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289
5. focus on last days and hours before first atomic
test (1945)
a. hopes and fears about the invention
b. morality concerns
c. psychological stresses
d. apprehension and terror
6. rich and dark score
a. complex texturally; multilayered, eclectic
b. human, well- developed characters
7. “Batter my heart”
a. Oppenheimer strug gles with his conscience
b. sonnet by John Donne
c. Oppenheimer seeks godly intervention
8. “At the sight of this”
a. test will go on despite bad weather
b. text: Bhagavad Gita; Krishna reveals himself
as the Supreme God
C. LG 64: Adams: Doctor Atomic, excerpts (2005)
1. Act I, scene 3, aria: “Batter my heart”
a. A- A- B structure, orchestral ritornellos
(Baroque aria structure)
b. Baroque sighing motive: two- note descending
idea (“break,” “blow,” “burn”)
c. solo sections: lyrical, solemn; dark strings
accompany, shifting meters
d. orchestral ritornellos: animated and jittery
e. final dramatic orchestral statement
2. Act II, scene 3, chorus: “At the sight of this”
a. verse/refrain structure
b. fiery mood; mysterious electronic sounds
c. spine- chilling chorus
i. fearsome text, repeated notes in short phrases
ii. syncopated, offbeat brass and percussion
accents
OUTLINE
I. History Presented in Opera
A. Modern- day historical topics
1. evoke intensity and complexity of the time
2. creativity of composer and librettist, semi-
fictional accounts
II. John Adams and Post- Minimalism
A. John Adams (b. 1947)
1. American composer, versatile post- minimalist
2. education: Harvard University, studied serialism
3. professor at San Francisco Conservatory of
Music; advocate for con temporary music
4. operas and stage works: con temporary, contro-
versial po liti cal subjects
5. Pulitzer Prize: On the Transmigration of Souls
(2002)
6. style: ele ments of neo- Romanticism, minimal-
ism, accessible melodies, expressive harmonies,
wide appeal
7. works: stage works, chamber music, vocal
works, tape and electronic works
B. Doctor Atomic
1. Adams’s third opera
2. subject: creation of atomic bomb headed by
physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer
a. raises complex moral, po liti cal questions
3. setting: Los Alamos Laboratory in New
Mexico
4. libretto by Peter Sellars, playwright/director
a. sources: memoirs of scientists, declassified
government documents, poetry of John Donne
and Charles Baudelaire, sacred Hindu scrip-
ture Bhagavad Gita (Song of God)
Real ity Shows: Adams and
Con temporary Opera
CHAPTERfi70
290 | Chapterfi70
tening to excerpts from Adams’s Doctor Atomic, do you
feel that opera can offer something about the telling or
remembering of past events that nonmusical film cannot?
In contrast, what does film tell or remember about a past
event that opera cannot? Is there perhaps a middle ground
where both film and opera can tell and remember about
a past event? What are the advantages and disadvantages
of each in their ability to affect meaning and significance
in the remembering of past events? What examples can
you offer to illustrate your views?
2. In 2002, to memorialize the victims of 9/11, John Adams
wrote a piece for chorus, children’s chorus, and orches-
tra called On the Transmigration of Souls, for which he
was awarded a Pulitzer Prize. After listening to this
piece, what do you feel the music is asking us to remember
about the victims of 9/11 and the events of that fateful day?
Does Adams’s music reveal a message about the future?
What is this future? How does the music suggest it?
TEACHING CHALLENGES
Like West Side Story (see Chapter63), Doctor Atomic chal-
lenges both instructors and students to come to terms with
vio lence and art, here under more extreme historical circum-
stances. A conversation with your class about Doctor Atomic’s
portrayal of Oppenheimer against the backdrop of Hiro-
shima and Nagasaki seems unavoidable here, but necessary
for justifying a place for this opera in the textbook and the
canon at large.
SUPPLEMENTAL REPERTORY
SUPPLEMENTAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cooke, Mervyn, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Twentieth-
Century Opera. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge Univer-
October2006.
d. unsettling refrain: “O Master” dissonant tones
e. “When I see you, Vishnu” sustained chords
f. closing: build-up of tension, distorted elec-
tronic sounds, vocables
OVERVIEW
This chapter looks at more recent operatic works that take
historical or real- life con temporary events as subjects. John
Adams’s post- minimalist opera Doctor Atomic exemplifies
this tendency.
OBJECTIVES
1. To understand the interest of more recent opera compos-
ers in taking historical or real- life con temporary events
as subjects
2. To understand John Adams’s opera Doctor Atomic as a
post- minimalist, neo- Romantic work that takes as its
subject the creation of the atomic bomb
LECTURE SUGGESTIONS
1. Play for your class excerpts from Adams’s Nixon in
China and Doctor Atomic (including “Batter my heart”
in Listening Guide 64) that underscore the personalities
and characters of the two main historical figures of these
operas (Richard Nixon and J. Robert Oppenheimer). Ask
the class to consider the musical cues that characterize
the personalities and temperaments of these figures.
