The Unity of Music, Singing and Movement: From the Experience of the Production the Opera “Orpheus and Eurydice” by K. V. Gluck in the Genre of Vocal-Plastic Action

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the author’s own experience of the production of Gluck’s “Orpheus and Eurydice” in the genre of vocal-plastic action. The main character of the performance is the “dancing choir” which plastically expresses the musical images and meanings. The unity of music and dancing, singing and movement creates a specific type of musical theatre, musical drama being the basis of the action. The work was based on the method of musical movement and vocal- movement training. On this foundation, the training of performers was carried out, which allowed in the further to combine organically movement with singing, to create one ensemble, singing and dancing at the same time. The article sets out the main principles of vocal-movement training – the author’s method of training the singing voice and basic vocal skills building through active movement during group classes. The stages of work on the performance, the search for a harmonious union of musical, plastic, vocal and plot lines of the performance are described. In order to carry out the concept of the performance-action the innovative techniques have been worked out. The article reveals connection between the proposed approach and the main trends in the development of art in the late XIX – early XXI centuries: the idea of the synthesis of arts, improvisation, interest in the creative process itself and creation of a work, the active role and co-authorship of all participants in the performance, including the audience, the desire of a modern person to overcome machinery and gain the lost integrity.

Keywords

• synthesis of arts
• musical movement
• vocal-movement training
• voice
• breathing
• improvisation
• musical-plastic theatre
• vocal-plastic action
• c. w. gluck
• “orpheus and eurydice”