938


tagged opera teaching by dkelly ...on 16-JAN-07
Met to Broadcast Live Operas Into Movie Theaters
By DANIEL J. WAKIN
Published: September 6, 2006

Coming soon to your multiplex in the mall: bel canto fireworks and bass-baritone rumbles, love duets and orchestral colors, divas, tenors and trills.

The Metropolitan Opera announced today that it would begin broadcasting live performances into movie theaters across the United States, Canada and Britain, rubbing shoulders with professional wrestling and rock concerts.
tagged opera by jn ...on 06-SEP-06
Purcell, Henry, 1659-1695.. Dido & Aeneas [sound recording] / Henry Purcell.[Saint-Michel de Provence] : Harmonia Mundi France, p1986.
Call#: Van Pelt Library Ormandy Music and Media Center Harmo. 905173 CD



tagged english henry_purcell jeff_buckley opera by yjason ...on 26-JUL-06
opera seria 1791
tagged opera by dkelly ...on 12-JUL-06
Busoni, Ferruccio, 1866-1924.. Doktor Faust [sound recording] / Busoni.Paris, France : Erato, p1999.
Call#: Van Pelt Library Ormandy Music and Media Center Erato 4255012 CD


tagged 20thcentury_music opera by dkelly ...on 07-JUL-06
Pergolesi, Giovanni Battista, 1710-1736.. Prigionier superbo [sound recording] ; La serva padrona / Giovanni Battista Pergolesi.[Italy] : Bongiovanni, [1997?]
Call#: Van Pelt Library Ormandy Music and Media Center Bon. 2221/2 CD


tagged baroque_music italian_opera opera by dkelly ...on 07-JUL-06
Verdi, Giuseppe, 1813-1901. . Macbeth [videorecording] : an opera in four acts after Shakespeare / libretto by Francesco Maria Piave and Andrea Maffei ; music by Verdi. [Germany] : Arthaus Musik, [2005], c1972.
Call#: Van Pelt Library Ormandy Music and Media Center Music DVD 377


tagged italian_opera opera by dkelly ...on 07-JUL-06
Dukas, Paul, 1865-1935.. Ariane & Barbe-Bleue [sound recording] / Paul Dukas.[France] : Erato, [p1984]
Call#: Storage/Music: From RECORD page, use Place Request tab Erato 750693

Seductive beauty characteristic of modernist music-drama (Bluebeard's Castle, Pellease et Melisande, even Wozzeck, Erwartung, Moses und Aron)
tagged French_music opera by dkelly ...on 03-JUL-06
tagged opera by dkelly ...on 19-JUN-06
Smillie, Thomson. . Introduction to-- Wagner: The flying Dutchman [electronic resource] / written by Thomson Smillie. [1843790769 ] [Hong Kong] : Naxos Music Library, [2004]
Call#: -


tagged opera by dkelly ...on 18-JUN-06
dialogue in extremely restrained recitative or arioso style throughout. orcehstral part supplies continuous musical background, functioning rather like the theater organ at the silent movie though in a very different style (The Orchestra: Origins and Transformations, p. 328).
tagged opera by dkelly ...on 07-JUN-06
Excellent production, stupendous cast.
belongs to Opera project
tagged opera by dkelly ...on 27-MAY-06
Barber of Seville [videorecording] : (1816) : comic opera in two acts / by Gioacchino Rossini ; edited by Alberto Zedda ; libretto, Cesare Sterbini ; director, Dario Fo. Chatsworth, CA : Image Entertainment, [c1999], c1992.
Call#: Van Pelt Library Ormandy Music and Media Center Music DVD 33


tagged opera by dkelly ...on 26-MAY-06
Aèida [videorecording] / Giuseppe Verdi ; The NBC Symphony Orchestra ; Arturo Toscanini, [conductor] ; [presented by] BMG Classics Video [and] NBC International. New York, N.Y. : BMG Classics Video, [c1990], c1987.
Call#: Van Pelt Library Ormandy Music and Media Center BMG 603316 LD


