Launched by Edinburgh University Press in March 2011, The new soundtrack (ISSN 2042-8855; EISSN 2042-8863) presents cutting-edge academic and professional perspectives on the complex relationship between sound and moving images. The journal also encourages writing on more current developments, such as sound installations, computer-based delivery, and the psychology of the interaction of image and sound.
Alongside academic contributions, The new soundtrack includes contributions from practitioners in the field—composers, sound designers, and directors—giving voice to the development of professional practices. Each issue also features a short compilation of book and film reviews.
In 1566 Tylman Susato’s son-in-law, the jurist Arnold Rosenberger, was entrusted with delivering some potentially sensitive correspondence to Erik XIV of Sweden. Since it turned out that at the time Rosenberg was involved with other pressing matters, Susato agreed to fulfill the mission. However, as his ship neared Sweden it was blown into Danish waters; faced with the danger of capture by Danish vessels, Susato destroyed the most sensitive of the documents he was carrying.
Upon his safe arrival, the Swedish king was furious to find these important documents missing, and Susato was formally arraigned in Sweden’s high court. He was in real danger of a sentence of death or hard labor from a court manipulated by a prosecutor who had the king’s full confidence; but he was ultimately released due to his connections with influential men who spoke in his favor. Nothing is known of Susato’s subsequent life, but it appears likely that he settled in Sweden.
This according to “Tielman Susato in trouble in Sweden: Some surprising later stages in the life of the trombonist-composer-publisher” by Ardis Grosjean, an essay included in Brass music at the cross roads of Europe: The Low Countries and contexts of brass musicians from the Renaissance into the nineteenth century (Utrecht: Stichting Muziekhistorische Uitvoeringspraktijk, 2005) pp. 11–16.
Below, excerpts from Susato’s Dansereye performed by the Renaissance Consort.
Performing Arts in America 1875–1923, a website of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, captures a glimpse of the beginning of the modern age, when a combination of technological advances and societal freedoms led the way to a new world where—among other things—entertainment for the masses became a thriving industry. The upbeat mood of America was reflected in its theater, its popular songs, the craze for ballroom dancing, and above all in the newest of popular fads, the motion pictures. At the same time, America was forging its own classical culture worthy of competing with its European forebears.
This searchable database presents some 16,000 archival visual and audio materials from the library’s holdings, including sheet music, newspaper clippings, photographs of theater and dance performances, and publicity posters.
The Turkish musical scene may be viewed in terms of three categories: alatürka, which refers to Turkish sociocultural practices; alafranga, which refers to Western ones; and arabesk, which denotes the culture of peripheral urban immigrants. The gazino, a type of nightclub, provides a common denominator for alatürka and arabesk music in an alafranga space.
While the gazino owner holds direct power over the content of the show, he may make changes on the basis of audience reaction. The performers also try to supply what the audience wants, and their aesthetics are further shaped among themselves when they perform backstage for each other. Vocal audience reactions also influence performers’ aesthetic decisions. The visual aesthetics of the gazino—the decor and the clothing of performers and audience members—provide the most significant alafranga elements.
Inaugurated by Boosey & Hawkes in 2011, Online scores presents full digitized scores by a wide range of twentieth- and twenty-first-century composers, free of charge. While the scores cannot be printed or downloaded, they may be viewed and enlarged for study or research. The collection is searchable by composer or genre, and individual accounts can be customized with bookmarks. At launch this resource comprised over 400 scores and promised frequent additions.
Gottfried Taubert’s Rechtschaffener Tanztmeister, oder Gründliche Erklärung der frantzösischen Tantz-Kunst (Leipzig: Erben, 1717) is an encyclopedic—even cosmological—work on early eighteenth-century dance, and the minuet is at the center of its universe.
Providing what is probably the most complete and accurate description of the dance of all time, Taubert discusses the minuet step, its cadence, its principal and collateral figures, the giving of hands, and the cavalier’s conduct of his hat, ending with a full description—both in words and in five notated choreographic figures—of a complete minuet ordinaire. Throughout, his information is based on French authority and follows the central French tradition; it is not a provincial German account.
This according to “The minuet according to Taubert” by Tilden A. Russell (Dance research XXIV/2 [winter 2006] pp. 138–162). Below, a brief demonstration that includes the cavalier’s conduct of his hat.
Ricordi’s Disposizioni sceniche (1856–93) reflect the nineteenth-century concept of definitive operatic stagings. These manuals describe the scenery of each opera through plans and diagrams, and outline the entrances, exits, gestures, movements, and positions of the characters; they also provide a list of stage accessories. In most cases, the date and location of the described performance are indicated on the title page.
This practice was continued by the Casa Musicale Sonzogno, which issued seven Messe in scena manuals between 1894 and 1922; the Italian market for them dried up in the 1920s, when the concept of an ideal performance as a reproducible model waned and directorial creativity was increasingly valued.
This according to “The Messa in scena of the Casa Musicale Sonzogno: An iconography of stage direction at the end of the nineteenth century” by Laura Citti (Music in art XXXIV/1–2, pp. 245–253). Above, a sketch made for the Società degli Scenografi della Scala e del Teatro Lirico Internazionale for the Café Momus scene in Leoncavallo’s La bohème; inset, a page from Sonzogno’s Messa in scena for Massenet’s Manon (click to enlarge).
In The saint of Bleecker Street, which earned Menotti the 1955 Pulitzer Prize and New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award, the microcosm of Little Italy suggests a new reflection on questions of difference and integration, with connections to metaphysical and religious ideas. As a metaphor for American society, the opera symbolizes all multicultural societies and reveals the polysemic character of Menotti’s works.
Today is Menotti’s 100th birthday! Above, the 2011 Dicapo Opera production of The saint of Bleecker Street; below, the opera’s finale from New York City Opera’s 1978 production.
At launch, the Jukebox already included over 10,000 recordings made by the Victor Talking Machine Company between 1901 and 1925. Content will be increased regularly, with additional Victor recordings and acoustically recorded titles made by other U.S. labels, including Columbia, Okeh, and some Universal Music Group-owned labels. The selections range from jazz and popular styles to ethnic traditions to Western classical works, including opera arias.
Above, a Victor acoustical recording session ca. 1920.
Subsequent themes have included composers with significant 2010 anniversaries; reception; relationships between composition, performance, and pedagogy; fusions; and women in music. The journal’s Editor-in-chief is Valentina Sandu Dediu.
The main entrance to the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts’s exhibition Lou Reed: Caught between the twisted stars opens up on Lincoln Plaza, directly adjacent to the The Metropolitan Opera house. On a sunny day, the Met’s … Continue reading →
Seven strings/Сім струн (dedicated to Uncle Michael)* For thee, O Ukraine, O our mother unfortunate, bound, The first string I touch is for thee. The string will vibrate with a quiet yet deep solemn sound, The song from my heart … Continue reading →
Introduction: Dr. Philip Ewell, Associate Professor of Music at Hunter College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, posted a series of daily tweets during Black History Month (February 2021) providing information on some under-researched Black … Continue reading →
For it [the Walkman] permits the possibility…of imposing your soundscape on the surrounding aural environment and thereby domesticating the external world: for a moment, it can all be brought under the STOP/START, FAST FOWARD, PAUSE and REWIND buttons. –Iain Chambers, “The … Continue reading →
