Tuesday, August 13, 1965
Page 2
Summer Nebraskan
Music
hen
When a director talks about
technical problems in pro
ducing opera he is talking
about more than just a cast
of thousands, hundreds of
props, or curtain cues.
He is concerned about the
fusion of drama, music
choral and orchestral, art and
ballet , into a total aesthetic
experience for the audience
which , creates a total picture
of unity.
John Zei, is dramatic
director of "La Boheme,"
now in its final week of
rehearsal before opening Aug.
17. He has worked with his
cast since the beginning of
June for the upcoming pro
duction. He said that the greatest
difficulty in directing opera
lies with the singer-actor
himself:
"A singer, by his very
nature, does not have the
tradition of moving around
when lie sings. He must have
a background of choral
tradition so that he can res
pond to certain choral prin
ciples. But the problem
created by opera is the addi
tion of physical expression
needed to give a portrayal."
Zei said that a singer-actor,
then, must be taught how to
move in a manner which will
not danger his voice.
"And therein lies the main
reason for the e n o r m o u s
amount of time needed to
mount' a show of this propor
tion," Zei said.
In effect, the singer then
undergoes a complete
reversal of polarity. He starts
out by having the music de
mand. certain things of him.
In the end, the singer must
make the audience feel that
it is lie who is commanding
the music.
This process is lengthy, Zei
explained:
In the first place, the singer
is bound by the musical
demands of the score from
what the composer has writ
ten. The singer must abide
by the rules of the composer,
which i n c 1 u d ecrescendos,
metric times, and all of the
innuendos that he has set
down to make an idea com
plete. The singer learns these
through the director's
coaching.
After he learns his musical
role he then goes into block
i ng . sessions. The
measurements of the actual
stage are taped (in different
colors for each act) on the
floor of the rehearsal room,
and the singer must learn
where he should be at a
prescribed time.
"This is done with the idea
that the director has a certain
Creates Problems
ra Is Produced
... 'La Boheme9 Opens Saturday
Ope
w
ml (: ? I ; -
Mimi (Lorraine Gibb) and Rudolpho (Raymond
Miller) fall in love during this scene in "La Boheme."
picture in his mind," Zei said,
"and he wants the singer to
be there for that picture.
He emphasized that the
singer-actor is allowed com
plete freedom in his
interpretation of his role.
"No two people will do a
role the same way because
of this," Zei said. "Each will
have a different feeling and
sense of pace."
Often parts of an opera
have to be reblocked. Certain
parts must be lengthened.
The tempo might have to be
increased. Sets could be
changed all to make it
right for a total effect.
Once the actual theatre is
entered the singer is ham
pered with the addition
of properties, costumes and
lighting.
"But the singer-actor thinks
of his voice first, so all of
these additives are done bit-by-bit
so that a complete
performance is the result," he
continued.
Zei said that the basic pro
blem with music-drama,
when compared to straight
On the INside
Was it (a) An Act of God, (b) a touch of irony, or c) a
show of power which caused the electricity failure on Aug. 7
over most of Eastern Nebraska, moments after Richard M.
Nixon was nominated for the Republican presidential
candidacy?
Miss Nebraska has been chosen. So has Misg Universe
and Miss Pork Queen. It seems that Madison Avenue has
overlooked a large segment of the Miss Title contest. Try
to picture the following queens: Miss Carriage. Miss
Cegenation. Miss Demeanor. Miss Fit. Miss Hap. Miss
Begotten. And, of course, there is Miss Nomer.
Rumors have it that there is a "Draft Hersey for Veep"
movement within the American-Independent party.
: SUMMER
NEBRASKAN
Editor ',
Bulstaj MMfr
Larry Ec-khoH
M. Brew.
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drama, is that in drama the
actor can bring a scene to
its climax by the actual
workings of a plot.
Everything happens before
the eyes of the audience.
