Pathétique: a tale of two rabbys

Abstract

My thesis incorporates a variety of contrasting styles and musical material in an attempt to unify them under the same work while maintaining a unique sound. Since I began composing, I've heard this collaboration in my head between the rock music that I listened to growing up with the contemporary classical and jazz music that I've learned to love through my academic endeavors. The concept of the piece stems from joining together the seriousness and tragedy of opera with the playfulness of musical theater. A full production is also intended to include dance. The score contains fully notated sections, fully improvised sections, as well as a combination of the two, utilizing techniques from traditional notation to graphic notation to pop charts and lead sheets. The instrumentation is an amalgamation of a chamber ensemble, operatic and popular song vocals, spoken word, and rock quartet. My approach to writing the music was to create a world in which all of these elements work together, without sounding as if a series of styles and genres were simply spliced back to back.