Music professor compares and contrasts two Verdi operas at Southampton Cultural Center, presents on Gustav Mahler at local church and library

Vienna, the Central European city internationally renowned for its

sacher tort

and

wiener schnitzel

, is also delectably rich in musical and operatic history. This winter, a music professor from an American university in the Austrian capital is offering a treat for multiple senses, sharing his deep appreciation for opera via a lecture series at the Southampton Cultural Center and his love of music in talks at the Hampton Library and St. John’s Church in Southampton.

The professor, Prentiss Dunn, has selected Giuseppe Verdi, one of “three towering figures in opera”—alongside Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Richard Wagner—as the focal point of his series at the cultural center, which he opened this past Saturday. Mr. Dunn, who periodically visits the East End during semester breaks at Webster University’s Vienna campus, is comparing and contrasting two of Verdi’s best-known works: “La Traviata” and “Othello.”

Both lectures analyze the two operas, with the first one more closely examining “La Traviata,” roughly translated as “the fallen one,” with reference to a delicate courtesan named Violetta who falls in love but is stricken with consumption.

The second lecture at the cultural center, which will be presented on Saturday, March 6, will leap ahead several decades to examine the tragedy “Othello,” which Mr. Dunn likes to spell without the “h” used in the Shakespeare spelling, since “Otello” is the spelling Verdi would have preferred, he noted.

“Otello” revolves around the eponymous main character, a Moor who is hoodwinked into murdering his wife Desdemona in a jealous rage engineered by the evil Iago, all of which is reflected in the haunting and psychologically nuanced notes of the score.

“They are two of my favorites,” Mr. Dunn said of the operas in a recent piano-side interview at the shingled Southampton Village house where he is staying. “They represent the beauty of Verdi’s genius. Between ‘La Traviata’ and ‘Otello,’ he changes his style and becomes much more nuanced and psychologically perceptive,” Mr. Dunn said of the composer. “To see a great artist like Verdi evolve is a fascinating process, and I’m hoping to illustrate some of this incredible genius for my audiences. It’s very inspirational to see a great artist—whether he’s a painter or an author or a musician—continue to grow and communicate at such a deep level.”

With professorial aplomb, the skill of a musician and the faith of a priest—the Louisiana native is also an Episcopal priest—Mr. Dunn radiates enthusiasm for his subject and frequently turns to the piano to highlight his points, whether to analyze the jaunty love theme of “La Traviata” or to describe how Verdi illustrates metaphysical aspects and the presence of evil using the “Devil’s music” in “Otello.”

This amalgam of playing and offering analysis is part of Mr. Dunn’s signature style. He invites audience members to sing along, if they wish, or even to plink out some notes themselves on the Cultural Center’s grand piano. The goal is not to keep the great composer locked up in academic seriousness, but to make his works more accessible for the enjoyment and edification of all.

“The music speaks for itself; I’m just a vessel,” Mr. Dunn explained. “If I can transmit just the sheer musical loveliness of ‘La Traviata,’” he said, before his lecture about that opera, “I think it will be irresistible to most people, even novices.”

As part of his lectures, Mr. Dunn opted to incorporate screenings of Franco Zeffirelli’s film version of each opera.

His hope is to inspire his audiences to develop an appreciation for this expressive art form.

“When I was a musicologist, I was more concerned with chamber music and big orchestral works, but when I moved to Vienna—because Vienna’s really an opera town—I gradually realized that I was depriving myself and my students of a great source of musical beauty.”

Talks on Mahler’s Music

Mr. Dunn, who says he is happiest when he can combine his musical and theological backgrounds, will also delve into spiritual aspects of three of the symphonies composed by Vienna-educated composer Gustav Mahler on three successive Sundays at the recently renovated Hampton Library in Bridgehampton. Mr. Dunn will devote talks on February 21 and 28 and March 7 to an analysis and discussion of Mahler’s symphonies two, five and nine, respectively.

Although the library does not have a piano, Mr. Dunn will accompany his lecture by screening a DVD of the renowned symphonies. The second symphony, “The Resurrection,” the finale of which includes a large choir and soloists, is performed by the Staatskapelle Berlin orchestra, conducted by Pierre Boulez. The fifth and ninth symphonies are played by the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, conducted by Claudio Abbado. Symphony Nine, composed while Mahler was dying of heart disease, is commonly regarded as the musician’s “farewell to life.”

On Wednesday, February 24, at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Southampton, Mr. Dunn will present a more theologically oriented view of Symphony Two, which addresses a number of existential questions regarding the meaning of life and death. “His vision is very unique. It’s not dogmatic. It’s very poetic and, I would say, modern,” explained Mr. Dunn, who is poised to show audience members how Mahler’s philosophy is embodied in the five movements of this symphony.

When presenting on Mahler, Mr. Dunn will provide a visual medium for his audience, using wooden blocks in an assortment of colors and sizes to illustrate the unfolding drama and structure of each symphonic movement, building on Joann Wolfgang von Goethe’s observation that “music is floating architecture and architecture is frozen music.”

“Themes in symphonic music are like characters in a novel, each with its own personality and individual color,” Mr. Dunn noted. “A composer works with those themes just as a novelist would work with his characters to create a drama.”

Mr. Dunn holds a master’s degree in musicology and piano from Indiana University, a bachelor’s degree in church music and piano from Baylor University and a master of divinity degree from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary.

Prentice Dunn will present on Gustav Mahler’s Symphony Two on Sunday, February 21, Symphony Five on February 28 and Symphony Nine on March 7 at 2 p.m. at the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton. For reservations or more information, call the library at 631-537-0015.

“

Music and Spirituality: Resurrection and Judgment in Gustav Mahler’s Second Symphony” will be presented at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, February 24, at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Southampton. For reservations or more information, call the church at 283-0549. Admission is free for the Mahler presentations at the library and church, bur reservations are recommended.

The Verdi masterpiece series will continue at 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 6, at the Southampton Cultural Center at 25 Pond Lane in Southampton, across from Agawam Park. Tickets are $10. For reservations or more information, e-mail reservations@southamptonculturalcenter.org or call 631-287-4377.