But music-drama revolves
around the "episode" key
things that have happened
which, in reality, are only
imagined by the observer. It
takes longer to develop a
musical idea because certain
devices (arias, duets, choral
numbers) are always used.
"La Boheme" will be
performed in Howell Theatr,
on a comparitively small
stage. Since most operas re
quire a change of sets with
each scene it has been the
custom of the Music Depart
ment U stage operas in an
impressionistic mode: most of
the scenery establishes a
where-they-are mood but
much is left to the imagina
tion of the audience.
Zei said that the greatest
detail is spent on costuming
which is costly. The romantic,
exhuborent customs of the
Bohemians depicted in Puc
cini's opera open the costume
designer's choices of color
and nonconformity, so the
stage should be filled with
dazzling images, he said.
The other element of opera
the orchestra will be used
by the NU production troupe.
A twenty-piece group will ae
company the production.
"The orchestra is an all'
important element of opera,"
Zei saK "Without it, much
of the impact would be miss
ed."
Soon the Music Department
will be able to use the new
Kimball Recital Hall for
operatic productions.
The building should be fin'
ished in time for a 1969 Sum
mer Nebraska premier of
"The Number of Fools," an
opera composed by Robert
Beadell of the NU Music De
partment, with libretto by
Stanley Peters.
The new stage will be over
twice the size of the one
presently used, so Zei
believes that future produc
tions will utilize even more
the impressionistic technique.
"The art form will be even
more pure," he concluded.
"The opera will unfold not as
they see it on stage, but as
they will want to 6ee it in
their minds."
Call to the New Party
EPILOGUE
This is the last issue of the 1968 SUMMER
NEBRASKAN.
In our eight issues we have tried to offer each
segment of the diverse University community some
thing each week.
We hope that, at sometime, you have been
pleased with something you have read in this paper
these past weeks, remembering that the old adage ap
plies to a campus newspaper too.
We wish to thank all of the columnists, the re
viewers, the artists, the photographers, and all those
who did help us this summer. We thank our adver
tisers who kept us in the black. And we thank you
for reading our campus weekly.
Larry Eckholt, Editor
Meg Brown, Business Manager
By Phillip H. Scribner
Chairman, Formation of The New Party
In the desperate days of last fall there was born a
new political movement which could breathe a new vitality
into the democratic processes of the country and change
the direction of national policy. But now that movement
stands at the crossroads. We can sit back an watch its
repudiation by the party professionals at the national con
ventions. Or we can act to preserve and continue it in
the only way possible now by forming a new political
party.
To find the origins of this political movement, we must
look back to last fall. We had seen a summer of racial
riots in 1967 the worst riots of this century. There
were some who hoped that this nation could be led to
solve the problems which lay behind the violent outbursts.
But their disappointment was predictable; their President
named a day of prayer and appointed a commission.
Last fall we faced a long and pointless war. It was
hard to imagine a more foolish and inhuman policy. And
again there were those who hoped that our leaders could
extricate us from that needless bloodshed and set us on
a new path in our dealings with foreign countries around
the world. But once more their disillusionment was to
be expected; their President continued to escalate our com
mitment to the war and refused to make the concessions
necessary to negotiate a settlement.
There were other festering sores in our social structure
which had become obvious to most people, but last fall
these two overwhelmtes issues, the war and the domestic
crisis, took precedence. And clearly they were related to
one another, for the Administration's priorities for national
action demanded that we kill Vietnamese rather than save
Americans.
Movement of Change
That desperate fall a political movement was begun
to change the direction of American history. Recognizing
that stopping the war was necessarily the first step, a
group of Nebraskans joined a national movement to dump
Johnson and repudiate hu war policies. When McCarthy
agreed to be a candidate in December, it quickly became
a campaign to defeat the Administration in the primaries.
