![]() Though Akhenaten swiftly faded from recognition following his death, and his near-successor Tutankhamen was able to fully restore the previous religion and its trappings, the late 19th-century discovery of the remains of the city Akhenaten had built renewed interest in his life and that of his queen, Nefertiti. Akhenaten, known during his rule as Amenhotep IV, was a 14th-century Egyptian pharaoh who attempted to introduce a new, monotheistic religion devoted to the sun-god Aten, intended to overturn the country’s polytheistic religious practices. Though Einstein and Gandhi’s contributions are widely known, Akhnaten’s significance may not be as familiar to the average operagoer. The commonality Glass was exploring with these two operas, and which would inspire the third spoke of the so-called “Portrait Trilogy,” Akhnaten, was the shaping of history through great mens’ thought, as opposed to military might. Not long after, he received a commission from the Netherlands Opera the resulting work, Satyagraha, entailed a somewhat similar treatment of the life of Mahatma Gandhi, with the notable distinction that it marked Glass’s return to composing for a full symphony orchestra. Einstein on the Beach premiered in 1975 to mixed reviews, though it has come to be widely celebrated as a groundbreaking and momentous production of the latter half of the 20th Century. Composed in collaboration with experimental theater director and playwright Robert Wilson, the approximately five hour-long opera (audience members were invited to come and go from the theater as they please) presented a “metaphorical” portrait of Albert Einstein and reflected on his role in the creation of the atomic bomb. One of the most significant compositions to come out of this period was Einstein on the Beach, Glass’s first opera, scored for the Philip Glass Ensemble as well as a solo violin and a full chorus. By 1971, he’d formed the Philip Glass Ensemble, the amplified instrumentation of which included keyboards, wind instruments, and soprano voices, and begun re-introducing elements of harmony to his work-thus marking the moment of departure from minimalism in his conception of his trajectory. The origins of this work correspond with a significant period of change and increasing popularity for the composer after receiving his training at Juilliard and a Fulbright-funded period studying under Nadia Boulanger, a formative collaboration with Indian musicians Ravi Shankar and Alla Rakha, and an encounter with the 1960s music of Steve Reich, Glass had begun developing his signature style, focused at the time on a process of “paring down” his compositions. The ballet began as a proposed collaboration between composer and choreographer on a far different work: Robbins had signed on to direct Glass’s opera Akhnaten for its New York staging. Artistic Directors' Coalition for Ballet in America.Art Series 2018: Jihan Zencirli / GERONIMO.Contribute to the New Combinations Fund.Masters at Work: Balanchine & Robbins III. ![]() Masters at Work: Balanchine & Robbins II.Masters at Work: Balanchine & Robbins I.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |