Tod Machover and his New Opera

"AMERICA’S MOST WIRED COMPOSER"

Tod Machover was born November 24, 1953, in Mount Vernon, New York to a mother who was a pianist and a father who was a computer scientist. He received a Bachelors and Masters of Music from the Juilliard School, where he studied with composers Milton Babbit and Roger Sessions, two students of Arnold Schoenberg who built upon his twelve-tone composition method. Machover began his doctorate at Juilliard, but left to attend the Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music in France as a composer-in-residence and became the Director of Musical Research in 1980. Tod Machover has been the Director of the Experimental Media Facility of Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab since its opening in 1985, he is currently the chair of the Opera of the Future group.

Tod Machover

Named the 2016 Composer of the Year by Musical America, Tod Machover was considered by the Los Angeles Times “America’s Most Wired Composer.” Tod has composed six full-length operas (Schoenberg in Hollywood making it seven!), many with sci-fi plots and cutting-edge music technology. In Death and the Powers (2010), which earned him a finalist position for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Music, his work featured robots—operabots, to be exact—and it took forty computers to run the production and over 140 speakers to broadcast the sound. Death and the Powers also featured Hyperinstruments, conceived by Machover and invented at the MIT Media Lab. Hyperinstruments are founded in computer algorithms that measure and interpret human expression and feeling and then use that data to augment traditional musical instruments to create a broader range of sounds. Machover also created a new software, called Hyperscore, that allows children and adults to create entire compositions based off of free-hand drawings and the selection of musical materials. Hyperscore is part of his Toy Symphony project, using smart toys that make complex musical ideas and composition accessible to anyone. These inventions have also been used for music therapy.

Machover’s music and musical inventions cross traditional artistic boundaries, blurring the line of what an instrument can be. Machover also created the City Symphony Project, in which he, with the residents of a city, along with its symphony orchestras and choirs, create a “sonic portrait” of their city by listening to their urban environment to determine its defining aural experiences and translating that into a musical score. This project has been conducted in cities including Toronto, Detroit, Perth, and most recently, Philadelphia, which, for example, used the sounds of sizzling cheesesteak sandwiches in the final composition.

The inspiration for Schoenberg in Hollywood has been simmering in Machover’s mind for over two decades. He and his close collaborator, Braham Murray, developed the concept and the scenario. They then invited Simon Robson to write the libretto. Though the score is entirely Machover’s own, Schoenberg’s compositions are referenced in many parts of the production as Machover builds a biographical sound world to explore the interworkings and interpersonal drama of this revolutionary composer. Schoenberg in Hollywood is in some ways more of an “acoustic” composition than some of Machover’s earlier operas, however he will combine live acoustic classical orchestral instruments with electronic instrumentation to enter into Schoenberg’s meditation on his own life and what it means to be a responsible human. Just as Schoenberg pushed the boundaries of 20 th century music, so too does Tod Machover push musical convention and innovation into the 21 th century. While opera is rooted many centuries into the past, as a medium to explore profound stories through music and theater, it continues to be a vibrant and compelling art form to describe the complex emotions of present day and into the future. Learn more about Tod Machover’s latest projects at www.todmachover.com

DISCUSS: What ways does technology help or hinder storytelling in opera? What do you think the opera of the future will sound like and look like?

Photo of Machover with Hyper-glove, one of his hyperinstrument inventions. 1990

Wikimedia Commons.

Did you know? The initial technological concepts for the popular video games Guitar Hero and Rock Band grew out of Tod Machover's collaboration and mentorship with MIT students who worked in the Media Lab.

OPERA IS ALIVE AND WELL

A set model for Schoenberg in Hollywood by scenic designer Simon Higlett.

There are new operas being commissioned, composed, and performed each year in the United States and around the world. The art form of opera continues to thrive and evolve, telling important stories of our time through the performing and visual arts, and featuring the evocative emotional power of the human voice. Schoenberg in Hollywood marks a milestone for Boston Lyric Opera as our first full-length solo commissioned opera, a process that has been several years in the works. Although BLO does not currently have a home theater, the World Premiere will

take place at the Emerson Paramount Center—a venue that was originally built in the Art Deco style and opened in 1932 as a move house—just a year before Schoenberg immigrated to Boston. It remains to be seen whether this opera will stand the test of time and be performed in years to come; after all, many of the most famous operas we know today did not achieve instant fame. however it is exciting none the less to be a part of something new—the first audiences of a brand new work of art, the telling of a compelling story.

