CHAPTER 19 | MUSICAL THEATER IN THE 1970s 487format of the integrated musical. Instead, Sondheim’s ability to develop char-
acter and plot through music and lyrics gives the show a near-operatic qual-
ity, despite the use of spoken dialogue. In addition to solo numbers, the show
includes ensembles ranging from duets to quintets, including an intricate trio
in which three characters sing three quite different songs, titled respectively
“Now,” “Soon,” and “Later,” in sequence and then simultaneously. Though
Sondheim’s music is altogether different in style from Bernstein’s West Side Story,
A Little Night Music comes close to being what Bernstein hoped for: a Broadway
equivalent to European opera.
The act 1 duet “You Must Meet My Wife” (LG 19.5) shows Sondheim’s ability
to imbue Broadway conventions—here, the standard aaba song form—with new
dramatic capabilities. Dispensing with a verse, the song launches directly into the
chorus, in which the middle-aged Frederik describes his new, much younger bride
to his old fl ame, Désirée. The aaba musical structure is then repeated with new lyr-
ics, now in the form of a duet, in which Frederik’s praises are undercut by Désirée’s
acid retorts. A fi nal half chorus (ba) brings the confl ict to a head when Frederik
reveals that his marriage to Anne has not been consummated, provoking Désirée’s
outraged response. Although the music of the chorus is stated two and a half times
with only minor variations, the wide-ranging modulations built into the chorus
guarantee a sense of constant motion that supports the continually changing
lyrics, which illuminate the characters and represent the change in their relation-
ship during the course of the song. At the same time, Sondheim sustains a come-
dic mood through his use of far-reaching rhymes, involving such unlikely words
and phrases as “mustache” and “cigar butt.”
Rather than responding to current popular trends in rock, soul, or funk, Ste-
phen Sondheim found new ways to reinvigorate Broadway conventions, creating
an intensely personal style based on the classic show tune but with a new level
of artistic craft. Perhaps the apex of Sondheim’s work is Sweeney Todd: The Demon
Barber of Fleet Street (1979), a darkly tragic work that has entered the repertory of
several opera companies. But even in the relatively sunny Into the Woods (1987), a
potpourri of traditional fairy tales, the deft combination of music and lyrics can
at moments plumb depths of emotion that make Sondheim’s shows, presented as
popular theater, a rich portrayal of contemporary experience.CLASSICAL MUSIC IN THE 1970s
Minimalism, which had arisen in the 1960s in the work of Terry Riley, Steve
Reich, and other musicians, had always refl ected its creators’ experience or
interest in jazz, rock, and non-Western musical styles. Now, in the 1970s, mini-
malism developed into the one genre of new classical music composition that
attracted a sizable audience (along with performance art, discussed in chapter 20).
With its emphasis on steady pulse, simple tonality, and repetition, minimalism
was a type of art music that was intelligible not only to fans of older classical
styles but also to listeners more accustomed to the repetitive music of James
Brown and other funk artists. Of the minimalists active in the 1970s, none was
more accessible to both classical and popular audiences than Philip Glass. Mean-
while, the experimentalist strain in American music remained alive in the work
of microtonalist composers.LG 19.5172028_19_468-494_r3_sd.indd 487 23/01/13 11:05 AM