Musical Evita Andrew Lloyda Webbera na tle wybranych gatunków muzyki scenicznej XIX i XX wieku* / Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Musical Evita in the Context of Selected Genres of Nineteenth and Twentieth-Century Stage Music

The analytical study of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Evita contains inter alia the description of the libretto, and the analysis of architectural-formal, rhythmical, and melodic features and stylization devices. In architectural terms, Evita shows the influences of operetta, heroic opera, and musical drama (e.g. in large integrated blocks of scenes, and characteristic final scenes). In the internal formal relations in the piece, the links with the nineteenth-century heroic opera are observable. Regarding the use of form, the composers utilizes those that appeared in Romantic Italian and French operas, while the stylization devices present in the piece have their reference to the nineteenth-century operatic forms in France and operetta compositions. An important structural element of Evita is reminiscence motifs referring inter alia to grand opera. The conscious use of these motifs on such a large scale that have no equivalents in operetta or in the genres preceding the emergence of musical, and in other musicals, causes Evita to be closer to opera in its motivic concept. Owing to the exceptional musical language combining tradition and the present, Webber’s work is an example that the musical as a form of sublime entertainment can also satisfy the requirements of high art.