Treatise (D.M.A.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

This dissertation is an extended study of how representations of violence inhabit operatic works, on a literary as well as musical level. Employing recent critical and theoretical developments in philosophy, psychoanalysis, linguistics and feminist theory, this study probes into issues surrounding gender/alterity and subject formation, as well as the aesthetics of violence within fin-de-siecle culture. The main goals of the dissertation are (1) to analyze from a philosophical and psychoanalytical point of view the notion of the feminine and its persistent conjunction with death, eroticism and music; (2) to explore various theoretical interpretations of violence within aesthetic production and the potential such violence holds for a negativity that is not only destructive but may also be considered affirmative; and (3) to offer a new interpretive approach to reading violence in opera, one that is modeled after the poststructuralist theories of the "semiotic" as developed by Julia Kristeva. The first section of the dissertation establishes the theoretical groundwork, exploring the writings of Nietzsche, Derrida, Lacan, Bronfen and Kristeva (chapters 1 and 2). An examination of expressionist poetics of negation (chapter 3) leads into the second section which comprises three case studies. Each of the operas under consideration engage issues concerning violence, representation and the feminine, and reveal three very different paths toward semiotic destabilization and negativity. "Morder, Hoffnung der Frauen, or, Overcoming the m/Other" (chapter 4) explores semiotic pulsions as "structural disjunction" both within Kokoschka's radical text and Hindemith's score, and critiques the appropriation of woman in the name of creative innovation. "The Voice of Lulu" (chapter 5) analyzes semiotic eruptions through the materiality and excessive sonority of voice, and explores its subversive effects both on subjectivity and characterization. The fmal case study, "Musical Eroticism

No description available.

This document presents the development trouser role. The first part is concentrated in the seventeenth century when the use of castrati was the main business in church music. Later in the same chapter is presented the development of women in opera, which so far was not a common practice, and how and why they dominate the opera after the castrati were not an accepted practice anymore. The following chapters contain demonstrations of trouser role’s types. Each chapter is based in one role of an opera from a different period of history. From Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice to Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier, the pants role is exemplified from a different point of view according to their importance in opera.

Thesis (D. Mus. Arts)--University of Washington, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-102).

This document presents the development trouser role. The first part is concentrated in the seventeenth century when the use of castrati was the main business in church music. Later in the same chapter is presented the development of women in opera, which so far was not a common practice, and how and why they dominate the opera after the castrati were not an accepted practice anymore. The following chapters contain demonstrations of trouser role’s types. Each chapter is based in one role of an opera from a different period of history. From Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice to Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier, the pants role is exemplified from a different point of view according to their importance in opera.

Thesis (D. Mus. Arts)--University of Washington, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 91-95).

Thesis (doctoral) - Universität, Köln, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 341-346).

Note:

For most of the twentieth century, opera singers were not beholden to the ideal physical standard of women dictated by popular culture, but rather focused on serving the music and perfecting their artistry. Unprecedented sociocultural changes throughout the twentieth century exposed the shifting ideals of each generation and how they were promoted through mass media and advertising. This thesis surveys the time period of the 1890s to the present day for the purpose of analyzing cultural trends, philosophies and technologies that shaped the century. Societal pressure to make the body a project and the focus of one's own intense attention now reflects back onto the opera stage where audience members expect to see what society has dictated to be an acceptable female form. Artistic and stage directors are influenced by society's decree that only thin is beautiful, imbedding into the mindset of the art form notions that now affect how female professional opera singers are depicted and even employed.