Opera or music theater?
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Being from Australia, I had not come across the term ‘music theater’ until I spoke to German opera makers for this research in 2023. Until then, I would have conflated this term with ‘musical theatre’ (i.e. Hamilton, The Sound of Music and the like). But for Germans and many others, the word ‘opera’ apparently reeks of Wagner, high-art, the bourgeoisie, and all the attendant truckloads of baggage inherent with such associations. It indicates a form stuck in the past and dripping with gold. Colonial gold. They prefer the term ‘music theater’ - perhaps understandably. This term rather, reimagines not only the name of the genre ‘opera’, but the art form itself, to suggest a marraige of music with theatre in a more contemporary and egalitarian take on Wagner’s concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art). Composer/researcher Pia Palme explains music theater as: ‘composed musical space, or a space with music-not in the usual sense, but in the sense of sound, sounding bodies, performers and their relationship to the space’ (Schimana, Palme, Kogler, Lehmann 2022). From what I’ve observed over the last 15 months, music theater can be opulent, but more often it is lean, it can be long, but more often it is short, it can be 100% sung, but more often it incorporates speech, it can sound traditional, but more often it sounds experimental. Unlike ‘musical theatre,’ music theater is not populist, but rooted firmly in the realm of art music. To me, it feels like a revelation. It feels like home. I like the idea of shaking that tall, Wagnerian tree. Some works on my lists are straight-up operas; some are works of music theater; sometimes it’s not so clear and I suspect it doesn’t matter. None are musicals. This research is not about musicals. I‘m drawing the line. Orientation session done.
Schimana, Palme, Kogler, Lehmann. 2022. On the fragilities of music theater. In: Sounding Fragilities, I. Lehmann & P. Palme (eds.) Wolke Verlag, Hofheim. text goes here
