Stephen Sondheim’s 1979 award-winning musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street was produced during a time of great political and economic uncertainty in New York City. Although not overtly political, the themes of urban crisis and class inequality that birthed the original legend of Sweeney Todd in Industrial Revolution London continued to play a large role within the modern musical, reflecting leftist political concerns at large. The main political argument within the work is the critique of class hierarchies created by capitalism and how the upper classes abuse the lower classes, ie. how Judge Turpin uses his power to abuse Sweeney Todd and the grave consequences of such actions. Less obvious, however, are the importance of gender hierarchy and the objectification of women within this anti-capitalist critique. This paper focuses on the character of Johanna and the three songs sung about her by the three main male leads. These songs provide a case study of how gendered objectification and commodification play a significant role in the overall Marxist critique intrinsic to the musical and the Sweeney Todd legend overall. The work’s rootedness in the anti-capitalist critique of the New Left in the 1970s and the concurrent rise of Marxist and socialist feminism provide clues to understanding the context and meaning behind the violent treatment of women within the musical as an extension of the anti-capitalist critique that is fundamental to the work. / text

Shortly after returning to Moscow in 1936, Prokofiev composed his first Soviet opera, Semyon Kotko (Opus 81). The libretto was taken from Valentin Kataev's novel I am a Son of the Working People, a tale of revolution and war in a small Ukrainian village and one that adheres to the tenets of Socialist Realism. Kataev encouraged Prokofiev to set this text in a highly conservative song style. Prokofiev was also influenced in the project by Vsevolod Meyerhold, an innovative artist who advocated using continuous declamation as a means of achieving "dramatic truth" in music. / This essay examines the extent to which Semyon Kotko can be considered a conformist opera. Part One is a survey of Socialist Realism and its manifestation in Soviet literature and music during the 1930's; Parts Two and Three examine the text and music of Semyon Kotko as representative of the doctrine. Consideration is given throughout the study to the opposing influences of Kataev and Meyerhold on Prokofiev, and to the political events surrounding the opera's composition.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Stanford University, 1981. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 301-316). Also issued in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Stanford University, 1981. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 301-316).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Berkeley. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 265-278).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1967. / Typescript. Vita. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 204-216).

Revision of author's thesis (Ph. D.)--Universiṭat Tel-Aviv, 1985. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 417-430) and indexes.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1995. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 319-336).

Texte remanié de: Diss. Ph. D.--Department of Jewish history, Lester and Sally Entin faculty of humanities--Tel-Aviv--Tal-Aviv university, 1993. / Mention parallèle de titre ou de responsabilité : The @Jewish socialist labor confederation Poale-Zion, 1907-1920 / Zvia Balshan. Les p. de titre portent : "Mkwn Ben-Gwrywn lḥeqer Yiśraʼel, haṢioywnwt wmwrešet Ben-Gwrywn, Qiryyat Śdeh-Bwqer" et "Ben-Gurion research institute for the study of Israel and Zionism, Sede Boqer campus" Table des matières trad. en anglais. Bibliogr. p. 384-395. Index.

Revision of: Th. Ph. D--History--Storrs--University of Connecticut, 1992. / Bibliogr. p. 275-287.