Echoes from the Quarry: Voice as Archaeological Tool for Performing the Traumatized Body in Meredith Monk’s Performance „Quarry: an opera in three movements“ (1976)

Minimalist intersections (2024) [pp. 253-270]

AUTHOR(S) / АУТОР(И): Hiske Krammer

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DOI: 10.46793/MinInters.253K

ABSTRACT / САЖЕТАК:

Meredith Monk’s interdisciplinary approach allows her to represent a complex world. In the case of Quarry: an opera in three movements, this world is the post-war climate of the late twentieth century. Monk approaches the voice as possessing the flexibility of the spine and uses it to delineate landscapes and characters. Quarry integrates musical and theatrical signs that refer to different places and times simultaneously, which creates a palimpsest of meaning. Analysing this opera necessitates an interdisciplinary approach. In this chapter, the complex relations and connections in the opera are discussed against the thematic background of the piece that deals with major cultural research topics like trauma and memory.

KEYWORDS / КЉУЧНЕ РЕЧИ:

Meredith Monk, Quarry: an opera in three movements, trauma, World War II, voice, ecology, palimpsest, musicology, performance studies, memory studies. 

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