Thesis (PhD (Music)) -- Stellenbosch University, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: During the past few decades fascinating opera productions have been staged by South
African opera companies, using strong local casts and strikingly indigenous interpretations
of standard works from the canon. It appears that opera in South Africa has survived the
tumultuous recent history of this country and is invigorated by the creative possibilities
unleashed by its contexts. This dissertation explores whether and how opera production in
the Western Cape has reacted to societal influences specific to South Africa. It launches an
exploration of if and how the genre has ‘indigenized’ to become what it is today. The
following themes present themselves during the course of this dissertation: the process
through which opera has rooted itself in the country historically, the forms in and through
which opera manifested itself in the Western Cape, how the art form has developed, to
what extent local culture has influenced the art form and if, how and why opera
production in the Western Cape has diverged from original Western operatic ideals.
This dissertation is comprised of two sections representing, broadly, the past and the
present. Chapters 1 and 2 are historical studies, whilst Chapters 3 and 4 discuss
contemporary perspectives. Chapter 1 is an attempt to construct a history of opera in South
Africa and serves as a background or frame for the ensuing chapters. This chapter will
show that indigenization in its most subtle form can be traced in local opera productions
long before the issue of the reflection of indigenous cultures in opera became relevant.
Chapter 2 is a first attempt to account for the history of the Eoan Group, a so-called
Coloured opera company who performed during South Africa’s Apartheid years. It
investigates the far-reaching implications of the drive to ‘Europeanize’ indigenous culture,
as exemplified in the opera productions of this group. Chapter 3 discusses a new opera
composition, Hans Huyssen’s Masque (composed in 2005), focusing on the use of voice as
it engages with the indigenization of the aesthetic model of voice production. Chapter 4 is
an investigation into the functioning of Cape Town Opera. It investigates how a local
opera company – an institution promoting opera as a Western form of art – negotiates its
way through the tumultuous changes of post-Apartheid South Africa. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Operageselskappe in Suid-Afrika het gedurende die afgelope dekades verskeie
fassinerende produksies op die planke gebring, produksies wat aansienlik deur inheemse
interpretasies beïnvloed is en dikwels van inheemse sangers gebruik maak. Dit wil
voorkom of opera in Suid-Afrika nie slegs die politieke omwentelinge van die onlangse
verlede te bowe gekom het nie, maar ook produktief put uit impulse wat uit plaaslike
omstandighede voortvloei. Die gedagte wat in hierdie proefskrif ondersoek word, is of en
hoe opera produksie in die Weskaap op spesifiek Suid-Afrikaanse omstandighede
gereageer het. Die bestudering van opera in die Weskaap deur die lens van verinheemsing
fokus op die manier waarop opera in die land wortel geskiet het, die wyses waarop dit in
die verlede en in die hede tot uiting gekom het, hoe produksie van die genre ontwikkel het,
tot watter mate inheemse kulture operaproduksie en komposisie beïnvloed het en hoe en
waarom operaproduksie in die Weskaap afgewyk het van oorspronklike Westerse ideale.
Hierdie proefskrif bestaan uit twee dele wat die verlede en die hede verteenwoordig.
Hoofstukke 1 en 2 behandel historiese gevallestudies en Hoofstukke 3 en 4 kontemporêre
operapraktyke. Hoofstuk 1 onderneem om ’n geskiedenis van opera in Suid-Afrika te skets
en dien as ’n vertrekpunt of konteks vir die daaropvolgende hoofstukke. Die hoofstuk dui
aan dat verinheemsing reeds in subtiele vorm plaasgevind het in operaproduksie lank voor
die vraagstuk oor die weerspieëling van inheemse kulture in opera relevant geword het.
Hoofstuk 2 is ’n eerste poging om die geskiedenis van die Eoan Groep, ’n sogenaamde
Kleurling operageselskap wat gedurende die Apartheidsjare in Suid-Afrika opera
geproduseer het, neer te pen. Die hoofstuk ondersoek die verreikende implikasies van die
veldtog om inheemse kulture in Suid-Afrika te verwesters. Hoofstuk 3 bespreek ’n nuwe
operakomposisie, Hans Huyssen se Masque (gekomponeer in 2005) en fokus op die
gebruik van stem en die kwessie van die verinheemsing van die estetiese model van
stemproduksie. Hoofstuk 4 het as onderwerp die plaaslike operageselskap, Kaapstad
Opera, en ondersoek hoe hierdie organisasie wat opera as ’n Westerste kunsvorm beoefen
en bevorder, sy weg vind deur die ingrypende veranderinge wat post-Apartheid Suid-
Afrika kenmerk.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/5207 |
| Date | 12 1900 |
| Creators | Roos, Hilde |
| Contributors | Muller, Stephanus, Huigen, Siegfried, University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Music. |
| Publisher | Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en_ZA |
| Detected Language | Unknown |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 261 leaves |
| Rights | University of Stellenbosch |
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