10.3 The advent of the music video in pop music

However, the digital revolution and developments within film enabled composers to make music theatre independent of large, expensive, and always unwilling opera houses. This development took place in a number of steps:

10.2 SMALL-SCALE MUSIC THEATRE These pieces, pointedly not called operas, were written for small venues, which preferably were somewhat theatrical to begin with. Dechristianisation came in handy as many churches were converted into theatres. Old warehouses and industrial sites also proved quite suitable. The music was entrusted to small ensembles whose musicians were sometimes involved in the acting and whose singers could also really act. Compared to the theatrical possibilities of a modern theatre with regard to light, stage setting, and costumes such alternative theatres may be quite primitive but they also demonstrate that one does not always need such lavish means to make convincing music theatre.

Eight Songs for a Mad King (1969) by Peter Maxwell Davies (19432016) was a landmark. An ensemble of six musicians, one baritone with excellent command of extended techniques, a set consisting of three cages, and the conductor, that’s all. The entire opera lasts 25 minutes but its impact is tremendous. It takes us back to the pure quality of a soloist who is able to overwhelm an audience.

In Germany there are two composers who put small-scale music theatre on the map: Heiner Goebbels (1952) and Heinz Carl Gruber (1943, born in Austria). Besides being a composer, Gruber is also chansonnier and conductor: his Frankenstein! (1971-77) is usually performed by himself as speaker/singer. This style has its roots in the German cabaret tradition of Kurt Weill and Hanns Eisler but has a large array of crossover means. Heiner Goebbels is more radical and his music mainly serves to support the theatrical action and cannot really stand on its own, outside the theatre. His theatrical themes are much more abstract than that of Gruber. They usually lack a narrative and also do not provide absurdist commentary on a reality outside the theatre. Goebbels’ music does not have a traditional supporting role and is therefore much freer, often using improvisational techniques and electronic sounds. It does run the risk of being somewhat noncommittal: it is often unclear what the work is about.

10.3 THE ADVENT OF THE MUSIC VIDEO IN POP MUSIC Initially, these music videos were simply short promotional films for pop artists, part of the emergent video stream for advertising on television. Advertising budgets were sometimes so big that young, trendsetting film directors were invited to make something very special of these