The University of Toledo

The Devil’s Bargain A Hero’s Trial, Temptation and Redemption

 

The College of Visual and Performing Arts at the University of Toledo is pleased to partner for a second season with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra to offer a fascinating Arts and Humanities Festival. Join professors and artists who work in theatre, dance, music, film and literature as they provide context and background in order to enhance your appreciation for the musical pieces performed by the Symphony in their concert, Soldier’s Tale, on November 16th and 17th in the Peristyle Theatre.

Festival events run on multiple Tuesday and Friday evenings between October 23rd and November 13th.

Schedule of Events

Tuesday, Oct. 23, 8 pm

Libbey Hall, UT main campus

Michael Lang: Artistic Director/Choreographer, Toledo Ballet

The Creative Process: Choreography

Last year, Michael Lang created dances which brought to life past performers of The Valentine Theatre as presented in Paul Geiger’s mural of caricatures. The year before that, he brought to life a magical museum inspired by the paintings and sculptures in the Toledo Museum of Art. This year, he’s developing a ballet for a Stravinsky chamber orchestra/theatre piece. In the first event of our series, Lang will discuss the process of developing a dance, including how he uses other art forms for inspiration.

Friday, Oct. 26th, 7 pm

Haigh auditorium, Center for Visual Arts, 620 Grove Place

Tammy Kinsey: UT Department of Theatre/Film

Jan Svankmajer's Faust: A New Take on an Old Text

Czech animator Jan Svankmajer presents a unique interpretation of the centuries-old narrative in his award-winning Faust (1994), a surrealistic synthesis of images and references to Marlowe, Goethe, and various traditional folktales. Comprised of live-action, claymation, puppetry, and stop-motion animation, the film blends bits of traditional content with an exciting visual tableau to create a wildly evocative tale of human desire and the price of will.

Tuesday, Oct. 30th, Libbey Hall, 7 pm

Libbey Hall, UT main campus

Dr. Edmund B. Lingan: UT Department of Theatre/Film

Fighting and Embracing Evil Empires: Goethe’s Egmont and Faust

Just in time for Halloween, theatre historian and critic Dr. Edmund B. Lingan will invoke demonic realms and legends of a primordial occult religion in this exploration of two of Goethe’s plays, Egmont and Faust Part I. Lingan will show that these plays intuit the existence of a complex and disturbing realm of spirits, demons, and deities.

Friday, Nov. 2nd, 7 pm

Haigh auditorium, Center for Visual Arts, 620 Grove Place

Dr. Jeanne Kusina: UT Departments of Philosophy and WGST

Scoring Evil: Penderecki and Lynch’s “Inland Empire”

Director David Lynch has graciously granted permission for this rare public screening and discussion of “Inland Empire.” The story of an actress who enters into a terrifying psychological underworld as she increasingly identifies with the character she portrays, this challenging film can be described as a lurid, surreal journey down the rabbit hole. Film scholar Jeanne Kusina will introduce the work with a presentation on the film’s musical score, which features work by Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki, whose early avant-garde music has been featured in a number of films as a means to evoking unspeakable horror. Employing transcendental visual imagery and aural effects, “Inland Empire” provides a unique passageway into a chilling, at times haunting, consideration of the aesthetics of evil.

Tuesday, Nov. 6th, Libbey Hall, 7 pm

Libbey Hall, UT main campus

Dr. Daniel Compora: UT Department of English

The Faustian Bargain and Other Devilish Deals

This lecture will explore different folk variations of the Faustian bargain; the selling of one’s soul to the devil. The theme is prevalent in Western culture, and a number of people in literature and music have allegedly entered into such pacts. In particular, the legend of blues musician Robert Johnson and his deal at the Crossroads will be examined.

Tuesday, Nov. 13th, Libbey Hall, 7 pm

Libbey Hall, UT main campus

Dr. Christopher Williams: UT Department of Music

Recruiting the Folk: Verbunkos, Gypsies, and Temptation in Stravinsky’s Soldier’s Tale

Although Igor Stravinsky frequently boasted of the originality of his music, its utter independence from folk traditions or stylistic predecessors, the most radical features of his style—including its spasmodically shifting meters and acidic harmonic textures—nevertheless remain rooted in Eastern European and Russian folk music traditions. This is as true for his Russian folk tale with music, The Soldier’s Tale, as it is for the more obviously revolutionary Rite of Spring. In this 1918 theater piece, the various functions and aspects of the Soldier’s character are played out through musical folk references, especially to “recruiting songs,” or “Verbunkos,” that were common to countryside military recruiting in Hungary and Russia in the 19th century, then popularized and further embroidered by gypsy musicians. Accordingly, the Soldier’s Tale, while spinning a classic yarn about the temptations of a simple everyman at the hands of the Devil, also provides a prismatic reflection of Stravinsky’s most “modernistic” concerns as a composer and organic ties to popular folk tradition. This talk will place The Soldier’s Tale in a broader context of Stravinsky’s connections to folk music, rural recruitment and military culture on the Russian/Austrian border, and stories of diabolic temptation.

College Office
CVA 1290, MS 215
620 Grove Place, Toledo OH 43620
Phone 419.530.8353 or 8356
Fax 419.530.8349

Dean Debra A. Davis
Email  debra.davis@utoledo.edu
Phone 419.530.8355

Associate Dean Holly Monsos
Email holly.monsos@utoledo.edu
Phone 419. 530.8354

Secretary Ramona Henn
Email ramona.henn@utoledo.edu
Phone 419.530.8356

Arts Living and Learning Community (ALLC)
Ottawa East 1209B, MS 517
3030 Residence Dr, Toledo, OH 43606
Phone 419.530.8758
Map

Director Kate Abu-Absi
Email  katherine.abu-absi@utoledo.edu
Phone 419.530.8758

Student Services - Main Campus
University Hall
Room 3000, MS 906
419.530.2671
419.530.2507 (fax)
Email  TriCollege@UToledo.edu

Dean's Office
Museum Campus
Center for the Visual Arts
419.530.8353