Browsing by Author "Tuffin, Michael"

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    Frank Staff and his role in South African ballet and musical theatre from 1955 to 1959, including a pre-1955 biography
    (1998) Rosen, Gary; Tuffin, Michael
    Frank Staff was the first South African choreographer to explore the concept of modem ballet in South Africa. Through the creation of his ballet companies, the South African Ballet and later the Frank Staff Ballet, he pursued unusual subject-matter not seen previously on a South African ballet stage. This thesis explores his legacy to South African dance and is divided into ten chapters with a separate introduction and conclusion. The aim, from the outset, has been to trace Frank Staff's career with particular reference to his choreographic contribution to ballet and musical theatre in South Africa. Appraised throughout in terms of critical opinion and dancers' commentaries, the study is chronologically based with emphasis on individual works created by Staff. There is an overview of Staff's early career, the rationale being to trace the earlier part of his career (from 1933 to 1952) in order to provide a basis from which Staff's most creative phase, i.e. that of the 1950's, might be explored. Staff's subsequent return to South Africa and possible reasons for choosing Johannesburg as his domicile are alluded to, as well as his vision for a new Johannesburg ballet company, the creation of the Frank Staff Ballet School and the South African Ballet Company. The South African Ballet's first regional tour to Benoni followed by a short tour to Kimberley and Vereeniging before returning to Pretoria for further performances is detailed and an examination of the South African Ballet's second Johannesburg season in November 1955 is made. An investigation into Staff's choreographic contribution to Leslie French's 1956 Johannesburg production of The Tempest as well as Staff's early involvement with Brian Brooke's musical theatre encapsulates his important contribution to South African musical theatre, which was a major interest throughout his life. 1957 was the most important and prolific period for Staff and his latest choreographic achievements demonstrates a broadening of his creative powers and a reaching out for previously unused influences in terms of dance and subject matter. The thesis' conclusion includes some of the possible frustrations Staff might have encountered as a choreographer working in South Africa during the 1960's and alludes to his Afro-centric works before his illness and untimely death in 1971.
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    The influence of the Javanese gamelan on selected piano works of Claude-Achille Debussy
    (1982) Bird, Catherine; Tuffin, Michael
    With rare exceptions, all the biographers of Claude Debussy mention the influence on the composer of the Javanese gamelan which appeared at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1889. Strangely, however, none of these historians discourse on the extent of this influence, nor on the way in which it is manifested in the works of Debussy. It is for this reason that this study was undertaken. ... This dissertation will examine the extent of the influence of just one of these elements: Oriental music, and the Javanese gamelan in particular. It will trace the influx into Europe of Eastern art forms and show how these affected the artistic state of Europe at the time: no study of Debussy is complete without taking into account the cultural milieu in which he moved, for he, more than any composer before him, was truly a product of his time. The Javanese game1ans which performed at the 1889 and 1900 Universal Exhibitions will be described here. Finally, with reference to selected piano works by Claude Debussy, the appearance and evolution of elements typical of the Javanese gamelan will be considered and an evaluation made of their role in the musical development of the composer, for as Rollo Myers remarks after his description of the Javanese music which Debussy heard, "... the experience thus gained undoubtedly tended to influence his musical thinking in the years to come ".
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    Maurice Ravel and Exoticism. A study of the exotic in he vocal works of Maurice Ravel with special reference to L'Enfant et les sortileges and the Trois Chansons Madecasses
    (1997) Serfontein, Andre; Tuffin, Michael
    The fascination for things exotic or fairytale-like occupied Ravel throughout his entre life. In fact, one can safely assume that these fascinations may have prevented him from forming some sort of mental inertia in those difficult years for him following the First World War. On writing about his Shéhárazade triptych, Ravel stated : ... in them, I have succumbed again to the profound fascination which the East has held for me since childhood.""""' That is the purpose of this dissertation : to examine Ravel's handling and incorporation of this fascination into his works for solo voice. Ravel, within the confines of his genius has succeeded magnificently in exploiting the various timbres capable on his chosen instruments; and sought timbres from the instrumentation commissioned from him (as in the case of the Chansons madécasses ) to assimilate unexplored, exotic colours. Naturally, since Ravel experienced the tail end of an exotic rage that swept through Europe at the turn of the century, a survey was made of its origins in Europe. The musical references to Sharerazade in Chapter Two correspond to the piano and vocal score published by Dover Publications, while other musical examples in this chapter, from the Sonatina, the String Quartet and the Introduction and Allegro are taken from the Durand Edition, published in 1905, 1906 and 1910 respectively. *Pierre Bemac. The interpretation of French Song. London: Victor Gollanncz, 1976, 241,242. 5 In the chapter on L 'Enfant et les Sortileges where the following is used: 34/2/1 it denotes page/ bar/ beat. The complete orchestral score of the selected scene can be found in Appendix A. The complete score of the Chansons madécasses can be found in Appendix B, (p.78 onwards), but musical examples in this chapter are included at relevant points since the cycle is rather extensive and cross-references occur frequently. These musical examples provide short illustrations. If further illustration of the musical point being made is needed, the reader is directed to the complete example in Appendix B by a figure in square brackets. For example; Mus. ex. 15: """"Nahandove"""" mm 46-48 [to 51]. Ravel remarked in an interview with De Telegraaf on March 31, 1931: """" Like Debussy and other contemporaries, I have always been particularly fascinated by musical orientalism. . . """"` and therefore it is hoped that in this dissertation, Ravel's relentless search for clarity of expression, as well as his innate artistic conscience is dutifully exposed, because he created an art of uncommon integrity, lucidity and excellence. As Arbie Orenstein, the noted Ravel scholar claims in his Ravel Reader : . like any other significant artist, Ravel fashioned his own laws and created his own universe : his Swiss-Basque heritage and Parisian sophistication, his subtle humour, his fascination for travel and exoticism, his interest in animals and children and his keen observations of nature are mirrored in his art, as are the disorientation and tragedy of World War One. Behind all these multificatious threads lies the composer's sovereign conscience and, in the words of Tristan Klingsor : the ironic and tender heart which beats under the velvet vest of Maurice Ravel.** * Arbie Orenstein. A Ravel Reader. New York: O.U.P., 1990, 473. ** Orenstein. Ravel Reader, 25.