DISCUSS: What are you most curious about in anticipation of seeing a brand new opera?

Technology’s Leading Role In addition to some electronic music contributions, Schoenberg in Hollywood will feature film projection as a prominent aspect of the set design and the storytelling. Using film and projection is increasingly common in theater and opera to create certain effects directly related to the setting or other aspects to the story. Schoenberg in Hollywood has a creative team that includes a Media and Projection Designer and a Sound Designer in addition to a Composer, Librettist, Costume Designer, Set Designer, Lighting Designer, Choreographer and Director.

LISTEN UP!

Schoenberg’s Beginnings

Schoenberg began his career by imitating other composers he liked. He grew up listening to composers including Brahms, and at age 23 composed a string quartet of his own. Listen to Brahms’ and Schoenberg’s. Can you hear the similarities? What do you notice might be Schoenberg’s distinct style beginning to emerge?

String Quartet in D Major - Arnold Schoenberg (1897)

String Quartet Op. 51 No. 2 in A Minor - Johannes Brahms (1873)

Schoenberg and Opera

While Schoenberg did write some operas, they are not well-known or often produced. In this piece, which is not an opera, but a melodrama written for voice, he specifies a particular kind of singing that is neither speaking nor giving full resonance to the voice, and not even as a singer would sing recitative in Romantic Era opera. Schoenberg was exploring musical ideas in what we now define as the Expressionist period in art, and used a particular speak-singing style: Sprechstimme. How is this piece similar and different from his earlier work?

Pierrot Luniare - Arnold Schoenberg (1912)

A New Sound

A decade later, after World War I, Schoenberg composed his first piece using his newly conceived twelve-tone method. Listen to how it sounds different from his earlier work. Do you notice any similarities?

Piano Suite Op. 25 - Arnold Schoenberg (1923)

Music and the Silver Screen

A crucial element to the medium of film is the music, or filmscoring. The score gives a throughline to the emotion behind what is happening in the plot. A great example is the first full-length animated feature by Walt Disney in 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It won an Academy Award for best film score. Listen to the Queen’s Theme here:

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

Animation

Early animation, played before the feature film in the theater, was often comedic and frequently politically satiric. Watch this 1942 animation by Looney Tunes and see if you can pick out a familiar musical quote in the film score (hint: it’s about 2 min and 20 sec in). Why do you think they chose to use that piece of familiar music in this context? What parts of Schoenberg’s music might Tod Machover quote in a similar manner?

The Ducktators (1942)

Hollywood Influences

Schoenberg moved to Los Angeles in 1934. Although he never did compose a film score, he was steeped in the world of film. Listen to this piece, which he composed only a few years before he died, after he was living in Hollywood for over a decade. Does it remind you of early film scores? Any particular ones come to mind?

A Survivor from Warsaw op. 46 (1947)

Tod Machover’s Sound Worlds

What will Schoenberg in Hollywood sound like? It’s a World Premiere, so audiences have never heard it before. But as this is Machover’s seventh opera, listen to what some of his other compositions including symphonies, sound like. How would your describe his music? How do you think his work was influenced by Schoenberg?

Tod Machover’s Operas (1987-2014)

Between the Desert and the Deep Blue Sea: A Symphony for Perth (2014) Part of the City Symphony Project

GENERAL QUESTIONS TO GUIDE YOUR LISTENING

• What instruments are playing?

• How fast is the music? Are there sudden changes in speed? Is the rhythm steady or unsteady?

• Key/Mode: Is it major or minor? (Does it sound bright, happy, sad, urgent, dangerous?)

• Dynamics/Volume: Is the music loud or soft? Are there sudden changes in volume (either in the voice or orchestra)?

• What is the shape of the melodic line? Does the voice move smoothly or does it make frequent or erratic jumps? Do the vocal lines move noticeably downward or upward?

• Does the type of voice singing (baritone, soprano, tenor, mezzo, etc.) have an effect on you as a listener?

• Do the melodies end as you would expect or do they surprise you?

• How does the music make you feel? What effect do the above factors have on you as a listener?

• What is the orchestra doing in contrast to the voice? How do they interact?

• What kinds of images, settings, or emotions come to mind? Does it remind you of anything you have experienced in your own life?

• Do particularly emphatic notes (low, high, held, etc.) correspond to dramatic moments?

• What type of character fits this music? Romantic? Comic? Serious? Etc.