![]() ![]() , and dancing and singing were generally considered to go together. For the first Helfgot and Beeman recommend martial arts or gymnastics (16) for the second, training at playing a musical instrument or some other introduction to musical theory (46) and for the third, library research if the composer and librettist are dead (47) - but direct interaction with a living composer and librettist is even more effective (163-164).īoth music and gymnastics were, of course, a traditional part of Greek An actor/singer needs freedom of the body, understanding of music, and familiarity with the cultural context of the text. Athenian citizens possessed many of the skills which Helfgot and Beeman advocate as facilitating a singer's ability to act as a result of their upbringing. Nor would an Athenian actor be expected to play the same character in the same production over and over and over (indeed, the opportunity to repeat a production was very rare), though an actor might well be typed by his strength in the parts of, say, old men or young virgins.Ĭontains much which is illuminating to those of us interested in the production of Greek plays. Comments on the polyphony of Western music (46-49) are certainly not applicable to Greek music, which admitted only of melody. Is directed at professional opera singers and therefore contains much material, particularly in Chapters 10-12, which does not apply to tragedy in the fifth century, when there were no theater professionals. The book itself is a guide to writing that third line. The title of Helfgot and Beeman's book is a reference to 'the third line' of interpretation which a singer needs to add to the existing two lines of music and text. This does not mean, however, that singers are prohibited from acting by the fact that they have to sing. Of course there are physical limitations on what a singer can do and still be able to project (not to mention breathe), just as masks place certain restrictions on acting style. And there are those who believe that the size of the theater, the use of masks, the complexity of the language made Greek tragedy a primarily audial experience in its own day (contrary, of course, to the meaning of the word 'theater'). ) by saying that it was difficult enough just to get the actors to speak and sing in Greek, much less do any real acting. Similarly, a colleague responded to my critique of the KCL When I voiced this protest to an acquaintance of the woman who played Donna Anna, her response was: 'Well, they have to sing, so they can't act'. , in Latin, with a cast who knew no Latin and for an audience substantially composed of non- classicists, and we had managed to generate laughs in the right places. Though I was delighted to recognize in Leporello the descendant of the parasites of New and Roman Comedy, I was outraged that the singers made no effort to use their bodies to convey the meaning of the words which they were singing. And it was only the supertitles which revealed the humor of Leporello's relationship to Don Giovanni. The supertitles ran slightly behind the actual delivery of the singers, with the result that audience comprehension lagged behind the action. In March of 1991 the University of Michigan School of Music presented Mozart's One of the things which opera and tragedy often have in common, to the detriment of both, is the absence of anything resembling acting. What Helfgot and Beeman have to say about opera can in many cases be applied equally well to tragedy, either as it was performed in the fifth century or as a guide to performing it today. And whileĭoes not directly address the relationship between opera and tragedy, it is nevertheless a book of considerable usefulness to the student of ancient theater. Since that time, comparisons between the two genres of performance have been very common, at least among classicists. The Third Line: The Opera Performer as Interpreter,Į-mail: was created as a 16th-century CE version of Greek tragedy. ![]()
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