Topics in the Early History of Opera

Undergraduate credit

This course, designed for advanced undergraduates and graduate students, is devoted to the study of opera in its first two centuries, from its beginnings to nearly the end of the 18th century. Opera will be studied critically as music, theater, spectacle, performance medium, and cultural expression. Special aspects of the course include a consideration of operatic eroticism, a look at opera's arrival in the Americas, and a focus on the staging practices of early operas.