57-912 Opera Since Wagner
9 units, Carnegie Mellon University
In the 400year arc of opera history, the last 125 years have seen the genres apogee, perigee, and current renaissance. Between the Wagnermania of the late nineteenth century and todays vogue for both opera and popera, new opera production slowed greatly in the third quarter of the last century as composers rejected its traditions and audiences turned increasingly to rock and pop. In this course, we will survey this trajectory by viewing and analyzing eight repertory staples Wagner Parsifal Debussy Pellas et Mlisande Puccini Turandot Berg Wozzeck Gershwin Porgy and Bess Britten Peter Grimes Messiaen Saint Franois dAssise Reich Three Tales We will also become acquainted with other works related to these staples, from Strauss to Saariaho and Tan Dun, and ask numerous questions. What can these operas characters and techniques tell us about late modern subjectivity What happened to the great national traditions In what musical styles has opera flourished and languished How have audiences changed How has the notion of opera itself changed, from the nature of its heroes and heroines to its performance forces and media The goals of this course are to 1 promote intimate knowledge of the eight core operas 2 encourage familiarity with numerous related opera plots, opera composers, and twentieth and twentyfirstcentury musical styles 3 broaden literary and musical analytical tools to include historical, aesthetic, and multicultural perspectives on opera and 4 improve oral and written communication skills about opera. Requirements Attendance at opera screenings, readings, quizzes, small written assignments, and a 17 to 20page research paper on an opera of your choice written since 1850. Required text Mervyn Cook, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Twentiethcentury Opera 2005. This course can count as music support for undergraduate and graduate students.
Prerequisites: none listed
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