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Aging and creativity can seem a particularly fraught relationship for artists, who often face age-related difficulties as their audience's expectations are at a peak. In Four Last Songs, Linda and Michael Hutcheon explore this issue via the late works of some of the world's greatest composers. Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901), Richard Strauss (1864-1949), Olivier Messiaen (1908-92), and Benjamin Britten (1913-76) all wrote operas late in life, pieces that reveal unique responses to the challenges of growing older. Verdi's Falstaff, his only comedic success, combated Richard Wagner's influence by introducing young Italian composers to a new model of national music. Strauss, on the other hand, struggling with personal and political problems in Nazi Germany, composed the self-reflexive Capriccio, a "life review" of opera and his own legacy. Though it exhausted him physically and emotionally, Messiaen at the age of seventy-five finished his only opera, Saint François d'Assise, which marked the pinnacle of his career. Britten, meanwhile, suffering from heart problems, refused surgery until he had completed his masterpiece, Death in Venice. For all four composers, age, far from sapping their creative power, provided impetus for some of their best accomplishments. With its deft treatment of these composers' final years and works, Four Last Songs provides a valuable look at the challenges-and opportunities-that present themselves as artists grow older.
Composers --- Aging --- Creative ability in old age. --- Psychological aspects. --- Britten, Benjamin, --- Messiaen, Olivier, --- Strauss, Richard, --- Verdi, Giuseppe, --- Last years. --- european history, classical music, performing arts, criticism, creativity, aging, famous artists, giuseppe verdi, richard strauss, olivier messiaen, benjamin britten, operas, falstaff, comedic success, wagner, italian composers, political problems, nazi germany, capriccio, saint francois d assise, death in venice, psychological aspects, creatives, musicology. --- Creative ability in old age --- Psychological aspects --- Britten, Benjamin
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For the three forces competing for political authority in France during World War II, music became the site of a cultural battle that reflected the war itself. German occupying authorities promoted German music at the expense of French, while the Vichy administration pursued projects of national renewal through culture. Meanwhile, Resistance networks gradually formed to combat German propaganda while eyeing Vichy's efforts with suspicion. In The Musical Legacy of Wartime France, Leslie A. Sprout explores how each of these forces influenced the composition, performance, and reception of five well-known works: the secret Resistance songs of Francis Poulenc and those of Arthur Honegger; Olivier Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time, composed in a German prisoner of war camp; Maurice Duruflé's Requiem, one of sixty-five pieces commissioned by Vichy between 1940 and 1944; and Igor Stravinsky's Danses concertantes, which was met at its 1945 Paris premiere with protests that prefigured the aesthetic debates of the early Cold War. Sprout examines not only how these pieces were created and disseminated during and just after the war, but also how and why we still associate these pieces with the stories we tell--in textbooks, program notes, liner notes, historical monographs, and biographies--about music, France, and World War II [Publisher description].
Music --- World War, 1939-1945 --- Music. --- Music and war. --- Musik. --- Weltkrieg. --- History and criticism. --- Music and the war. --- World War (1939-1945). --- 1900-1999. --- France. --- Frankreich. --- Music -- France -- 20th century -- History and criticism. --- Music -- Political aspects -- France -- History. --- Nationalism in music. --- World War, 1939-1945 -- Music and the war. --- Music, Dance, Drama & Film --- Music History & Criticism, General --- History and criticism --- Music and the war --- Songs and music --- aesthetic debates. --- arthur honegger. --- ballet. --- beaux arts. --- classical music. --- cultural battle. --- early cold war. --- engaging. --- entertainment industry. --- europe. --- france. --- francis poulenc. --- french history. --- german music. --- german propaganda. --- historical. --- history. --- international music. --- lively. --- maurice durufle. --- music. --- musical legacy. --- olivier messiaen. --- performing arts. --- political authority. --- prisoner of war camp. --- quartet for the end of time. --- requiem. --- resistance songs. --- retrospective. --- revolutionaries. --- secret resistance. --- vichy france. --- vichy. --- world war 2.
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