The work is based on a 1907 recording of Enrico Caruso singing "Vesti la Giubba" (Put on your costume) from Leoncavallo's opera I Pagliacci (The Clowns). The original recording can be heard here.
Questions:
- What instruments do you hear? Is there a melody? An accompaniment?
What is the role of the computer in this work?
Consider the title of this composition, which Dodge says was taken from "the standard disclaimer from FBI television dramas of the 1950's." How does Dodge manipulate the preexisting material? How does his approach compare with other composers who use preexisting material (see Rochberg below, for example).
What are some difficulties a performer of this work might face?
What aspects of the work could be easily notated in written form? What aspects would be difficult to notate?
Could this piece be performed with a live singer? What would the effect be? Put another way, which elements of this piece will remain the same from performance to performance? Which will differ?
Could this piece be performed with a similarly manipulated recording of a singer other than Caruso? What, if any, is Caruso's significance to this composition?
- Dodge's humble biography at Dartmouth
Lochhead, Judy. 2006. "'How does it work?': Challenges to analytic explanation." Music theory spectrum 28/2 (Fall): 233-254. (n.b. I just came across this article while writing this blog post. Apparently my complete set of MTS is not so complete--I'm missing this issue!)
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