Transcript Sondheim 1
Sondheim 1 SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET Learning Objectives • To listen to two songs from Sweeney Todd • To compare and contrast Sondheim’s style of writing with Rodgers’ • To begin analysing The Ballad of Sweeney Todd The Ballad of Sweeney Todd • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAWWiYy_frY My Friends • Similarities with The Ballad of Sweeney Todd? • And with Green Finch and Linnet Bird, if you can remember… • Similarities and differences between Sondheim’s writing and Rodgers’? • Mood (and how is this achieved?) • How memorable are the melodic lines? • Do these songs work in isolation? • Ways in which the writing is more operatic? Sondheim’s writing • Darker, dramatic writing than Rodgers • Use of motif (occasionally leitmotif) • Use of pastiche (writing music in the style of others) • Complex, carefully crafted lyrics written by Sondheim • “Concept, the word coined to describe the form of the Sondheim musical, suggests that all elements of the musical, thematic and presentational, are integrated to suggest a central idea or image… Music, lyrics, dance, dialogue, design and direction fuse to support a focal thought” (Gordon, 1990) Sondheim’s writing 2 • Less “hummable” melodies; songs not intended to be used in isolation • Operatic quality to many musicals The Ballad of Sweeney Todd • Key • But what makes it ambiguous at the start? • Which accidental is missing? • Time signature and tempo – what does this suggest? • Chorus range – when is it highest? • What happens immediately afterwards? • How does the ending suggest skeletons? • What about the very last bar? Aside no. 1: Gigue/Jig • Baroque dance • From England! • Usually last movement in a suite • 6/8, 9/8 or 12/8 • Fast Aside no. 2: Dies irae • From the Mass for the Dead • Used a lot: • Saint-Saens: Danse Macabre • Holst: Saturn • Haydn: Symphony 103 • Tchaikovsky: Manfred Symphony • Rachmaninoff: Symphonies 1, 2 & 3 • Etc… • How is it used in TBOST? My Friends • Do you notice anything about the first notes Todd sings? (These are my friends) • Who are Todd’s friends? • Is the Dies irae used anywhere else in this song?