User:165.170.128.66/Failing Kansas

Failing Kansas is the first opera of a trilogy of operas by Mikel Rouse, which was first performed in 1995. Inspired by Truman Capote's In Cold Blood and counterposing disparate musical elements, the work makes use of first-person narrative from several people and a form that Rouse calls "counterpoetry," which involves the use of multiple unpitched voices in counterpoint.[1]

Scoring Content Nine parts
 * Harmonica
 * Guitar
 * Voice, unpitched declamation
 * Keyboard
 * Strings
 * Prelude
 * [Scene i] The Last to See Them Alive
 * [Interlude i] Like My Dream
 * [Scene ii] Persons Unknown
 * [Interlude ii] A Brief History of My Boy's Life
 * [Scene iii] Answer
 * [Interlude iii] The Private Diary of Perry Edward Smith
 * [Scene iv] The Corner
 * [Postlude] In Cold Blood

Other parts of the trilogy are the operas Dennis Cleveland (1996) and The End Of Cinematics (1998).

Formal Analysis "Counterpoetry is the use of multiple unpitched voices in strict metric counterpoint." " I was able to move beyond a narrative approach and toward the effect of pure sound; the sound of many conflicting voices assembling the story." "The libretto is composed of actual transcripts and testimony from the event as well as fragments of verse by Robert W. Service and Thomas Gray and songs by Perry Smith, who along with Dick Hickock was responsible for the murders. In addition, research on pentecostal hymns heard during this period (most notably those of the composer C. Austin Miles) are rearranged into the prism of competing spoken texts. The themes of religion, social justice, and the mystery of what we call fate all combine in this work, resting uneasily with the hope of redemption." "The scenes develop complex vocal relationships and share thematic material while adding new voices as the opera progresses. The interludes serve two main functions: 1) to introduce a wider variety of spoken vocal techniques and 2) to provide a respite from the dense vocal counterpoint of the four main scenes. There are two sets of musical themes throughout the piece and these separate themes are divided between the four scenes and the interludes. The first set of themes are presented in The Last To See Them Alive. They are as follows: A1) An arpeggio figure in 4/4 in the key of e which resolves to CMAJ7. Superimposed over this figure is a resetting of the pentecostal hymn In The Garden which retains the originals half-time meter but abandons the melodic and harmonic information. This theme is stated at both the beginning and the end of the first scene, foreshadowing its importance as the closing theme of the opera at which time it is joined by a chorus of spoken voices which gradually enter a line at a time, gathering together the ninth stanza of Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard. A2) A metric figure of 3+3+1+3 with a chord progression of A-f#-c#-D + A-c#-D-E is combined with a spoken figure in 4/4 of a ballad by Perry Smith. This theme is restated in Answer over a comprehensive listing of highways and hotels, motels, rivers, towns, and cities. A3) A simple melodic figure in the key of F with alternating accents of 3 and 2. This theme falls in the middle of an arc (A+B+C+D+C+B+A+D) in The Last To See Them Alive as well as serving as the closing. It reappears in Persons Unknown in extreme augmentation, alternating keys in an arc of A-G-F-G-A. The second set of themes are found in the interludes and consist of various permutations of the following figures: B1) A syncopated motif of 3+4+4+4+4 which expands or contracts depending on the instrumentation: harmonica/strings (expand), guitar/keyboard (contract). B2) A small melodic motif with an implied tonal center of e. The cyclical nature of this melody compliments the texture of the multiple voices. The repeating fragment is reharmonized to C at the end of The Private Diary Of Perry Edward Smith. The Prelude combines both sets of themes. Harmonicas double strings in long tones of 3(6) against 2(4) permutating the second set of themes. A solo harmonica then states the first set of themes over this constant shifting of sound. The opera is "topped off" by the closing song In Cold Blood. The import of the opera is perhaps suggested in the line 'Asleep among the Son of God's disease' where 'Asleep among' (plural) suggests a gathering together, while 'the Son of God's disease' (singular) implies a sacred contradiction. In this contrary grammatical message lies the meaning of this opera."--http://www.mikelrouse.com/failing-kansas.html

Sources and Inspirations Mozart: Don Giovanni, Act I:xx Finale where a melody in 3/4 is juxtaposed with a melody in 2/4, and then a melody in 3/8 adds to the shifting metric sense.

Notes [1] http://www.mikelrouse.com/mikel-rouse-bio1.html