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    Rights statement: http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=TCM The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, twentieth-century music, 6 (2), pp 155-182 2009, © 2009 Cambridge University Press.

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Jazzing a classic: Hylton and Stravinsky’s Mavra at the Paris Opéra.

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Jazzing a classic: Hylton and Stravinsky’s Mavra at the Paris Opéra. / Mawer, Deborah.
In: Twentieth-Century Music, Vol. 6, No. 2, 09.2009, p. 155-182.

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Mawer D. Jazzing a classic: Hylton and Stravinsky’s Mavra at the Paris Opéra. Twentieth-Century Music. 2009 Sept;6(2):155-182. doi: 10.1017/S1478572210000150

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Mawer, Deborah. / Jazzing a classic: Hylton and Stravinsky’s Mavra at the Paris Opéra. In: Twentieth-Century Music. 2009 ; Vol. 6, No. 2. pp. 155-182.

Bibtex

@article{2c519740ed294c61bbacfb462c382d50,
title = "Jazzing a classic: Hylton and Stravinsky{\textquoteright}s Mavra at the Paris Op{\'e}ra.",
abstract = "This article focuses upon an arrangement of part of Stravinsky{\textquoteright}s Mavra made for the British dance bandleader Jack Hylton (1892-1965), which, on its presentation at the Paris Op{\'e}ra in 1931, marked a notable, yet ultimately unsuccessful, attempt at {\textquoteleft}jazzing a classic{\textquoteright}. For the French critic Pierre Leroi the failure was a direct consequence of combining different musics ({\textquoteleft}La confusion de genres aboutit toujours {\`a} un r{\'e}sultat mauvais{\textquoteright}). But while the {\textquoteleft}contest{\textquoteright} of style and genre undoubtedly played its part in the negative critical reception of the transcription, the reasons for its failure were not entirely straightforward. Drawing on Fauconnier and Turner{\textquoteright}s models of {\textquoteleft}conceptual blending{\textquoteright} and their recent applications in theories of musical {\textquoteleft}multimedia{\textquoteright}, I compare Stravinsky{\textquoteright}s source and the Hylton band{\textquoteright}s jazz translation in terms of their intrinsic musical {\textquoteleft}attributes{\textquoteright}, their relationship, and their potential emergent meanings. The exercise identifies commonalities and discrepancies, revealing problems with the original, the reworkings, and the resulting performances. The main issue is, however, not so much one of mixture ({\textquoteleft}confusion{\textquoteright}) as of imbalance between the elements invoked: ultimately, it is argued, Hylton{\textquoteright}s reading was insufficiently {\textquoteleft}jazzique{\textquoteright}.",
author = "Deborah Mawer",
year = "2009",
month = sep,
doi = "10.1017/S1478572210000150",
language = "English",
volume = "6",
pages = "155--182",
journal = "Twentieth-Century Music",
issn = "1478-5730",
publisher = "Cambridge University Press",
number = "2",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Jazzing a classic: Hylton and Stravinsky’s Mavra at the Paris Opéra.

AU - Mawer, Deborah

PY - 2009/9

Y1 - 2009/9

N2 - This article focuses upon an arrangement of part of Stravinsky’s Mavra made for the British dance bandleader Jack Hylton (1892-1965), which, on its presentation at the Paris Opéra in 1931, marked a notable, yet ultimately unsuccessful, attempt at ‘jazzing a classic’. For the French critic Pierre Leroi the failure was a direct consequence of combining different musics (‘La confusion de genres aboutit toujours à un résultat mauvais’). But while the ‘contest’ of style and genre undoubtedly played its part in the negative critical reception of the transcription, the reasons for its failure were not entirely straightforward. Drawing on Fauconnier and Turner’s models of ‘conceptual blending’ and their recent applications in theories of musical ‘multimedia’, I compare Stravinsky’s source and the Hylton band’s jazz translation in terms of their intrinsic musical ‘attributes’, their relationship, and their potential emergent meanings. The exercise identifies commonalities and discrepancies, revealing problems with the original, the reworkings, and the resulting performances. The main issue is, however, not so much one of mixture (‘confusion’) as of imbalance between the elements invoked: ultimately, it is argued, Hylton’s reading was insufficiently ‘jazzique’.

AB - This article focuses upon an arrangement of part of Stravinsky’s Mavra made for the British dance bandleader Jack Hylton (1892-1965), which, on its presentation at the Paris Opéra in 1931, marked a notable, yet ultimately unsuccessful, attempt at ‘jazzing a classic’. For the French critic Pierre Leroi the failure was a direct consequence of combining different musics (‘La confusion de genres aboutit toujours à un résultat mauvais’). But while the ‘contest’ of style and genre undoubtedly played its part in the negative critical reception of the transcription, the reasons for its failure were not entirely straightforward. Drawing on Fauconnier and Turner’s models of ‘conceptual blending’ and their recent applications in theories of musical ‘multimedia’, I compare Stravinsky’s source and the Hylton band’s jazz translation in terms of their intrinsic musical ‘attributes’, their relationship, and their potential emergent meanings. The exercise identifies commonalities and discrepancies, revealing problems with the original, the reworkings, and the resulting performances. The main issue is, however, not so much one of mixture (‘confusion’) as of imbalance between the elements invoked: ultimately, it is argued, Hylton’s reading was insufficiently ‘jazzique’.

U2 - 10.1017/S1478572210000150

DO - 10.1017/S1478572210000150

M3 - Journal article

VL - 6

SP - 155

EP - 182

JO - Twentieth-Century Music

JF - Twentieth-Century Music

SN - 1478-5730

IS - 2

ER -