Minimalism and Postmodernism in John Adams' opera Nixon in China

The music of the USA of the second half of the XX century was marked by the search for a new reality, which meant expanding the possibilities of perception of art, including by experimenting with various forms of musical expression. In the 1960s, the direction of musical minimalism was photographed in the USA, which was characterized by transpersonal musical images and the use of rehearsal compositional techniques. Among the most famous minimalist composers are Steve Reich, Terrence Riley, Philip Glass and John Adams. Minimalism arose on the basis of a combination of the culture of the West and the East, which was prepared by the achievements of transpersonal philosophy. Minimalists focused on creating a meditative state, but the nature of the musical image depended on a large number of circumstances, including the genre and concept of the work.The principle of identity is elevated here into its absolute, the catalyst of which is the exact multiple repetition of short compositional logical units (patterns), overcoming the threshold of information redundancy [7, p. 144]. E. V. Kiseeva notes that in the visual arts that influenced music and dance, minimalism was a significant milestone, in fact, marking the watershed between the art of the first and second half of the XX century [4, p. 65].

A key feature of the minimalist compositional technique is the presentation of musical material within the framework of patterns, which are cells that superficially resemble a period. The period is understood as a complete presentation of the thematic material [6, p. 155], whereas in patterns the musical material is repeated with the development of individual motifs. The general form of the works has features of cyclicity, which is dictated by the duration of the deployment of the image and the addition of individual motifs to the patterns. A. E. Krom writes that the ostinate work with patterns inherent in repetitive minimalism, accompanied by "unplanned" melodies, allowed Western researchers to talk about the so-called "acoustic art" (Ac' art), which can be considered as the auditory equivalent of op art painting [5, p. 81]. Optical art (op-art) is built on optical illusions that create a game of perception. Minimalists achieved a similar, but deeper effect.

Minimalism developed in the mainstream of postmodern art. Postmodernism is a multifaceted phenomenon with a number of features, the most significant of which are:

·                      Intertextuality;

·                      Synthesis of forms;

·                      Freedom from hierarchy and authority;

·                      Eclecticism;

·                      Irony and grotesque;

·                      Performance culture.

Postmodernism has acquired an all-encompassing significance, since it allowed combining various stylistic trends on its basis. Serving as a general methodological basis, postmodernity sets a cultural vector that has a large number of different manifestations. The parallel existence of styles in art in the first half of the XX century led to the formation of postmodernism as an integrative cultural phenomenon. Postmodernity is a cultural universal and a value-normative structure. Freedom of creativity in postmodernism is combined with the involvement of viewers in the process of creating a work of art, a typical example of which is minimalism. When listening to minimalist music, listeners form their own meditative image. Minimalism is a monostylistic phenomenon developing within the framework of postmodernism. This shows the unity and differentiation of postmodernism – providing the maximum possible framework for creativity, postmodernism, at the same time, contains a variety of monostylistic trends.

One of the achievements of minimalism was John Adams' opera "Nixon in China". The opera tells about the events of international politics – in 1972, US President Richard Nixon visited China with a diplomatic meeting. Nixon became the first US president to visit China. Nixon's meeting with Mao Zedong has entered the diplomatic history of the United States, and the phrase "Nixon goes to China" has become a metaphor.

The premiere of the opera "Nixon in China" took place in 1987. The basis of the opera's music and dramaturgy was a combination of minimalism and the traditions of the grand opera of the early XIX century (Grand op?ra). The opera includes three acts, the first two acts are divided into scenes (three scenes in the first act and two scenes in the second act). The opera contains arias, ensemble and choral numbers, which, however, are not directly named and are not, from a formal point of view, structural sections of scenes. Each scene is built on the principle of end-to-end development without splitting into numbers. The composer's desire for the bolshoi opera is due to the complexity of the idea and the desire to implement the traditions of previous eras, which is characteristic of the eclecticism of postmodernism. Grand operas were most often devoted to major social events, while possessing the laconism of the means of musical language. The orchestra in the bolshoi opera has an auxiliary value. Despite the fact that Adams does not reproduce the five-part structure characteristic of the bolshoi opera, the concept of opera and, literally, the minimalism of the musical language bring him closer to this genre. However, the genre nature of "Nixon in China" is different. The genre of "Nixon in China" is a CNN opera, it presents a true political history. A CNN opera is an operatic work written on the subject of news events. In addition to "Nixon in China", an example of this genre is Adams' second opera "The Death of Klinghoffer" (1991). The name of the genre arose due to the association of opera plots with a major TV channel. If for the first half of the XX century , mythological plots were more characteristic in operas [3, p. 37], then in the second half of the century there was a tendency to freedom of plot and dramaturgical basis [1].

