Nixon in China : grand opera and the "Avant-garde"
Date
1991
Authors
Thompson, Brian Christopherb
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
While the opera Nixon In China (1987), by John Adams, Alice Goodman, and Peter Sellars, has accumulated a great quantity of public and critical attention, material is currently limited to performance reviews. Consequently, the aim of this thesis is to assess the dramatic success of the work, and examine its place in twentieth century opera and American culture.
The Introduction includes biographical material on the composer, librettist and director, their collaboration, and a brief summary of the performance history of the work.
The first half of the thesis examines the material of the opera: the text, the staging of the original production, and the musical style. The opening chapter is a description of the libretto and its staging (including a discussion of sets, costumes, stage action and a general description of the music), followed by a brief discussion of the poetic style. Chapter Two explores John Adams' musical language, examining the basic procedures by which the music operates, and includes numerous examples from the score.
Where the first two chapters deal with the materials of the opera in a purely descriptive fashion, the second half of the thesis is an examination of critical and historical issues. In Chapter Three the critical reception of the opera is discussed and then assessed with analysis of specific passages. The use and effectiveness of the orchestra, stage action, and other methods of characterization are discussed, as well as the role of Act III. The fourth and final chapter is an examination of the place of Nixon in China in the history of opera and contemporary American culture.
The use of political and historical subjects is examined as well as the division between tradition and the avant-garde in the twentieth century. The development of American minimalism and its aesthetic is also discussed--focusing on the stage works of Philip Glass and Robert Wilson. In concluding I have attempted to place Nixon in China into the larger context of late twentieth century culture by examining its relationship to popular culture
and postmodernism.
The primary source materials used in the preparation of this thesis have been the orchestral score, obtained through the promotion department at Boosey and Hawkes,* a video tape of the Houston production from a P.B.S. broadcast from 1988, and the Electra/Nonesuch sound recording (79177). Reviews of the opera from newspapers, and both general information and literary journals, such as Time, The New Yorker, and The Hudson Review, have been used as a point of departure for Chapter Three.