Students, faculty and the local community are invited to attend free lectures this week about a famous 1940’s musical composition and its accompanying choreography.
The Music and Dance Lecture Series is sponsored by the Department of Dance, and provides attendees the opportunity to learn the history, influence and creation of well-known compositions and choreographies. Two lectures will take place at 10 and 11 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 13, in room 185 of the Richards Building at BYU.
Both lectures will focus on “Missa Brevis in Tempore Belli,” also known as “Short Mass in Time of War.” Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály wrote it during the 1944-1945 Nazi siege of Budapest. José Limón’s choreography was set to the mass in 1958, and the two have become a national treasure in the world of music and dance.
Linda C. Smith, Artistic Director of Repertory Dance Theatre (RDT), is the visiting guest lecturer for Missa Brevis. For nearly 50 years she has been performing, teaching, choreographing, writing and producing for RDT.
Kodály’s music and Limón’s choreography depict the tenacity of the human spirit during troubled and dark times. The pieces work as mouthpieces for the composers, as well as tributes to the cities that were destroyed during World War II.
Jerry L. Laccard, a BYU associate professor of music, and Caroline Prohosky, a BYU associate professor of dance, will also be speaking as part of the series. Their focus will be on the contextual settings of the mass.
BYU’s Contemporary Dance Theatre will be combining with RDT to perform “Encounters, featuring Missa Brevis,” this weekend. Tickets are available here.