The Music And Multi-cultural Diversity Of Benjiamin Britten's Church Parable 'Curlew River'

This thesis studies and analyzes the British composer Edward Benjamin Britten's (1913-1976) Church Parable 'Curlew River'. Research concentrates on cultural characteristics, music structure, performance, music material, composition and the integration of Eastern and Western cultural ideas. It also covers theatrical performance elements, focusing on composing techniques and artistic features.There are four chapters. The first chapter makes a concise introduction of Britten's life and achievements in music. It then introduces the musical features, creative reasons, story outline, and cultural origin of the Church Parable'Curlew River'which is based on Western religious music and Japanese Noh. These factors provide a cultural foundation for the entire work.The second chapter is a specific analysis of composition techniques. It analyzes the overall structure of the work and performance, principle music material (such as the main sources of musical material, horizontal and vertical pitch material, musical motivation sources for the dramatic characters), multi-voice techniques (the main composing style) and integration of music with dramatic performance (mainly performed by flute, chamber organ, harp, viola and percussion instruments).The remaining chapters focus on aspects about human characteristics. The third chapter analyses the portrayal of characters and the dramatic atmosphere of the rendering, and then summarizes music features such as the characterization of the core pitch and instrumental color of the music. In this chapter, analysis of the characteristics of human nature also plays a major role.The fourth chapter studies the work's Eastern style of speed, rhythm and intensity, and also analyses Eastern and Western concepts of time, exploring how their influence and interaction reflects the creative process of integrating Eastern and Western cultural ideas. Finally a comparison is made of Japanese Noh theatre and stage art, showing how the Church Parable 'Curlew River' is related to Japanese Noh.The conclusion summarizes the key features of Britten's Church Parable Curlew River and shows how it is derived from an East-West blend of cultures, reflecting their overall cultural spirit and blending experience to produce a work of positive impact and enlightenment.