2. Instruct the class to note as they listen the post- minimalist
and neo- Romantic qualities of the chorus “At the sight
of this” from Doctor Atomic. How does the music of this
scene compare with previously studied minimalist and
ASSIGNMENT SUGGESTIONS
drama of this impor tant yet turbulent period in Rus sian his-
tory. In the famous “Coronation Scene” from the Prologue
to the opera, Mussorgsky’s score treats the characters in ways
both for the characters onstage and for the audience, espe-
cially a Rus sian audience. Further, in setting the “Coronation
Scene” at the Kremlin in Moscow (with its famous bells
heard throughout the scene), Mussorgsky has ensured that it
YOUR TURN TO EXPLORE
Find an opera or other dramatic/multimedia work that takes
MODEL RESPONSE
Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov (“Coronation Scene”)
(https:// www . youtube . com / watch ? v = AbeNvmL1Rtc)
292 | Part 7
PART 7: MUSIC IN WORDS
Crumb, The Night in Silence Under Many a Star from Apparition
1. Create a simple listening outline.
What to Listen For
MELODY: modal and chant- like melodies, some long melismas
RHYTHM/METER: almost constant strumming keeps beat, but vocal line seems nonmetric
1:56 “turning to thee O vast . . .” crescendo and piano notes enter
“. . . O vast and well- veiled death” . . . death sustains a dissonance with piano
2:10 extended vocalise, more breathy
2:22 “And the body” The strumming inside the piano momentarily pauses on “gratefully” and “Nestling close to thee.”
“Nestling close to thee” is repeated over quiet sustained sound from the piano.
RUBRIC
• Student may make several connections with other types of music (chant— see Chapter 14) and vocal techniques
(vocalise— see Chapter8).
• Student’s descriptions should reflect terminology for the ele ments of music learned in Part I, and should address dif fer ent
• Student should provide a brief description of in ter est ing or impor tant features using timings (as shown above), primar-
ily to demonstrate form.
2. Consider how you might describe this piece to a friend . . .
Music in Words | 293
RUBRIC
• Student is free to use subjective language (“beautiful,” “sparkling,” “mysterious”). Note that Chapter13 urges the student
to “respond objectively and subjectively.”
3. Short paragraph describing the work as you might for a concert report . . .
George Crumb’s The Night in Silence Under Many A Star is a beautiful and mysterious meditation on death. Crumb uses
modal melodies in the vocal line against a strumming ostinato achieved by playing the strings inside the piano. The modal
melodies reflect a non- Western influence and are also reminiscent of chant, but are possibly more virtuosic and challeng-
RUBRIC
• Student should synthesize responses to questions 1 and 2, using some terminology (in bold) and writing expressively.
• Student should refer to contextual information from Chapter 62, drawing comparisons to Caballito negro if
appropriate.
PART 7: CLASSROOM- READY ACTIVITY 1
Activity Description
Instructions
Have students form small groups and distribute the worksheet associated with this assignment. The worksheet lists five pieces
discussed in Parts 6 and 7 that, although neatly falling (chronologically) into either the modern or postmodern category, also
294 | Part 7
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Aspects of the other aesthetic:
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Glass: Symphony No.4 (Heroes), I
Main stylistic identity: (circle one) Modern / Postmodern
Features:
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Aspects of the other aesthetic:
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Classroom- Ready Activity 2 | 297
PART 7: CLASSROOM- READY ACTIVITY 2
Activity Description
This activity gives students the chance to explore further the vari ous uses of music in film. Groups of students are asked to
Instructions
Assign groups of three to five students to a par tic u lar film. Allow them a week to watch the film in their own time, or arrange
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Casablanca (1942)
Psycho (1960)
Lifeboat (1944)
E.T.: The Extra- Terrestrial (1982)
STUDENT WORKSHEET
Name: ________________________________________________________________
Film Title: ___________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Selected scene featuring music that produces great dramatic effect:
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
298 | Part 7
Listening Quiz | 299
PART7: LISTENING QUIZ
Name: ________________________________________________________________
1. Cage: Sonata V from Sonatas and Interludes (0:00–0:35)
How does the performer produce the unusual timbres featured in this excerpt?
2. Glass: Symphony No.4 (Heroes), I (0:00–1:34)
Musical material in this piece is based on a song by ________________________________________.
3. Higdon: blue cathedral (3:07–4:23)
Which of the following terms best describes the style of this piece?
4. Reich: Electric Counterpoint, III (2:17–3:20)
The musical effects in this piece reflect this composer’s interest in ____________________________.
5. Crumb: Caballito negro (all)
Which of the following terms best describes the style of this piece?
6. Tavener: A Hymn to the Mother of God (0:00–0:54)
This excerpt reflects this composer’s interest in _________________________________.
7. Adams: Doctor Atomic, “At the sight of this” (0:00–0:40)
The story of this opera comes from _________________________________.
8. Williams: Imperial March from The Empire Strikes Back (0:00–1:03)
This excerpt is an example of ______________________________.
9. Bern stein: West Side Story, Act I, “The Dance at the Gym” (0:00–1:12)
The story of this opera comes from _________________________________.
a. A Shakespearean play
b. A nineteenth- century German play
c. The Bible
d. A real historical event
300 | Part 7
