Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2015, Dance Studies

The Real Theatro de Sao Carlos de Lisboa employed Italian choreographers from its inauguration in 1793 to the middle of the nineteenth century. Many libretti for the ballets produced for the S. Carlos Theater have survived and are now housed in the National Library of Portugal. This dissertation focuses on the narratives of the libretti in this collection, and their importance as documentation of ballets of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, from the inauguration of the S. Carlos Theater in 1793 to 1850. This period of dance history, which has not received much attention by dance scholars, links the earlier baroque dance era of the eighteenth century with the style of ballet of the 1830s to the 1850s. Portugal had been associated with Italian art and artists since the beginning of the eighteenth century. This artistic relationship continued through the final decades of the eighteenth and the first half of the nineteenth century. The majority of the choreographers working in Lisbon were Italian, and the works they created for the S. Carlos Theater followed the Italian style of ballet d'action. Libretti are documented accounts of choreography of this period and contain important information regarding the style of the ballets produced in Lisbon. The narratives of the ballets in these libretti reveal the style of works produced in Lisbon from the late eighteenth to the middle of the nineteenth centuries: the ballet d action that relied on the use of pantomime and gestures to tell stories. The importance of pantomime in ballets of the period covered in this investigation becomes evident in the analysis of several scenarios of ballets produced in Lisbon. This salient characteristic of ballets of the period emerges through the plot developments of the ballets d action produced in Portugal.

Committee: Karen Eliot (Advisor) Subjects: Dance

M.M., University of Cincinnati, 2020, College-Conservatory of Music: Music History

The 1918 ballet, Parade, and its music by Erik Satie is a fascinating, and historically significant example of the avant-garde, yet it has not received full attention in the field of musicology. This thesis will provide a study of Parade and the avant-garde, and specifically discuss the ways in which the avant-garde creates a dialectic between the expressiveness of the artwork and the listener's emotional response. Because it explores the traditional boundaries of art, the avant-garde often resides outside the normal vein of aesthetic theoretical inquiry. However, expression theories can be effectively used to elucidate the aesthetics at play in Parade as well as the implications for expressability present in this avant-garde work. The expression theory of Jenefer Robinson allows for the distinction between expression and evocation (emotions evoked in the listener), and between the composer's aesthetical goal and the listener's reaction to an artwork. This has an ideal application in avant-garde works, because it is here that these two categories manifest themselves as so grossly disparate. Robinson's theory affirms that while the avant-garde elements of Parade may distort, it does not necessarily follow that this distortion lacks significance. Through these methods, expression theory will provide a fresh aesthetical significance to Parade, and a more consummate understanding of the work.

Committee: Jonathan Kregor Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Stephen Cahn Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Music; Philosophy