En lärare som var väldigt viktig för mig i ett visst skede under studietiden, var Thomas Lander. Han introducerade de sångtekniska fördelar man kan hämta från talet, eller som han kallar det, det patetiska talet. Betydelsen, och lärdomarna som kunde hämtas, av talet stannade dock inte här, det breddades till att vara det centrala i hela min filosofi kring kommunikation på scen.Från de rent sångtekniska verktygen som fanns att hämta, kom senare diktionen, och textens hörbarhet. Därefter kom talet i dess mest övergripande form, likt skådespeleri. Vad fanns det egentligen överhuvudtaget för skillnader mellan tal och operasång? Fascinationen uppstod ur det faktum att vi genom trial and error har övat hela livet på att tala, på att till att börja med rent taltekniskt göra oss tillräckligt förstådda, att man hör vad som sägs, och för det andra att vilja uppnå något med vad man säger. Det verkade inte mer än rimligt att använda sig så mycket av det som möjligt, varför uppfinna hjulet en gång till?Frågeställningen blir här därmed: ​Vad finns det för skillnader och likheter mellan skådespeleri och operasång, och vad man lära av det för att bli en bättre sångare?

A autoetnografia tem sido utilizada em pesquisas em musicologia e, especialmente, em etnomusicologia, na busca de formas contemporâneas de aproximação entre a experiência artística e as exigências acadêmicas. Este trabalho apresenta uma autoetnografia em diálogo com os artistas que se juntaram a nós, o que permitiu a descrição de quatorze anos de existência do NUO-Opera. Portanto, o objetivo desta investigação é narrar, contextualizar e situar nos campos das artes (teatro, música, dança e performance) e sociedades (contexto político, econômico e social em que vivemos) o que me levou a construir uma proposta de criação e produção artística em ópera na cidade onde nasci, cresci e onde escolhi ser artista. Esta narrativa foi destinada não apenas a uma visão geral do trabalho realizado pela NUO, mas, tomando-o como eixo, proporcionou a identificação de questões retóricas ao longo das descrições que, por sua vez, nos levaram a dialogar com historiadores e diretores que escreveram sobre o conceito e o significado da ópera. Esses processos reflexivos nos levam a acreditar que a existência de uma casa-teatro e que o fazer ópera em uma perspectiva transdisciplinar permite a realização de um percurso singular no campo das artes e especialmente da ópera. A ideia da ópera como gênero transdisciplinar surge em nossas escolhas artísticas, mas também é apresentada nas descrições de pesquisas e no fazer de artistas que têm concebido e proposto espetáculos e performances operísticas ao longo do tempo. Ao final nós podemos conceber que a ópera não é apenas a adição ou a sobreposição de outras práticas artísticas, mas transita entre elas e isso está de acordo com nossas escolhas e propostas artísticas no NUO-Opera Laboratório. / Autoethnography has been used in research in musicology and, especially, in ethnomusicology, in the search for contemporary forms of approximation between the artistic experience and the academic exigences. This work presents an autoethnography in dialogue with the artists who were join with us, what allowed the description of fourteen years of NUO-Opera Laboratory. Therefore, the objective of this investigation is to narrate, contextualizing and situating in the fields of the arts (theater, music, dance and performance) and societies (the political, economic and social context in which we live) what led me to build a proposal of creation and artistic production in opera in the city where I was born, grew up and where I chose to be an artist. This narrative was intended not only to give an overview of the work carried out by the NUO but, taking it as axis, it was possible to identify rhetorical questions throughout the descriptions that led us to dialogue with historians and directors who wrote about the concept and the meaning of opera. This, in turn, leads us to believe that the existence of a house-theater and to do opera in a transdisciplinary perspective allows the realization of a singular course in the field of the arts, and especially of the opera. The idea of opera as a transdisciplinary genre emerge in our artistic choices, but also it are presented in the descriptions of researches and artists that conceives and stages the operatic spectacle over time. In this way, we can conceive that opera is not only the addition or the overlapping of other artistic practices, but it transits between them and that this is in line with our choices and artistic proposals at the NUO-Opera Laboratory.

