Im Digitalisierungsprojekt „Ernst Krenek lectures online: die musiktheoretischen Vorträge eines Exil-Österreichers“ wurden die im Archiv der Ernst-Krenek-Institut-Privatstiftung aufbewahrten Manuskripte und Typoskripte zu Kreneks Lehrveranstaltungen, Vorträgen und Radiosendungen in einer kuratierten Auswahl online verfügbar und durchsuchbar gemacht, sowie mit begleitenden historischen und biographischen Informationen kontextualisiert.
Digitalisiert wurden rund 90 Schriftgutobjekte mit einem Gesamtseitenumfang von rund 800 Seiten. 75% dieser Objekte sind Manuskripte, die restlichen 25% sind Typoskripte, wobei die Hälfte der Dokumente in deutscher, die andere Hälfte in englischer Sprache verfasst sind. Diese Dokumente stammen aus dem Nachlass Ernst Kreneks und stehen im Zusammenhang mit seiner Lehr- und Vortragstätigkeit sowohl in akademischen Institutionen als auch in Rundfunksendungen.
Textfehler und Schreibfehler wurden übernommen.
Fehlende i-Punkte, Umlautzeichen etc. werden stillschweigend ergänzt. Geminationsstriche werden aufgelöst. Leerzeichen und Abteilungszeichen werden standardisiert.
Fehlende Interpunktion wird nicht ergänzt. In Zweifelsfällen wird das den Rechtschreibregeln entsprechende Interpunktionszeichen erfasst. Striche werden immer als Bindestriche erfasst.
Es werden ausschließlich englisch Anführungszeichen verwendet. Es wird vorlagegemäß zwischen einfachen und doppelten Anführungszeichen unterschieden.
Die Silbentrennung wird vorlagegemäß übernommen.
Der Text wird in Seiten, Textfelder (Paragraphen, Überschriften, Seitenzahlen, Notizen) und Zeilen segmentiert.
Auf Einladung der National Federation of Music Clubs in Ohio hielt Krenek einen Vortrag bei der Silvester-Feier der gemeinnützigen Organisation zur Förderung von Amerikanischen Musik. Krenek formulierte Ideen zur Schaffung eines distinkt amerikanischen Stils von Neuer Oper mit Betonung des Theatralischen unter Bezugnahme auf Ideen des „Living Newspapers“. Dieser Versuch in theatralische Performance tagesaktuelle Diskussionen zu integrieren wurde führend von einer Kollegin Kreneks am Vassar College vertreten. Interessant ist auch Kreneks Berücksichtigung vom Film und dessen Technologien, spezifisch sein Hinweis auf den „Fantasound“, ein von den Disney-Studios entwickeltes Mehrkanal-Aufnahmeverfahren, das nur wenige Wochen zuvor in New York bei einer Vorführung von „Fantasia“ präsentiert wurde.
To speak about a new idea for American Opera is slight-
ly embarrassing for me since I am about to finish a new
operatic work along the lines which I shall discuss pre-
sently. I hope, however, you will not mind this circum-
stance. After all, it seems natural enough that a person
who has an idea tries to realize it practically, or that
somebody who does something new speaks about the idea be-
hind it.
More than any other musical art, opera depends in its
outward appearance on the conditions under which it is pro-
duced. When real opera came into being about
a quite generous reception, as it seems.
unsurpassed musico-dramatist of those early days, employed
in his
stra with many fancy instruments vanished since. Thirty
years later he was left with but a few leading characters,
almost no chorus and an orchestra more or less confined to
stringed instruments. Economic changes had made dwindle the
financial resources of operatic production at that time.
Again thirty years later, however, opera re-appeared as a
super-glamorous spectacle, as for instance in the produc-
tions of
do not know whether they had in their vocabulary anything
equivalent to what is so appropriately called "thrilling
fantasound", but in effect it must have been something
of the kind.
The important thing in all these ups and downs is that the
artistic evolution was not affected at all by their impact.
opportunities of the period, but he did not give in as far
as his musical intentions were concerned. It is due to
this unswerving attitude that opera remained an essential
branch of the musical movement and
cance as a show place of progress. Applying this experience
to our situation, we have to conclude that American opera
will florish and gain historical import to the extent as
it keeps abreast with the evolution of music proper and
adjusts itself to the practical conditions.
