Composition Diploma 2012 - Summer Session

ScalaQuaranta wrote:

I had the opportunity to read other texts of opera scenes proposed in past years, but this year's

seemed quite disproportionate to me! 3 uninterrupted pages of dialogue, and I had to struggle quite a bit to be able to shape and divide them into the three typical and topical moments of an opera scene: recitative, aria, and arioso.

Doesn't this conception of an opera scene seem a bit outdated to you? I didn't think they would still be asking for this structure.

Curiosity, where did you get your diploma?

in Turin. It was certainly a rather obsolete choice, I agree with you. but it seems there are various schools of thought: some refractory towards excessively bold choices and writings; others that invite, or even demand, the most daring experimentation. since it was an exam, I preferred to stick to the 'tried and tested'. I do my experiments on my own.

and all in all, it didn't go that badly.

ScalaQuaranta wrote:

excessively bold choices and writings; others that invite, or even demand, the most daring experimentation.

Could you give an alternative example?

some teachers direct students towards a more 'classical' and proven style of writing, referring for example to Stravinsky, Bartók, Debussy, pushing the limit as far as Schoenberg... but no further. other teachers, on the other hand, prefer more advanced notations (e.g., boxes, clusters, special effects, musical instruments used in unconventional ways, etc.) and perhaps inviting their students to invent new ones... e.g., graphic scores like Bussotti's, or aleatoric music like Cage's, etc. in the examining commission of my diploma exam, these 2 schools of thought were indeed present simultaneously. among the graduates, some aspired (meritedly) to high grades, such as 10 and praise and special mention (we are talking about the old system), but it did not go beyond a 10.

Thank you ScalaQuaranta

ScalaQuaranta wrote:

some teachers direct students towards a more 'classical' and tested writing, which refers for example to Stravinsky, Bartók, Debussy, pushing the limit even up to Schoenberg...

I don't know why, but "recitative, aria, and arioso" unequivocally take me further back. Anyway, I understand, thanks for the answer