A ópera combina diferentes artes numa só: canto, teatro e música, o que exige, dos cantores que dela participam, um domínio técnico de sua voz, mas, para além disto, também sua corporeidade. Deste modo, o objetivo do presente trabalho é demonstrar a dificuldade do cantor/ator em expressar-se, corporalmente, no momento de sua encenação, ocasionando, neste atuante, uma desconexão entre o que ele expressa vocalmente e sua gestualidade, o que gera uma defasagem na comunicação cênica deste artista; e também, apresentar como as técnicas corporais puderam despertar estes corpos, tornando-os mais presentes cenicamente. Para tanto, apresentamos de que maneira práticas corporais como yoga, meditação, bioenergética, jogos teatrais e técnica de atuação para a formação artística do cantor/ator possibilitam torná-lo consciente acerca do estado de sua presença corporal em cena. Assim, nos valeremos do uso de técnicas de Marta Graham, o qual a respiração é um dos princípios em sua dança (o release inspiração/expiração), bem como os exercícios de jogos de improvisação e triangulação da Commedia dell\'arte e o Método das Ações Físicas de Stanislavski como atuação para o cantor de ópera. Como resultado, verificamos que estas práticas propiciaram aos atuantes envolvidos no processo um corpo mais vivo, menos estatuário, mais verossímil, e que estes fatores influenciaram na construção corporal da personagem operística. / The opera combines different arts in one: singing, theater and music, which requires, from the singers who participate, a technical domain of his voice, but also his corporeality. In this way, the objective of the present work is to demonstrate the difficulty of the singer / actor in expressing themselves, at the time of their staging, causing, in this actor, a disconnection between what he expresses vocally and his gesture, which generates a lag in the scenic communication of this artist; and also to present how body techniques could awaken these bodies, making them more present in a cenic. In order to do so, we present how corporal practices such as yoga, meditation, bioenergetics, theater plays and acting techniques for the artistic formation of the singer / actor become possible to make him aware about the state of his bodily presence on the scene. Thus, we will use the techniques of Martha Graham, whose breathing is one of the principles in her dance (the release inspiration / expiration), as well as the exercises of improvisation and triangulation games of the Commedia dell\'arte and the Method of Physical Actions of Stanislavski as acting for the opera singer. As a result, we verified that these practices gave the actors involved in the process a more living body, less statuary, more believable, and that these factors influenced the body construction of the operatic character.

<p>Bilagor: Partitur till kammaroperan <em>Förlossningen</em> och stråkverket <em>Timaeus</em> medföljer, likaså ljudinspelning på bägge verken.</p>

A ópera combina diferentes artes numa só: canto, teatro e música, o que exige, dos cantores que dela participam, um domínio técnico de sua voz, mas, para além disto, também sua corporeidade. Deste modo, o objetivo do presente trabalho é demonstrar a dificuldade do cantor/ator em expressar-se, corporalmente, no momento de sua encenação, ocasionando, neste atuante, uma desconexão entre o que ele expressa vocalmente e sua gestualidade, o que gera uma defasagem na comunicação cênica deste artista; e também, apresentar como as técnicas corporais puderam despertar estes corpos, tornando-os mais presentes cenicamente. Para tanto, apresentamos de que maneira práticas corporais como yoga, meditação, bioenergética, jogos teatrais e técnica de atuação para a formação artística do cantor/ator possibilitam torná-lo consciente acerca do estado de sua presença corporal em cena. Assim, nos valeremos do uso de técnicas de Marta Graham, o qual a respiração é um dos princípios em sua dança (o release inspiração/expiração), bem como os exercícios de jogos de improvisação e triangulação da Commedia dell\'arte e o Método das Ações Físicas de Stanislavski como atuação para o cantor de ópera. Como resultado, verificamos que estas práticas propiciaram aos atuantes envolvidos no processo um corpo mais vivo, menos estatuário, mais verossímil, e que estes fatores influenciaram na construção corporal da personagem operística. / The opera combines different arts in one: singing, theater and music, which requires, from the singers who participate, a technical domain of his voice, but also his corporeality. In this way, the objective of the present work is to demonstrate the difficulty of the singer / actor in expressing themselves, at the time of their staging, causing, in this actor, a disconnection between what he expresses vocally and his gesture, which generates a lag in the scenic communication of this artist; and also to present how body techniques could awaken these bodies, making them more present in a cenic. In order to do so, we present how corporal practices such as yoga, meditation, bioenergetics, theater plays and acting techniques for the artistic formation of the singer / actor become possible to make him aware about the state of his bodily presence on the scene. Thus, we will use the techniques of Martha Graham, whose breathing is one of the principles in her dance (the release inspiration / expiration), as well as the exercises of improvisation and triangulation games of the Commedia dell\'arte and the Method of Physical Actions of Stanislavski as acting for the opera singer. As a result, we verified that these practices gave the actors involved in the process a more living body, less statuary, more believable, and that these factors influenced the body construction of the operatic character.

