Baroque Gender and Sexuality

4.0 credits

This course proceeds from two fundamental insights: attitudes about gender and sexuality differed radically in the 17th and early 18th centuries from what might be considered normative today, and such notions were fundamental to the production and consumption of much music in that period. In this course we will draw on a wealth of recent scholarship to explore a variety of topics, including the baroque construction of sex and gender, the experiences of female composers and performers, the lives of and rationalization for castrati, the values projected in opera, the domestic consumption of published music, and more. Monteverdi, Cavalli, Vivaldi, Handel, Bach: all are implicated in these unfamiliar conceptions (along with the host of their lesser-known colleagues). By means of this particular historical lens, we should be able to perceive better some of the cultural work their “masterpieces” did and in fact may still be doing. A final research project, presented to the seminar, will be required.