Theses by C.M. Griffiths
Shakespeare and music studies has been an energetic but marginal scholarly field within the broad... more Shakespeare and music studies has been an energetic but marginal scholarly field within the broader discipline of Shakespeare studies. The field has been limited by a general assumption that the use of music in Shakespeare primarily supports dramatic effects in performance. As a result, the field tends to address issues of historical practices, and seldom interacts with the deeper critical priorities addressed in Shakespeare studies, such as the “radical” post-Marxist readings of Shakespearean drama that emerged in the 1980s under the name “cultural materialism”. In this thesis, I argue that the critical priorities of cultural materialism are closely related to the use of music in Shakespeare through their mutual connection to the writings of Boethius, a Latin philosopher of late-antiquity who proposes that the cosmic and civil order are worldly manifestations of abstract “harmony”. I argue that Boethius’ typology is an important philosophical framework for the radical “dialectics” that materialist criticism recognises in Shakespearean drama, and a reading of these dialectics may be supported through the analysis of musical practices depicted in the plays. I additionally argue that Shakespeare and music studies has avoided addressing critical questions raised by modernist music theory, particularly the revisions of harmony that took place in the early-twentieth century, in which the subordinate relationship of music to text is critiqued. I propose that a modernist contribution to the study of music in Shakespeare may be sought through the radical “compositions” of English composer Cornelius Cardew, whose Marxist critiques of both the social and harmonic structures of Western music reflect a modern rethinking of Boethius, and consequently provide a valuable analytical template for interpreting performances of Shakespeare through a musical framework. On the strength of these claims, I advocate for the rehabilitation of Boethius’ typology as a living philosophical framework, arguing that its viability rests in the mutual evolution of social and harmonic theory. I demonstrate the viability of these claims through an analysis of The Tempest, in which I argue that the play’s musical episodes illustrate tensions in the social sphere of the drama. I explore these tensions further in the analysis of two modern productions of The Tempest, in which I illustrate that the philosophical framework of Boethius equally informs the management of music in theatrical performance. I utilise modernist performance methodologies to propose radical approaches to staging Shakespearean through an understanding of its music.
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Submitted for mid-candidature review (5/5/15)
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Australian Literary Studies 29. 1 - 2 (2104)
In this thesis I argue that Richard Strauss’s 1918 song-set Drei Lieder Der Ophelia is best inter... more In this thesis I argue that Richard Strauss’s 1918 song-set Drei Lieder Der Ophelia is best interpreted as a work of German expressionism. I argue that such a reading must take place outside the standard definition of “expressionism” upheld in musicology, since that definition only describes a narrow range of stylistic techniques. To establish a model of expressionism that can be satisfied by the Ophelia Lieder, I outline four basic criteria of Expressionist art that I have developed through an interdisciplinary survey of the movement. When this model for expressionism is established, I use it to compare the Ophelia Lieder to two Expressionist poems that also use Ophelia imagery: “Schone Jugend” by Gottfried Benn and “Ophelia” by Georg Heym. This comparison provides the basis for a close musical analysis of the song-set as an Expressionist work.
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Reviews by C.M. Griffiths
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A review of Caliban, produced by Western Edge Youth Arts, and performed at the Malthouse Theatre.... more A review of Caliban, produced by Western Edge Youth Arts, and performed at the Malthouse Theatre. 2016.
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A critical review of Shakespeare's Globe's 2016 production of The Taming of the Shrew, directed b... more A critical review of Shakespeare's Globe's 2016 production of The Taming of the Shrew, directed by Caroline Byrne
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http://www.margheritapeluso.com/
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Published Articles by C.M. Griffiths
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Australian Literary Studies 29.1 - 2 (2014)
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Musicology musings - 2009 to present by C.M. Griffiths
A short study that examines the creation and reception of Mendelssohn's popular oratorio Elijah, ... more A short study that examines the creation and reception of Mendelssohn's popular oratorio Elijah, which was premiered in Great Britain in 1846
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Theses by C.M. Griffiths
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Reviews by C.M. Griffiths
To read, follow the link: https://theconversation.com/lies-monsters-and-kate-mulvanys-intensely-human-portrayal-of-richard-3-76571
Published Articles by C.M. Griffiths
Musicology musings - 2009 to present by C.M. Griffiths
*****
To read, follow the link: https://theconversation.com/lies-monsters-and-kate-mulvanys-intensely-human-portrayal-of-richard-3-76571
This symposium calls upon these diverse areas of expertise that make up the modern field to assist in identifying and developing strategies for the integration of music into productions of Shakespeare. We invite submissions from theatre and music practitioners, academics in literature, theatre, history and music studies, as well as postgraduate and undergraduate students, to contribute to this conversation. We impose no particular restrictions on paper topics, provided they are generally relevant to the field of Shakespeare and music studies.
In this document, I analyse two scenes: the first depicts a confrontation between Ariel and Prospero that occurs in the play at 1.2.221–299; the second is a presentation of Ariel's song 'Where the bee sucks', which appears at 5.1.92–111