Singing History: Politics of Idiom and Genre in Ted Hearne’s Music(al)-Theatre

Roesner, David (2025): Singing History: Politics of Idiom and Genre in Ted Hearne’s Music(al)-Theatre. In: Critical Stages/Scènes critiques, Vol. 31

Abstract

In his productions, The Source (2014) and over and over vorbei nicht vorbei (2024), composer Ted Hearne deals with explicitly historio-political subjects and the memories of violent past(s). The pieces explore questions of documentation and representation, the authentic and the ‘fake’, the virtual and the real. This article examines how Hearne and his collaborators deconstruct political content, how they (re-)arrange, compose, and stage it using an eclectic mix of styles, employing various vocal characteristics, and staging words, video, and music in unconventional arrangements. Their productions thus foster empathetic acts of witnessing (see Kopf 2009), which I suggest to be a key characteristic of Hearne’s works.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Keywords: Ted Hearne; music theatre; history; politics; witnessing
• Faculties: History and Art History > Department of Art History > Theatre Studies
• Subjects: 700 Arts and recreation > 790 Sports, games and entertainment > 792 Stage presentations
• ISSN: 2409-7411
• Language: English