A.V. Shornikova writes that Adams relied on documents when creating the opera, "reproducing footage broadcast by the media on stage, the composer gives each scene of the opera the features of a reportage" [9, p. 29]. The first act of the opera shows Nixon's arrival in Beijing, where a conversation between Nixon, Mao, Zhou and Kissinger takes place. The second act is addressed to female characters – in it Nixon's wife gets acquainted with Chinese culture, there is also a detailed description of Mao's wife. The third act presents a farewell evening in which the characters' characteristics deepen – the characters are immersed in memories.

There are many musical references in the opera – to the music of R. Wagner, I. Strauss, I. Stravinsky, there are also elements of jazz music reminiscent of Nixon's youth [2, p . 46]. Such eclecticism of the thematic core is one of the characteristic features of postmodernism. Intertextuality was expressed in the fact that the libretto is based on various news reports, which are combined into a common narrative. However, one of the main signs of postmodernism, namely the grotesque and irony, was practically not reflected in the opera, which is due to the nature of its design. At the same time, intertextuality and the development of action according to the performance model clearly indicate postmodernity. Here the essence of postmodernism as a trend in art is revealed – none of its features is self-sufficient and mandatory.

The musical language of the opera is minimalistic. In the orchestral part, Adams uses a rehearsal technique starting from the first bars of the piece (example 1). On a sustained tonic organ point, the melodic movement is performed according to the a-moll sound order. During the introduction, harmonic colors change, the melodic pattern changes, and a variable meter appears. In the future, there will be several patterns in the opera, each of which is characterized by an individual rhythmic and melodic organization. A common feature of all patterns is the ostinateness of movement, which ensures continuity of perception. 

Example 1. "Nixon in China", Act 1, scene 1 ^[6]

One of the features of the vocal parts of the opera "Nixon in China" is the orientation to the style of melodic recitation. The parties of the heroes do not have a wide chant, have an angular melodic line, the repetition of individual sounds, differ in the schematism of melodic and rhythmic patterns. At the same time, the roles of the heroes become more complicated by the third act, which indicates a consistent deepening of the vocal characteristics. The first appearance of the characters conveys the appearance, taking into account the situational moment. The first aria belongs to Nixon and is contained in scene 1. The part is set out in large durations and is based on the recitation of individual sounds. It gives an external characterization of Nixon's personality as a statesman who arrived on a diplomatic visit – the image has such features as heaviness, declamation, seriousness and authority. In the third act, Nixon's party is enriched, which is produced in ensemble numbers. The range of the party is expanding, internal tension appears, the interval basis of the party is enriched.