These moves were made against the advice of all the
professional politicians. Who does not remember their
pessimistic cries: "It is no use; it cannot be done," and
"You cannot deny an incumbent President renomination
in his own party"? But those concerned Americans who
began the movement had more faith in the democratic
process than in the schoolbook regularities of hack politi
cians. In turning to the democratic process, marshalling votes,
arguing, getting people interested and involved, other
desperate alternatives were rejected. There were, after
all, many who were talking about revolution, burning cities
decided to drop out, and nearly 80 per cent of all the
Democrats who were given the opportunity to choose in
the primaries voted for candidates who fundamentally op
posed the policies of the Johnson-Humphrey administration.
Those who began the drive found more support for their
cause than anyone could have predicted in the fall. By
the California primary one could finally believe in victory
at the convention and in November; one could believe
thai LBJ would be replaced by someone who was sincerely
committed to stopping the war and dealing with our domestic
ills. Their faith in the good judgment of the American
voter was vindicated.
Tragedy's Aftermath
But then Kennedy was assassinated.
The people invoived in the campaigns were broken
and tired, unable to find direction.
And while they floundered, looking for direction, Hubert
Humphrey was flying delegates to the Capitol for the
Washington treatment.
In these few weeks before the Democratic convention,
we face, not the fruits of victory at the polls, but the
prospect of being denied all that we have fought for this
long year. The representative of the very Administration
which was rejected so decisively at the polls, the advocate
of precisely those policies we challenged in the primaries,
Hubert H. Humphrey, has wrapped up the Democratic
Convention for his own nomination. He has done this, not
by campaigning in the primaries, not because he won the
support of the people, but because he is the choice of
LBJ to continue his policies and the recipient of all the
delegate votes Johnson controls through patronage, party
professionals and power in the party. Those delegates
number about 500 of the approximately 2300 delegates at.
the convention. If Humphrey were denied those 500 votes,
McCarthy would be leading in the unofficial delegate counts.
If Humphrey were denied the additional hundreds of votes
he controls from state conventions governed by the unit
rule, the voters could be heard at the convention.
What is disgusting about this outcome is not so much
that the Democratic party is undemocratic. The party pro
fessionals who run it have rarely been interested in listening
to what the Democrats across the country want, and there
is nothing new about that. What really is disgusting is
that because the Democratic party is undemocratic, none
of the three candidates who appear on the ballot in the
fall will represent the position of the vast number of insistent
voters which put McCarthy and Kennedy in the running
and which gave Rockefeller hope.
At the Crossroads
The movement which supported the candidacies of Ken
nedy, McCarthy and Rockefeller stands, therefore, at a
crossroads. In the next v.'ek we will help decide where
it goes. On the one hand we can quietly accept the rejection
of our candidates and position by the party professionals
down, blowing up induction centers, and the like. There and rally half-heartedly behind Humphrey out of fear of
were others who talked of leaving the country or sitting
back and waiting for the worst. But the fact remained
that 1968 was an election year, and there was a chance
just a chance that they could influence the decisions
about national policy made through those elections. And
thus was born the new political movement: grassroots in
its support, tied to issues rather than power, and
unequivocally committed to democratic procedures.
The most dramatic and outstanding fact about the new
political movement was that it was almost completely suc
cessful. In the New Hampshire primary, the unknown can
didate of the movement, Eugene McCarthy, took 42 per
cent of the vote away from LBJ. Kennedy joined the attempt
to change the Administration's policies in the only way
he thought possible by changing the personnel. Johnson
Nixon and Wallace. That is, we can abandon all that the
movement fought for and solemly prepare for four more
years of the same. On the other hand we can act. We
can continue the movement begun last fall. We can take
the only effective means open to us to insure that we
have a candidate in the fall elections who represents us.
The Democrats will choose their candidate on the 28th
of August. At this time, it appears the choice will be
made in total disregard of the Democrats who supported
Kennedy and McCarthy in the primary elections. The
political professionals feel safe in doing this for they believe
that, although they shove Humphrey down the throats of
the Democratic voters, by the time the fall elections roll
around the dissident Democrats will have rallied behind
Continued on Page 3
Pi-
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