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2014, Master of Music (MM), Bowling Green State University, Music Composition.
Cacophony is a chamber operetta written in one act with an approximate duration of fifteen minutes. It is scored for four sopranos, an actress, B-flat clarinet, cello, and piano. In addition to the acoustic component, there are several important electroacoustic aspects including a soundscape and voice-over. The operetta contains four arias which are intervallically unified by the use of a third followed by a second. The audience is privy to a schizophrenic woman's routine therapist visit. The patient experiences hallucinations of historic female serial killers. They prompt the patient's self-reflection regarding her recent mental state. Each of the characters manifest as hallucinations sings an aria that stylistically represents the era, location, or brutality of their respective crimes. Both the patient and the psychiatrist are portrayed by the actress. This scenario provides a comment on the degrees of self-examination applied to oneself, and the audience shares in the patient's perspective of reality. The libretto aims to create a specific viewpoint and bias--life seen through the eyes of the patient. The operetta is meant to be performed in an intimate theater arranged in the round. The four hallucinations, as portrayed by the sopranos, are placed in the audience. This introduces the idea that the entire audience comprises the patient's hallucinations. The psychiatrist is realized through the use of electronics. The actress pre-records all of the psychiatrist's lines. In performance, this audio is the sole means by which the psychiatrist is realized. The recordings are triggered by a Max patch containing a cuing list wherein corresponding numbers are found in the libretto. An additional electroacoustic aspect is an ambient soundscape which serves as a means by which the setting is established.
Marilyn Shrude (Advisor)
Christopher Dietz (Committee Member)
39 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Roberts, J. N. (2014). Cacophony [Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1395329715

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Roberts, Jennifer. Cacophony. 2014. Bowling Green State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1395329715.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Roberts, Jennifer. "Cacophony." Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1395329715

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)