This dissertation explores the choices involved in being a composer in Latin America during the last decades of the eighteenth century and the first decades of the nineteenth century. My primary interest is to understand how composers adapted or not- their aesthetics, ideas and careers amid the rapid changes brought to this region between the 1790s and 1850s, a period often described as an “Age of Revolutions” and that saw the end of colonial rule and the foundation of modern independent nations. Composers in the region worked within European forms and styles, and with Europe as a cosmopolitan cultural model; but they also learned, composed and performed in a specific set of historical conditions that differed from those in contemporary Europe. In that sense, my interest is in the specific agency composers -as literate urban citizens- had in appropriating and shaping transatlantic cultural transfers during this period. My study focuses on two musicians working in the Andean region, today’s Bolivia, Peru and Chile, during this period: José Bernardo Alzedo (Lima, 1788-1878) and Pedro Ximénez Abrill Tirado (Arequipa, 1784 - Sucre, 1856). Born in late-colonial times, both composers adapted themselves and their musical styles to the new expectations created by the post-independence period. Through five chapters I explore their specific role as composers, and how their decisions and choices impacted their careers and music, both personally and in context. Some key problems discussed in the dissertation include the definitions of local, personal and national “schools” and styles of composition; the notion of the composer as a postcolonial letrado; the ways in which specific European influences (like printed scores and Italian opera) shaped local musical scenes; and the complexities of adapting colonial musical models to the new “republican” period and its changing values, perspectives and ideals.

This dissertation examines four operas created by the composer Franceso Cavalli and the librettist Giovanni Faustini at the Teatro Sant'Apollinare in Venice in 1651-1652 with regard to the relationship between musical dramaturgy and stage performance. All four operas--L'Oristeo, La Rosinda, La Calisto, and L'Eritrea--are preserved in manuscript scores that are part of the Contarini Collection in the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana. Annotations in these sources document the complex process of rehearsing at the Sant'Apollinare and the ways that multiple considerations of production (including vocal casting, staging, and scenography) interacted with the evolving musico-dramatic structure. Several of these operas were revived later in the seventeenth century in new theatrical circumstances: L'Oristeo was revived as L'Oristeo travestito in Bologna in 1656; La Rosinda was reworked and presented under the title Le magie amorose in Naples in 1653; and L'Eritrea received multiple productions (including a Venetian revival at the Teatro San Salvatore in 1661). These case studies provide a fuller view of the relationship between Venetian opera aesthetics and the exigencies of performance on the seventeenth-century stage. Modifications to the original dramaturgy--such as inserted arias and sinfonie, added secondary comic characters, and cuts to recitative--were made with careful regard to the scenography of each production. This analysis demonstrates the critical importance of stagecraft in the interpretation of this repertoire both historically and in modern edition and performance.

