When Human Emotion meets Technology:A study of Machover’s Death and the Powers, the Robot Opera
La congruența dintre câmpuri: Emoția umană și Tehnologia Un studiu analitic al operei Death and the Powers. The Robot opera de Tod Machover

Summary/Abstract: In the year of 2013, various opera stages remain reticent to performing repertoire composed after the 1930’s. With very few exceptions of works written by local compatriots of respective regions, operas such as: Wozzeck, Lulu, The Turn of the Screw are barely or never heard in a live production. Performers themselves confine in the traditional mind and the old way of expression, which are unquestionably, vital for any artist’s professional existence. Nevertheless, a vast palette of emotional and mental experiences is missed and often, not understood. The grounds of this behavior are mainly charged to quick judgments such as: absence of melody, of emotions and difficulty in communicating with the audience in the new operatic repertoire. My study offers an assessment: that melody can be identified in the most unusual musical architecture of today’s composed opera; and that emotional delivery and communication in the singing art occur still through text, audio-visual, and now, as never before, through technology. In order to demonstrate this I have chosen one single opera, perhaps the newest, but certainly the most innovating of the 21st century, a masterpiece, that has been in the spotlight since its premiere in 2010 and whose music, libretto and performing production may seem controversial to some of the traditional-oriented performers and audiences. It is Tod Machover’s Death and the Powers, the Robot opera. The article also highlights the importance of sustaining innovation in the opera as a need to naturally adapt to the new conduct of life.

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