Women, Opera and Feminist Criticism

Women, both as dying heroines and living divas, have been central to opera’s history and criticism since its beginnings in the early 1600s. Despite this centrality, however, feminist perspectives on opera - that is, perspectives that analysed and challenged ideas about gender, sexuality, love, family and authority upon which opera rely and have helped circulate and perpetuate - did not emerge until the late 1980s. This course will introduce students to key feminist (and non-feminist) opera criticism while focusing on operatic portraits of women in operas from different periods and traditions. The course will also consider the performers and the performative acts that have brought these women to stage life, observing how women’s voices often functioned as instruments of political ambition and sexual power. The course will engage students with the cultural interpretation of opera, exploring the genesis, source models and influences of selected operas, and negotiating the role of contemporary notions of gender and sexuality, and debates about women’s role in society, in constructing images of feminine sensuality, power and vulnerability on the operatic stage.

Knowledge:
An examinee with a completed qualification in MUSV2007
- has in-depth knowledge of key texts in gender studies in musicology and feminist opera criticism
- has critical understanding of opera as a medium of contemporary views about women and their role in society
- has a broad understanding of the dramaturgy, conventions and development of opera of different periods and traditions
- has critical understanding of the role of culture in shaping musical meaning and practices in relation to opera

Skills:
An examinee with a completed qualification in MUSV2007
- has the ability to analyse operatic texts critically
- has the ability to present knowledge, findings and critical insight in a coherent and convincing form both orally and in written form
- has well-developed oral and written skills of argument and debate
- can apply acquired knowledge and understanding in their own work

Weekly instruction varies between lectures and seminar activities.