Opera, Power, and Politics

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Opera embraces voice, music, theatre, poem and visual arts, making it the "total" art form. It is endlessly reinvented by a changing society, which it also contributes to shape. Sometimes forbearing political events (revolutions started in opera houses), often used as propaganda by the rulers of the time, opera entertains a unique relationship with the political power. From the Age of Enlightenment, opera became a vector of subtle social criticism or political utopia. Today, contemporary issues such as the #metoo movement can sometimes be controversially taken on board when staging operas. The course therefore will propose a cross-thematic journey into opera, power and politics from Monteverdi to Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, John Adams and many others, confronting musical works with the dynamics of power, based on collective watching of numerous video extracts from operas. This will allow students to develop a personal and critical perspective on the complex relationship between opera and power, whether political, economic or social.