The most-performed operas today were written at least a hundred years ago and carry some outdated and deeply problematic ideas. When performed uncritically, the misogyny, racism, and other ideologies present in many of these works clash with modern sensibilities. In Rape at the Opera, Margaret Cormi...

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Bibliographic Details

Main Author:	Cormier, Margaret (Author)
Format:	Book
Language:	English
Published:	Ann Arbor University of Michigan Press [2024]
Series:	Music and social justice
Subjects:	Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus > 1756-1791 > Die Entführung aus dem Serail Strauss, Richard > 1864-1949 > Salome Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus > 1756-1791 > Don Giovanni Geschichte 1790-1910 Oper Vergewaltigung > Motiv Sexualisierte Gewalt > Motiv Rape in opera Opera / Dramaturgy / History Opera / Production and direction / History Opera / Social aspects / History / 21st century Opera / Political aspects / History / 21st century Opéra / Dramaturgie / Histoire Opéra / Production et mise en scène / Histoire
Summary:	The most-performed operas today were written at least a hundred years ago and carry some outdated and deeply problematic ideas. When performed uncritically, the misogyny, racism, and other ideologies present in many of these works clash with modern sensibilities. In Rape at the Opera, Margaret Cormier argues that production and performance are vital elements of opera, and that contemporary opera practitioners not only interpret but create operatic works when they put them onstage. Where some directors explicitly respond to contemporary dialogues about sexual violence, others utilize sexual violence as a surefire way to titillate, to shock, and to generate press for a new production. Drawing on archival footage as well as attendance at live events, Cormier analyzes productions of canonic operas from German, Italian, and French traditions from the eighteenth to the early twentieth century, including Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Don Giovanni, La forza del destino, Un ballo in maschera, Salome, and Turandot. In doing so, Cormier highlights the dynamism of twenty-first-century opera performance practice with regard to sexual violence, establishes methods to evaluate representations of sexual violence on the opera stage, and reframes the primary responsibility of opera critics and creators as being not to opera composers and librettists but to the public
Physical Description:	x, 200 Seiten 12 Illustrationen, Notenbeispiele 24 cm
ISBN:	9780472056293 9780472076291