CONF: Musical Reception of Classical Texts

Seen on the Classics list:

Re-Creation: Musical Reception of Classical Antiquity
October 27-30, 2011
At the University of Iowa

*Preliminary program*

THURSDAY October 27

Late afternoon public lecture on contexts of Peri’s Euridice by Wendy Heller (Princeton University) Sponsored by Opera Studies Forum.
8 pm. evening concert by the Center for New Music at the Old Capitol.
Opening night reception at the Old Capitol

FRIDAY MORNING October 28

8:30-10:30 Musical Theater/Music in Theater
Robert Ketterer (University of Iowa), moderator

Evan MacCarthy (Harvard University): “Translating Oedipus Tyrannus: John Knowles Paine and America’s First Greek Tragedy.”
Simone Beta (University of Siena): “It’s the Same Old Story: Oath of Greek Women in Musical Versions of Lysistrata.”
David Oosterhuis (Gonzaga University): “Orpheus, the Original Penniless Poet Plutus/Pluto in Anais Mitchell’s Hadestown.”
Thomas Jenkins (Trinity University, San Antonio): “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Whitehouse.”

10:45-12:15 Theoretical and Philosophical Issues
Michael Eckert (University of Iowa), moderator

James Lowe (John Burroughs School, St. Louis): “From Plato’s Athens to the Holy City—Inspiration, Spirituality and Ralph Vaughan Williams.”
Richard Dcamp (UW Oshkosh): “Carl Orff and Aeschylus’ Prometheus Desmotes.”
Theodor Ulieriu-Rostás (University of Bucharest): “Authenticity and Aural Prejudice: Recordings of Ancient Greek Music.”

Lunch break

FRIDAY AFTERNOON

2:00-4:00 19th and 20th Century Opera
Carin Green, moderator

Peter Burian (Duke University): “Death and Transfiguration: Orpheus’ Fate on the Operatic Stage.”
Dana Munteanu (Ohio State University): “Parody of Greco-Myth in Jacques Offenbach’s Orfée aux enfers and La Belle Hélène.”
Lissa Crofton-Sleigh (University of Washington): “Helen with a Blue Dress on: Strauss’ Aegyptische Helen.”
William Gibbons (Texas Christian University): “Reweaving Penelope: Faure’s Penelope, Symbolism and Morality.”

4:30 Public lecture by Simon Goldhill (King’s College, Cambridge): “The Ideal Chorus: Opera, Philosophy and Tragedy.” Sponsored by Eighteenth/Nineteenth-Century Interdisciplinary Studies.

EVENING performance of Peri’s Euridice (The UI Opera Studio). Riverside Recital Hall.

SATURDAY MORNING October 29

8:30-11:00 Early opera
Christine Getz (University of Iowa), moderator

Timothy McKinney (Baylor University): “Ancient Musical Theory and Musical Affect in the prima prattica.”
Wendy Heller (Princeton University): “Rescuing Ariadne.”
Carlo Lanfossi (Università degli Studi di Pavia): “Crafting Drama: rethinking history: Agrippina between 17th-Century Venice and Milan.”
Bruno Forment (Ghent University): “’Sono in Roma? O in Aulide’: Classical templates as musical cues in Cajo Mario.”
Reinhard Strohm (Wadham College, Oxford): title TBA

11:15-1:15 Stage practice
Andrew Simpson (Catholic University of America), moderator

Mary Kay Gamel (UC Santa Cruz): title TBA on stage music for Greek tragedy
Jane Shaw (Brooklyn, NY): “Many are the shapes of things divine: music and sound design in staging Greek drama.”
Marcus Mota (Universidade de Brasília) and Cinthia Nepomuceno (Federal Institute of Education, Brazil): “Hearing and Dancing Beats An Interartistic Appropriation of Meters in Greek tragedy.”

Lunch break

SATURDAY AFTERNOON

2:30-5:00 Film
Judith Hallett (University of Maryland), moderator

Murray Dahm (Opera Australia): “Reimagining the Scourge of God in Verdi’s Atilla.”
Mark Brill (University of Texas-San Antonio): “Music and Myth in Orfeu Negro.”
Chris Ann Matteo (Stone Bridge High School, VA): “Dissecting Orpheus in Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge!”
Jon Solomon (University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana): title TBA on early Ben Hur films.

5:30-7:30 CONFERENCE DINNER by subscription with registration.

8:00 Evening showing of silent films with live music by Andrew Simpson (Catholic University of America). Englert Theater. Films include: La caduta di Troia, Cupid and Psyche (1897), Ben Hur (1907), Ben Hur (1925), “A Roman Scandal” (Mutt and Jeff cartoon).

SUNDAY MORNING, October 30

10:00-12:30 The 20th Century
John Finamore (University of Iowa), moderator

Susanne Kogler (Kunstuniversität Graz): “Prometheus and the Muses: Myth, Gender and Creativity in 20th Century Music.”
Michael Eckert (University of Iowa): “Luigi Dallapiccola’s Song Cycle ‘Liriche Greche’ (1942-45).”
Osman Umurhan (Rutgers University): “Heavy Metal and the Classics.”
Dan-el Padilla Peralta (Stanford University): “Bringing Swords of Damocles: Classical Legend in Contemporary Rap.”
Anastasia Bakogianni (The Open University, UK): “Haunting melodies of an ancient past: classical themes in the works of the modern Greek composer Eugenia Manolidou.”

Sunday afternoon performance of Peri’s Euridice (Riverside Recital Hall).