Keywords
historical context
improvisation > ”sudden/suddenness” (Italian, French)
Surrealism
Salvador Dali, The Persistence of Memory, 1931
Andre Breton, Surrealist Manifesto, 1924
Exquisite Corpse (Surrealist game)
Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams, 1899
improvisation > improvisus (Latin) > “to see ahead”
commedia dell’arte (art of comedy), 16th C ff.
virtuosity
Luigi Riccoboni, History of Italian Theatre, 1728
characters:
- Pantalone
- Dottore (Doctor)
- Capitano (Captain)
- Innamorati (Lovers)
- Columbina (Coquette)
- Arlecchino (Harlequin)
lazzi (turns, tricks, Italian business)
Masks of the commedia dell’arte, 1993
Antonio Fava
Contact Improvisation, 1972-
Steve Paxton
jam session
Fall After Newton, 1987
aikido (Japanese martial art)
1960s counter-culture
raga (melodic idea/scale/mode)
chalan (core/characteristic phrases)
avirbhava (improvisation on the core of the raga)
tirobhava (improvisation that distorts core of the raga)
master-discipline relationship
Ravi Shankar, Improvisations on the Theme Music from Pather Panchali (Father Panchali), 1962/1999
Satyajit Ray, Apu Trilogy, 1956-1960
Bengali pastoral song
sitar, flute, tabla, and other percussion
Live Improvisational Cinema, Pleasure Dome, Toronto, 2000
John Porter, Scanning 7, 1981-2000
Peter Watkins, La Commune (Paris 1871), 2000
“pure” improvisation
“applied” improvisation
Post-Lecture Additions:
programme music
Sergei Prokofiev, Peter and the Wolf, 1936
“high” art
“low” art