National Civil War Project Blog: Matt Aucoin on Music + Language

Matt Aucoin, musical wunderkind and 2012 Harvard graduate, has been commissioned by the A.R.T. to compose a new opera inspired by Walt Whitman’s Memoranda During the War, has started up a blog about opera (though that’s a bit like saying The Seagull is about a bird).  Read the full post on Matt’s website for an insightful exploration of the mutuality of language and music:

Music’s love affair with language is an intense one – or rather, it ought to be. The old adages about the perfect marriage between music and text – “the words must serve the music,” “prima la musica, poi le parole,” etc. – reek of a certain outdated marital attitude. The relationship, at its best, has never been master-and-servant. It is a dynamic bond. The words and the music must put pressure on one another – they must be a little wary of one another, and each recognize the other’s power, before they embrace.

Full post.