The Eoan Group, founded in 1933 in Cape Town, was South Africa's first and only all-coloured opera, dance and theatre company. Its 1956 production of La Traviata was the first opera produced by non-white people in South Africa, and initiated an operatic career that spanned twelve opera seasons and ten operas. The group was under the administration of white directors and received funding from the apartheid government. In return, they agreed to honour the regime's racial laws by performing for segregated audiences. Their acquiescence to segregation and their complicity in the promotion of apartheid ideology caused political problems: they were ostracised by their own community and boycotted by members of the white and coloured racial groupings. After the group's operatic activities came to a permanent halt in 1980, their history sank into obscurity, despite their importance in the establishment of an operatic culture in the country. The memorialisation of South Africa's cultural-political past continues to maintain a binary of complicity and resistance, with those who are remembered grouped neatly into either of these categories. These labels, however, do not map tidily onto the Eoan Group, with its bewildering narrative of self-empowerment-through-collusion. Consequently, their story presents a problem for the writing of South African music history. Drawing extensively on material from the Eoan Group Archive, this dissertation considers the socio-political ambiguities of the Eoan narrative from musicological and post-colonial theoretical angles, to show how the group's operatic activities disrupted the cultural and material determinism of apartheid's racialised ideology. It calls for a disavowal of the Manichean ethics by which subaltern agency is measured, and proposes instead a turn to Njabulo S. Ndebele's 'politics of the ordinary'. From the sonic and material residue of the Eoan Group's productions, this project forges a newly conceived decolonial writing of apartheid operatic history.

The objective of this thesis is to provide an overview of history and development of American opera, ie opera in the territory of today´s USA, in the 20th century. It is a chronological overview of the main influences that shaped this development. It focuses on turning moments, historical milestones, significant opera composers and their core works. It notes the distinction between American and European musical traditions and focuses on the specifics of American opera art. This thesis was created by a compilation method based on several professional works by leading American musicologists and scholars in the field of cultural history. The reason for creating this work is the absence of any more inclusive or more comprehensive literature in the Czech language, which deals with this topic.

This study has been conceived to verify whether Francesco Cavalli (Crema, 1602--Venice, 1676), the most representative composer of seventeenth-century Venetian opera, used what is called "key symbolism." Key symbolism, or the association of one particular mood or meaning with one specific key, has been a topos in music theory literature ever since Plato and Aristotle. Many scholars maintain that early modern composers believed in the connotative power of the keys and selected them according to the "affect" they meant to convey. These assumptions are mostly based on the treatises of the time and significant examples, but key symbolism had never been investigated systematically as a poetic code. This study on key symbolism focused on the identification of patterns in the associations of the expressive content ("affect" or "affection") and the key of Cavalli's arias. Arias represent the best place to investigate this association because they form semantic and musical units. Cavalli's twenty-seven extant operas include more than 850 arias and, thus, provide a sufficient sampling for testing the consistency of these patterns in the work of the same composer. My analysis and categorization of Cavalli's arias, which resulted in the compilation of a complete thematic catalogue, was based directly on the manuscript sources of the Contarini Collection held by the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana in Venice, and the collection of librettos owned by the same library. This study on Cavalli's key selection determined the following points: 1) the complete spectrum of the keys actually used by Cavalli, and how his tonal palette compares with the one proposed by contemporary theorists; 2) how practical factors, such as orchestration or the voice of the singer, influenced Cavalli's choice of the key; 3) the frequency with which the composer associated recurring topics in arias with particular tonalities; 4) whether Cavalli's usage is consistent with the connotations of the keys described in theoretical literature; and, finally, 5) whether the association of a topic with a key is systematic enough to be considered a poetical code. In the end it appears that Cavalli's choice of the key was certainly influenced but not determined by the content of the text. On the one hand, it is possible to identify some of the affective characteristics he attributed to keys; on the other hand, the link between the key (signifier) and the expressive content of the aria text (signified) cannot be codified as a system of meanings.