This study is an analysis of three English Canadian operas, Beatrice Chancy
(composed by James Rolfe with a libretto by George Elliott Clarke), Elsewhereless
(composed by Rodney Shaman with a libretto by Atom Egoyan), and Louis Riel
(composed by Harry Somers with a libretto by Mavor Moore), that place Canadian
history and Canadian historical fictions on the lyric stage. All three operas engage
variously with race, gender, sexuality, power, and the political formation of the state.
The central concern of this study is the representation through music of difference
and race in Louis Riel, Elsewhereless, and Beatrice Chancy. The analysis considers music
as a medium of representation and therefore an equal participant, with the libretto and the
mise en scine, in creating subtle delineations of character, relationships, and complex
interchanges with the world outside the work. In particular, through the analysis of
music, narrative, and operatic performance, the study will consider how race is
represented in these operas.
Independent but affiliated studies on modern opera and the theoretical context of
cultural musicology, and a longitudinal consideration of the representation of race and
racism in historical operas, will form a theoretical and comparative historical background
to the analysis of the operas.
This study intends to contribute to the field of opera studies by focusing on
contemporary Canadian operas.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/661 |
| Date | 10 April 2008 |
| Creators | Zapf, Donna. |
| Contributors | Lazarevich, Gordana. |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Detected Language | English |
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