The third act in the opera has a key character – it not only opens the inner world of the characters, but also establishes a connection between the personality and the fate of the state. This action contains the final thoughts of the heroes. So, Mao exclaims that they are breaking away from victory and from all the work. Mao addresses a rhetorical question: "What do you think, Karl Marx?" (example 2). Here arises the most striking allusion in the whole opera. Mao wonders to what extent China's development process correlates with the communist doctrine. The tense harmony of the reduced quintextaccord does not receive resolution. The rhythmic pattern of the vocal part is based on figures that are difficult to perform. This fragment shows the ambiguity of the composer's approach to minimalism. As a rule, minimalists used simple variants of harmonization without noticeable thickening of colors, focusing on the detachment and emptiness of the pitch vertical. Here we meet one of the manifestations of the freedom of dissonance, which, as noted by Yu. Serfs, characteristic of the music of the XX century [8, p. 5]. Adams, applying the pattern-based type of development and implementing a rehearsal technique, freely compares tart dissonant consonances with each other. Nevertheless, Adams' music is minimalistic, as indicated not only by the rehearsal technique, but also by the predominantly meditative musical image, emphasized by the unhurried course of events. Actually, the main plot event in the opera is only one – Nixon's arrival in Beijing, from which the work begins. In fact, the whole course of events is devoted to the sequential disclosure of the characters, through which the American and Chinese archetypes are shown. 

Example 2. "Nixon in China", Act 3 ^[6]

Nixon in China is the first opera in Adams' documentary trilogy. The operas "Nixon in China" and "The Death of Klinghoffer" are the first two parts of the trilogy that recreate the American archetype in international relations. The conclusion of the trilogy is the opera "Doctor Atom" (2005), which draws viewers inside the American identity. Documentaries and reportage in operas create a new type of functioning of the opera genre, which indicates the demand for modern opera works from theaters and the public.

Thus, the opera "Nixon in China" is a striking example of postmodern opera art. Eclecticism, the news nature of the plot, orientation to the culture of performance, combined with minimalism in the musical language, give the opera an innovative character. At the same time, the presence of philosophical overtones, the social significance of the plot events, the division into three acts with the implicit allocation of arias and ensemble numbers brings "Nixon in China" closer to the grand opera of the early XIX century. "Nixon in China" represents one of the variants of opera functioning in the postmodern era.

The music of the USA of the second half of the XX century was marked by the search for a new reality, which meant expanding the possibilities of perception of art, including by experimenting with various forms of musical expression. In the 1960s, the direction of musical minimalism was photographed in the USA, which was characterized by transpersonal musical images and the use of rehearsal compositional techniques. Among the most famous minimalist composers are Steve Reich, Terrence Riley, Philip Glass and John Adams. Minimalism arose on the basis of a combination of the culture of the West and the East, which was prepared by the achievements of transpersonal philosophy. Minimalists focused on creating a meditative state, but the nature of the musical image depended on a large number of circumstances, including the genre and concept of the work.The principle of identity is elevated here into its absolute, the catalyst of which is the exact multiple repetition of short compositional logical units (patterns), overcoming the threshold of information redundancy [7, p. 144]. E. V. Kiseeva notes that in the visual arts that influenced music and dance, minimalism was a significant milestone, in fact, marking the watershed between the art of the first and second half of the XX century [4, p. 65].

A key feature of the minimalist compositional technique is the presentation of musical material within the framework of patterns, which are cells that superficially resemble a period. A period is understood as a complete presentation of the thematic material [6, p. 155], whereas in patterns the musical material is repeated with the development of individual motifs. The general form of the works has features of cyclicity, which is dictated by the duration of the deployment of the image and the addition of individual motifs to the patterns. A. E. Krom writes that the ostinate work with patterns inherent in repetitive minimalism, accompanied by "unplanned" melodies, allowed Western researchers to talk about the so-called "acoustic art" (Ac' art), which can be considered as the auditory equivalent of op art painting [5, p. 81]. Optical art (op-art) is built on optical illusions that create a game of perception. Minimalists achieved a similar, but deeper effect.

Minimalism developed in the mainstream of postmodern art. Postmodernism is a multifaceted phenomenon with a number of features, the most significant of which are:

·                      Intertextuality;

·                      Synthesis of forms;

·                      Freedom from hierarchy and authority;

·                      Eclecticism;

·                      Irony and grotesque;

·                      Performance culture.

