The Arsenal of Means Used by a Conductor in Decoding an Opera Score

Traian ICHIM

doi:10.24193/subbmusica.2023.2.18

Authors

Traian ICHIM Transilvania University of Brașov, Faculty of Music, B-dul Eroilor nr. 29, Cod postal 500036, Brașov, România, traian.ichim@unitbv.ro https://orcid.org/0009-0009-0516-8738

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24193/subbmusica.2023.2.18

Keywords:

opera performance, conductor, compositional techniques, analysis, Orpheus by Claudio Monteverdi.

Abstract

For a conductor the text of the score is that building material used in the creation of “his own world”. This paper examines the system
of means used by a conductor in creating an opera performance. A transformation of the “mobile” and “fixed” elements of the score into a magnificent world of opera performance. The study is based on material from a production of the opera Orpheus by Claudio Monteverdi, directed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, conductor being Nikolaus Harnoncourt. This staging can certainly be considered one of the most striking examples of the remarkable interplay between conductor and director in an opera production. Each new revised edition of different opera titles, over the centuries, becomes the product of the personal vision of the creators, acting from the point of view of the aesthetics of its time.

Author Biography

Traian ICHIM, Transilvania University of Brașov, Faculty of Music, B-dul Eroilor nr. 29, Cod postal 500036, Brașov, România, traian.ichim@unitbv.ro

Traian ICHIM was born in Chisinau, Republic of Moldova. Between 1994 and 1999 he attended the “Gheorghe Dima” Academy of Music in Cluj-Napoca, in the conducting class of maestro Petre Sbârcea. Since 2003 he has been a principal conductor at the Brasov Opera. Since October 2019, he has been a PhD lecturer at the Faculty of Music within the “Transylvania” University of Brașov. In the more than 20 years of activity Traian Ichim has collaborated with personalities from the world of music, such as: Leo Nucci, Leontina Văduva, Elena Moșuc, Mariana Nicolesco, Florin Croitoru, Andrei Șerban etc. Traian Ichim is the author of several articles published in newspapers and magazines.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8361qIY8wpk