Date of Award

12-2000

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Music (MM)

Department

School of Music

Abstract

Luciano Berio refers to his large-scale works for music theatre not as operas, but as azioni musicali, or musical actions. Berio was able to develop the idea that a large-scale work for music theatre should follow an episodic narrative and allow the music to direct the action of the dramaturgy because of the following influences: his collaborations with Cathy Berberian, Edoardo Sanguineti, Umberto Eco, and Italo Calvino; Brecht's epic theatre; Wagner's music drama; and electronic music. Berio was able to successfully realize his musical action concept with Un re in ascolto, or The King Listens (1984), his first full-length musical action. Berio uses three types of musical processes in Un re to create a musical framework: circular, developmental, and episodic. In his compositions and writings, Berio creates a music theatre that is his own, thus providing essential continuity and expounded possibilities for a tradition of European and Italian music theatre that extends back to Monteverdi.

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