Postmodernism has acquired an all-encompassing significance, since it allowed combining various stylistic trends on its basis. Serving as a general methodological basis, postmodernity sets a cultural vector that has a large number of different manifestations. The parallel existence of styles in art in the first half of the 20th century led to the formation of postmodernism as an integrative cultural phenomenon. Postmodernity is a cultural universal and a value-normative structure. Freedom of creativity in postmodernism is combined with the involvement of viewers in the process of creating a work of art, a typical example of which is minimalism. When listening to minimalist music, listeners form their own meditative image. Minimalism is a monostylistic phenomenon developing within the framework of postmodernism. This shows the unity and differentiation of postmodernism – providing the maximum possible framework for creativity, postmodernism, at the same time, contains a variety of monostylistic trends.

One of the achievements of minimalism was John Adams' opera "Nixon in China". The opera tells about the events of international politics – in 1972, US President Richard Nixon visited China with a diplomatic meeting. Nixon became the first US president to visit China. Nixon's meeting with Mao Zedong entered the diplomatic history of the United States, and the phrase "Nixon goes to China" became a metaphor.

The premiere of the opera "Nixon in China" took place in 1987. The basis of the opera's music and dramaturgy was a combination of minimalism and the traditions of the grand opera of the early XIX century (Grand op?ra). The opera includes three acts, the first two acts are divided into scenes (three scenes in the first act and two scenes in the second act). The opera contains arias, ensemble and choral numbers, which, however, are not directly named and are not, from a formal point of view, structural sections of scenes. Each scene is built on the principle of end-to-end development without splitting into numbers. The composer's desire for the bolshoi opera is due to the complexity of the idea and the desire to implement the traditions of previous eras, which is characteristic of the eclecticism of postmodernism. Grand operas were most often devoted to major social events, while possessing the laconism of the means of musical language. The orchestra in the bolshoi opera has an auxiliary value. Despite the fact that Adams does not reproduce the five-part structure characteristic of the bolshoi opera, the concept of opera and, literally, the minimalism of the musical language bring him closer to this genre. However, the genre nature of "Nixon in China" is different. The genre of "Nixon in China" is a CNN opera, it presents a true political history. A CNN opera is an operatic work written on the subject of news events. In addition to "Nixon in China", an example of this genre is Adams' second opera "The Death of Klinghoffer" (1991). The name of the genre arose due to the association of opera plots with a major TV channel. If for the first half of the XX century , mythological plots were more characteristic in operas [3, p. 37], then in the second half of the century there was a tendency to freedom of plot and dramaturgical basis [1].

A.V. Shornikova writes that Adams relied on documents when creating the opera, "reproducing footage broadcast by the media on stage, the composer gives each scene of the opera the features of a reportage" [9, p. 29]. The first act of the opera shows Nixon's arrival in Beijing, where a conversation between Nixon, Mao, Zhou and Kissinger takes place. The second act is addressed to female characters – in it Nixon's wife gets acquainted with Chinese culture, there is also a detailed description of Mao's wife. The third act presents a farewell evening in which the characters' characteristics deepen – the characters are immersed in memories.

There are many musical references in the opera – to the music of R. Wagner, I. Strauss, I. Stravinsky, there are also elements of jazz music reminiscent of Nixon's youth [2, p . 46]. Such eclecticism of the thematic core is one of the characteristic features of postmodernism. Intertextuality was expressed in the fact that the libretto is based on various news reports, which are combined into a common narrative. However, one of the main signs of postmodernism, namely the grotesque and irony, was practically not reflected in the opera, which is due to the nature of its design. At the same time, intertextuality and the development of action according to the performance model clearly indicate postmodernity. Here the essence of postmodernism as a trend in art is revealed – none of its features is self-sufficient and mandatory.

The musical language of the opera is minimalistic. In the orchestral part, Adams uses a rehearsal technique starting from the first bars of the piece (example 1). On a sustained tonic organ point, the melodic movement is performed according to the a-moll sound order. During the introduction, harmonic colors change, the melodic pattern changes, and a variable meter appears. In the future, there will be several patterns in the opera, each of which is characterized by an individual rhythmic and melodic organization. A common feature of all patterns is the ostinateness of movement, which ensures continuity of perception.