tagged 1949 nbc_symphony_orchestra opera toscanini by dkelly ...on 22-MAY-06
Wagner, Richard, 1813-1883. . Ring des Nibelungen [sound recording] / Richard Wagner. [S.l.] : Melodram, 1986, p1978.
Call#: Van Pelt Library Ormandy Music and Media Center Melodr. 1001 CD


tagged opera wagner by dkelly ...on 22-MAY-06
Wagner, Richard, 1813-1883. . Walkèure [sound recording] / Wagner. New York : London, p1997, 1966.
Call#: Van Pelt Library Ormandy Music and Media Center Lon. 4555592 CD


tagged opera wagner by dkelly ...on 22-MAY-06
Wagner, Richard, 1813-1883. . Rheingold [sound recording] / Wagner. New York, N.Y. : London, c1997, p1959.
Call#: Van Pelt Library Ormandy Music and Media Center Lon. 4555562 CD


tagged opera wagner by dkelly ...on 22-MAY-06
Wagner, Richard, 1813-1883. . Walkèure / Wagner. [S.l.] : Opera d'Oro ; Portland OR. : Columbia River Entertainment Group, c1998.
Call#: Van Pelt Library Ormandy Music and Media Center Opera Doro 1155 CD


tagged opera by dkelly ...on 22-MAY-06
Wagner, Richard, 1813-1883. . Siegfried [sound recording] / Wagner. [S.l.] : Opera d'Oro ; Portland OR. : Columbia River Entertainment Group, c1998.
Call#: Van Pelt Library Ormandy Music and Media Center Opera Doro 1156 CD


tagged opera by dkelly ...on 22-MAY-06
Wagner, Richard, 1813-1883. . Rheingold [sound recording] / Wagner. [S.l.] : Opera d'Oro ; Portland OR. : Columbia River Entertainment Group, c1998.
Call#: Van Pelt Library Ormandy Music and Media Center Opera Doro 1154 CD


tagged opera by dkelly ...on 22-MAY-06
Wagner, Richard, 1813-1883. . Gèotterdèammerung [sound recording] / Richard Wagner. [S.l.] : Opera d'Oro ; Portland OR. : Columbia River Entertainment Group, c1998.
Call#: Van Pelt Library Ormandy Music and Media Center Opera Doro 1157 CD


tagged opera by dkelly ...on 22-MAY-06
Ring des Nibelungen [videorecording] : a stage festival drama for three days and a preliminary evening / Richard Wagner ; production, Patrice Châereau ; artistic supervision, Wolfgang Wagner. [s.l.] : Philips, [2001?], c1980, c1988.
Call#: Van Pelt Library Ormandy Music and Media Center Music DVD 82


tagged opera by dkelly ...on 22-MAY-06
Ring des Nibelungen [videorecording] / Richard Wagner ; Otto Schenk, stage production ; Peter Gelb, executive producer. Hamburg : Deutsche Grammophon, [2002]


tagged opera by dkelly ...on 22-MAY-06
Wagner, Richard, 1813-1883. . Rheingold [videorecording] / by Richard Wagner ; from the Gran Teatre del Liceu, a Gran Teatre del Liceu, Opus Arte production. Waldron, Heathfield, East Sussex : Opus Arte, c2005.
Call#: Van Pelt Library Ormandy Music and Media Center Music DVD 375


tagged opera by dkelly ...on 22-MAY-06
Good.  Though wish orchestra were more prominent.
belongs to Opera project
tagged opera by dkelly ...on 17-MAY-06
By "refreshingly controversial in its interpretation of this grand classic" they mean Peter Konwitschny's Tristan und Isolde is nonsensically staged. The singers' voices are amazing.
belongs to Opera project
tagged opera by dkelly ...on 15-MAY-06