DOI: 10.36871/hon.202003020
Authors
Xia Tsihan
Russian State Specialized Academy of Arts, Moscow, Russian Federation
Abstract
The article reveals the features of rock opera as a genre of mass musical culture in the last third of the XXth century. On the example of two outstanding genre samples — "Jesus Christ Superstar" by E. Lloyd-Webber and T. Rice and "The Star and Death of Joaquin Murieta" by A. Rybnikov and M. Zakharov — the specifics of the plot interpretation, dramaturge organization, musical and expressive means and life forms of the work are considered. At the same time the author presents the background content of the two rock operas, the characteristics of their creators and the history of the first performance. The conclusion is drawn about their significance in modern mass musical culture. The media side of a rock opera is also emphasized, which tunes it to comparison with the art of cinema, establishing a connection between rock opera and musical, as one of the most popular and communicative genres of modern musical theater. The conclusions highlight the liveliness and innovation of the two works, which are an organic part of rock aesthetics. Both works introduce into the musical and poetic text "lexemes" the spoken language of youth as markers of the genre and attributes of belonging to rock culture. Until now, they are undisputed masterpieces of world popular music and stage culture.
Keywords
rock opera, musical, rock culture, aesthetics, genre, mass musical culture
