This dissertation is a study of the first three plays that Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote for the operatic stage: Iphis and La Decouverte du nouveau monde, both examples of the genre tragedie lyrique, and Les Muses galantes, an opera-ballet. Semiotic and poetic analyses bring to light striking resemblances between the dramatic situations depicted in the operas and the personal drama of the young Rousseau in love. As a whole, the operas reveal two distinct portraits of the self in love. The first, painted in colours of passion, reveals a self implicated in triangular relationships that are resolved through the abnegation of desire; the second, brushed in shades of contentment, devotion, and fidelity, celebrate the delights of requited love. These two portraits are studied in the light of Rousseau's principal writings in order to demonstrate how the early operatic works reflect true images of an ever evolving self in love.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.74602 |
| Date | January 1991 |
| Creators | Bermingham, Ronald P. |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Département de langue et littérature françaises.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001234506, proquestno: AAINN67545, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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