Mad scene
This article needs additional citations for verification. (November 2022) |
A mad scene is an enactment of insanity in an opera or play.[1] Many are very dramatic, representing a virtuoso piece for singers; some were written with a specific singer in mind. Most have been composed for soprano voice, but other examples exist.
Many notable examples were composed for either opere serie or semiserie, as in those of Handel.
They were a popular convention of French and especially Italian opera in the early decades of the nineteenth century, becoming a bel canto staple. Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor is the most famous example. The convention of writing mad scenes waned or was transformed as composers sought to inject more realism into their operas.
Later composers revived and transformed the convention in expressionist operas and similar genres (e.g., melodramas, monodramas), paralleling the rise of psychology and exploiting dissonant idioms, most notably Richard Strauss, Schoenberg, and Berg. Berg's (for Wozzeck and Dr. Schön) and one of Britten's (for Peter Grimes) were for male roles.
The modern musical theatre was also influenced by the operatic mad scene, as in Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard or Sondheim's Sweeney Todd.
Some ballets contain similar scenes, most notably Adam's Giselle.[1]
Notable examples[edit]
- Roland, Act 4, Scene 5, "Je suis trahi! Ciel!"
- Artaserse, "Pallido il sole"
- Idomeneo, "D'Oreste, d'Ajace"
- Ermione, "Essa corre al trionfo"
- Semiramide, "Deh! Ti ferma"
- Lucia di Lammermoor, "Il dolce suono... Ardon gl'incensi... Spargi d'amaro pianto", the locus classicus
- Linda di Chamounix, "Linda! Ah che pensato"
- Maria Padilla
- Torquato Tasso
- Anna Bolena, "Piangete voi... Al dolce guidami... Coppia iniqua"
- I puritani, "O rendetemi... Qui la voce sua soave... Vien, diletto, e in ciel la luna"
- Il pirata, "Col sorriso d'innocenza... Oh, Sole! ti vela di tenebra fonda"
- La sonnambula, "Oh! se una volta sola... Ah! non credea mirarti... Ah! non giunge uman pensiero"
- Die Feen, Act 3, "Halloh! Halloh! Lasst alle Hunde los!"
- Tristan und Isolde
- L'étoile du nord, Act 3
- Dinorah (originally Le Pardon de Ploërmel), "Ombre légère"
- Bánk bán, Act 3, "Tudsz-e madárról éneket?"
- Hamlet, "Partagez-vous mes fleurs"
- Boris Godunov, "Oi! Duschno, Duschno"
- The Oprichnik, finale
- Mazeppa, finale
- The Enchantress, finale
- The Tsar's Bride, "Ivan Sergeyich, khochesh' v sad poydem"
- Erwartung in toto
- Mona Lisa, Act 2, "So! so! Hab' ich dich!"
- Wozzeck, Act 1, Scene 2, "Du [Andres], der Platz ist verflucht!"[a]
- Wozzeck, Act 3, Scene 4, "Das Messer! Wo ist das Messer?"[b]
- Lulu, Act 2, Scene 1, "Du Kreatur, die mich durch den Strassenkot zum Martertode schleift!" (Dr. Schön's five-strophe aria)
- Peter Grimes, "Steady. There you are, nearly home"
- Curlew River
- Mass, XVI. Fraction: "Things get broken"
- Miss Havisham's Fire, finale
- The Ghosts of Versailles, "They are always with me"
- Salsipuedes: a Tale of Love, War and Anchovies (2004), Act 3, Scene 3, "Guzmán, Guzmán, ayúdame" (General García)
Comparable examples[edit]
- La finta pazza, Act 2, Scene 10 (Deidamia)
- La traviata, "É strano! ... Sempre libera"
- Suor Angelica, arguably in toto
- Sequenza III
- Lost Highway, Scene 5.4, "There's no smoking here"
- Gesualdo: Libro Sesto, IV. "Quel 'no' crudel"
Parodies[edit]
- Le pont des soupirs, "Ah! le Doge, ah! Les plombs, le canal Orfano l'Adriatique, c'est fini je suis folle"
- Ruddigore, "Cheerily carols the lark"
- The Grand Duke, "I have a rival! Frenzy-thrilled, I find you both together!"
- A Midsummer Night's Dream, the Pyramus and Thisbe scene
- Candide, "Glitter and be gay"
Notes[edit]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ a b McCarren, Felicia M. (1998). Dance Pathologies: Performance, Poetics, Medicine. Stanford University Press. pp. 106–107. ISBN 978-0-8047-3524-7.
Bibliography[edit]
- Anderson, James (1993) The Complete Dictionary of Opera & Operetta, New York
- Arias, Enrique. 1999. "Reflections from a Cracked Mirror: Madness in Music and Theory of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries—An Overview". In A Compendium of American Musicology: Essays in Honor of John F. Ohl, eds. Enrique Arias, Susan M. Filler, William V. Porter, and Jeffrey Wasson, 133–154. Evanston: Northwestern University Press. ISBN 978-0-8101-1536-1 (hbk).
- Ewen, David (1963) Encyclopedia of the Opera, New York
- The Top 10 Mad Scenes in Opera WQXR Operavore retrieved 13-08-13
- Любимов, Д.В. Осторожно, сумасшествие! // Оpera musicologica. 2021. Т. 13. № 4. С. 172–178. DOI: https://doi.org/10.26156/OM.2021.13.4.008.
- Любимов, Д.В., Кром, А.Е. «Сцена безумия» в опере: проблемы дефиниции // Музыкальный журнал Европейского Севера. 2022. № 2 (30). С. 60–74. URL: http://muznord.ru/images/issue/30/30_Lubimov_Krom.pdf
- Любимов, Д.В. Лючия и Марфа: безумные невесты в оперном театре XIX века // Opera musicologica. 2022. Т. 14, № 3. С. 30–45. DOI 10.26156/OM.2022.14.3.002.
- Любимов, Д.В. Феномен безумия в европейской опере и его научное осмысление: к проблеме периодизации // Музыкальная академия. 2022. № 4. С. 180–195. DOI: 10.34690/278.
- Любимов, Д.В.Лючия и Жизель: безумные героини в музыкальном театре XIX века. DOI 10.24412/2658-7858-2023-33-61-69 // Музыка в системе культуры: Научный вестник Уральской консерватории.–2023.–Вып. 33.–С. 61–69.
- Любимов, Д.В. Сюжетный мотив безумия в театральном творчестве А.Е.Варламова // Вестник Саратовской консерватории. Вопросы искусствознания. 2023. №4 (22). С. 65-72. URL: https://sarcons.ru/image/publikacii/vestnik_sgk/%D0%92%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BA%20%D0%A1%D0%93%D0%9A.2023%20%E2%84%964(22).pdf
- Любимов, Д. В. Уберто и Мельник: безумные отцы в оперном театре XIX века // Опера в музыкальном театре: история и современность. Тезисы VI Международной научной конференции, 11–15 марта 2024 г. / ред.-сост. Н.В. Пилипенко, под ред. И.П. Сусидко, Н.В. Пилипенко, А.И. Масловой / Российская академия музыки имени Гнесиных. — М.: Издательство «Российская академия музыки имени Гнесиных», 2024. - С. 120-121. URL: https://gnesin-academy.ru/upload/iblock/8c7/45titr0z13o7jvzvuuwjnvtpr2gm2xcp/AbstractsBook_Conf_Opera_2024.pdf