What are the practical conditions? Realistically seen,
there is no opera house in this country which would be
ready to put across new operas using the traditional appa-
ratus of full-sized orchestra and chorus. The only insti-
tution endowed with sufficient equipment is, of course,
the
which I do not wish to analyze here this institute takes
as little active interestcontemporary
temporary operatic establishments in different cities,
formed after its image.
Therefore, the new American opera needs a new framework.
Our requirement that the new opera should employ advanced
musical means implies careful preparation, that is: ample
rehearing time. Considering the practical possibilities,
we will get what we want only if we compensate the expen-
ses involved in comprehensive preparation by keeping the
size of our apparatus as small as possible. This, in turn,
will enable us to move easily from place to place and to
make up for the lack of serial performances in one place
by having many of them in different places.
These circumstances determine the outline of a new
operatic style which once might truly be called the Ame-
rican Style because it grows out of the will to march
in the frontline of evolution and because it rests upon
the specific conditions offered in this country. I assure
you that, if a period in the history of opera shall be
called the American period, it will be so only in account
of its artistic importance, regardless of what subjects
have been treated by composers and playwrights. No one
would find Italian opera worth considering if it had had
no other merits than having elaborated on provincial to-
pics, and it is certainly not the amount of quaint Teuto-
nic stuff that made
story of opera; his artistic vision is all that counts.
The smallness of the orchestral apparatus which may
consist of not more than six instruments calls for a very
circumspect handling in order to avoid overworking and
monotony. Therefore certain sections of such a play will
be filled with spoken dialogue. This, in turn, makes a
flexible dramatic technique necessary. The device known
as "living newspaper" will be quite valuable. It breaks
up the continuous flow of dramatic action and introduces
the element of critical discussion. This is a distinctly
new idea in opera since it destroys the factor of illusion
which played a decisive part in the development of roman-
tic opera. From the technique of the movies we take over
sovereign dealing with time and space. This, in turn, re-
quires thorough simplification of scenery which is well in
keeping with our intention to reduce the paraphernalia of
our production to a minimum.
During the last few years many of these ideas have al-
ready been discussed here and there, and people inter-
ested in the promotion of American opera agree on those
principles in general. I seem, however, to observe that
many think first of suitable adaptation of the traditio-
nal repertory, or assume that new plays based on
the ideas set forth here have to be distinctly popular -
whatever that may mean. Adaptation of older operas might
be interesting and necessary as long as new material is
not available. But it were a fatal mistake to believe
that the problem can be solved from the side of perfor-
mance exclusively. New impulses of a creative nature are
indispensable. As far as popularity is concerned, nothing
could be worse than to underrate the capacity of the au-
dience. Time and again I observed that talking down, or
playing down to an audience is a most pernicious attitu-
de. I know from three years of experience with all kinds
of people that the American public is many times more
intelligent, capable of efforts and willing to make them
than most of its commercial caterers dare to believe.
In some cases the new opera was launched as a
interesting sideline, but it should never be thought of
as more than that. This concept again involves a limita-
tion of the artistic content while the only way to create
a new operatic style is the one in which all aspects are
limited except the artistic level. The new style requires
trained performers - not opera stars who are petrified
in routine, but young singers who are musically intelli-
gent and have a definite talent for acting.
Here are the two points where school and education
come in: on the one hand, we need performers thoroughly
trained in music and drama, people who have flexible
voices, perfect articulation of text in singing and
speaking, good readers with a keen ear who do not balk
before unusual intervals, and who know how to behave on
There is a tremendous task for our voice and drama de-
partments. On the other hand, schools would be the most
appropriate and dignified centers for the new venture.
The creation of a new opera style is one of the noblest
opportunities offered to this nation. The problems in-
volved can not be solved
angle. Training interpreters for the new musical assign-
ments, educating the public throughout the country so
that opera would become a part of the intellectual life
of the nation instead of being a luxurious pastime for
a few wealthy metropolitans - these are the tasks be-
fore us. It would be only natural that the great teaching
centers of America attend to them with customary zeal.