| Movements/SectionsMov'ts/Sec's | 4 movements
|
|---|---|
| Genre Categories | Pieces; For voice, flute, violin, cello, piano; Scores featuring the voice; |
Contents |
Complete Performance
*#252604 - 25.37MB - 13:51 - (-) - !N/!N/!N - 407×⇩ - MP3 - rhymesandchymes
MP3 file (audio)
rhymesandchymes (2012/9/28)
IV. Quasi recitativo, semplice
*#188837 - 2.38MB - 5:12 - (-) - !N/!N/!N - 183×⇩ - MP3 - rhymesandchymes
MP3 file (audio)
rhymesandchymes (2012/3/15)
|
Complete Score
*#188836 - 3.37MB, 24 pp. - (-) - !N/!N/!N - 769×⇩ - rhymes&chymes
PDF typeset by Paul Hawkins
rhymes&chymes (2012/3/15)
|  |
| Work Title | The Great Wall of China |
|---|---|
| Alternative. Title | |
| Composer | Fine, Vivian |
| I-Catalogue NumberI-Cat. No. | IVF 29 |
| Movements/SectionsMov'ts/Sec's | 4 movements
|
| First Performance. | 1948-05 at the Macmillan Theater, New York City, Alice Ditson Fund Concert
|
| Librettist | Franz Kafka (1883–1924) |
| Language | English |
| Average DurationAvg. Duration | 14 minutes |
| Composer Time PeriodComp. Period | Modern |
| Piece Style | Modern |
| Instrumentation | Soprano, flute, violin, cello, and piano |
The Great Wall of China…is an impressive composition in which Fine shed any attempt to write tonally. This is Vivian Fine at her best, free to write what she hears. The inspiration for the song came while reading Franz Kafka’s The Great Wall of China. Fine selected passages that attracted her interest and divided the song into four untitled movements….The Great Wall of China is experimental and forward looking in the way she involved the ensemble in portraying the text. Only the third movement uses the full ensemble; Fine never feels compelled to have everyone playing all of the time. The soprano’s text is syllabic and declamatory but set in the twisting modernistic line of her earlier music. At times she narrates with a spoken line but never is the text distorted….Fine does not use sprechstimme or any extended vocal techniques. Rather it is the total texture that conveys meaning.
“…Moments of high drama…coexist alongside subtle poetic development.”
“One listens, one laughs at this singular alliance of voice and instruments. But one listens, intrigued. The music becomes more violent. There are bangings on the piano like a gong, sounds like the orchestra of a Chinese theatre and all sorts of queer figurations, as the voice continues….We think that [Satre]…would have enjoyed these existential strains.”
