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- All Subjects: Opera
- Genre: Doctoral Dissertation
- Creators: Campbell, Andrew
- Status: Published
Description
Artistic trends of the mid-nineteenth century demonstrate the popularity of incorporating Asian elements into various artistic media. This paper discusses why the stereotypical Asian female provided an attractive character for operatic librettists, composers and audiences. To support the discussion, six operas from 1885 to 2010 are examined, and the dramatic and musical portrayal of representative female characters is discussed. The familiar character of Cio-cio-san from Giocamo Puccini's Madama Butterfly (1904) provides a foundation to discuss these stereotypical Asian female characteristics, specifically one archetype, that of the naïve, yet sexually desirable female. Prior to Cio-cio-san, Sir W. S. Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan's Yum-Yum from The Mikado (1885), Iris of Pietro Mascagni's Iris (1898) exemplify this archetype, as does Liù from Puccini's Turandot (1924). At the other extreme is the icy, cold and bloodthirsty archetype found in the title role of Puccini's Turandot and Katisha from The Mikado. Chiang Ch'ing (also known as Madame Mao) from John Adams's Nixon in China (1987), and Madame White Snake from Chinese-American composer Zhou Long's Madame White Snake (2010) feature leading characters that demonstrate elements of both of these archetypes, and this combination of the two archetypes yields more complex and richer characters. These two extremes of the female Asian stereotype and the evolution of these characteristics provide an interesting outlook on the incorporation of non-Western musical styles into these operas, and the understanding of a Western perception of foreign peoples, especially foreign females.
ContributorsLo, Wan-Yi (Author) / Campbell, Andrew (Thesis advisor) / Carpenter, Ellon (Committee member) / Kopta, Anne (Committee member) / Mills, Robert (Committee member) / Ryan, Russell (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
This doctoral project involves a multi-disciplined analysis concerning Agamemnon's daughters (Iphigenia, Electra, and Chrysothemis) and how these women's gender and virtues were depicted as compared with ideal Greek women in antiquity. Three composers in three different eras adapted the literary and musical depictions of these women based on the composer's society, culture, audience expectations, musical climate and personal goals. George Friedrich Handel's Oreste (1734), Christoph Willibald von Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride (1779) and Richard Strauss's Elektra (1909) are the main operas used for this analysis. The Mycenaean House of Atreus, a dynasty which the ancient Greeks traced back to the time of the Trojan War in the 12th century BCE, figures prominently in Greek mythology and ancient Greek literature concerning the Trojan War. The House of Atreus included Agamemnon, King of Mycenae and commander of the Greeks at Troy, his wife Clytaemnestra, their son Orestes, and their daughters: Iphigenia, Electra, and Chrysothemis. For over three thousand years, the legend of this ancient family has inspired musical scores, plays, poetry, architecture, sculpture, paintings, and movies. Numerous studies examine the varying interpretations of the House of Atreus myths; few, if any, address the ways in which female Greek virtues are depicted operatically within the myths. In the music of Handel's Oreste, Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride and Strauss's Elektra, Agamemnon's daughters contradict the ideal Greek woman while still exhibiting heroic or idealistic virtues. The analysis of the operas in their social contexts will address the audience expectations and composers' dramatic interpretations of the myth. This analysis will include: a brief overview of ancient Greek culture and gender roles; a literary comparison of the original dramas to the librettos; societal audience expectations in their historical contexts; musical, philosophical, and literary influences on the composers; and an examination of music composed in two different centuries and in three different styles. The brief historical, cultural, literary, and musical analyses highlight the absence and presence of ancient Greek virtues, and how these women can be presented both as heroic, or virtuous, and unvirtuous in the same production.
ContributorsRocklein, Robyn Michele (Author) / FitzPatrick, Carole (Thesis advisor) / Campbell, Andrew (Committee member) / Dreyfoos, Dale (Committee member) / Mills, Robert (Committee member) / Rogers, Rodney (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Aspiring opera singers receive training in many different areas including vocal technique, acting, foreign languages, and role preparation to help them prepare for the demands of the standard operatic repertoire. Many of the operatic roles within the standard repertoire are too demanding in their entirety for young singers who are still developing physically and intellectually. Vocal health is a great concern for young voice students and their teachers. An operatic role which demands more stamina or control than a student is currently capable of executing in a healthy way can result in vocal trauma. To avoid assigning repertoire to students which may push their limits, many undergraduate vocal students are not given the opportunity to perform an operatic role in its entirety until after they have graduated.
Pauline Viardot’s operetta Cendrillon provides a solution to the often difficult task of giving experience to young singers without causing them potential harm. The knowledge Viardot gained by having a career both as an opera singer and a voice teacher resulted in a composition which contains full operatic roles that many young singers could capably perform. Viardot was sensitive to the issues that many young singers face, and as a result, she created an operetta which voice faculty can feel comfortable assigning to their students. In order to understand the demands of Cendrillon on young opera singers, this project included a performance of the piece with undergraduate voice students, many of whom had never been in an opera before. Through this process and a comparison of Cendrillon with some of the repertoire these singers will encounter later in their careers, it is clear that Viardot’s insightful compositional style provided a smooth transition for these relatively inexperienced students.
Pauline Viardot’s operetta Cendrillon provides a solution to the often difficult task of giving experience to young singers without causing them potential harm. The knowledge Viardot gained by having a career both as an opera singer and a voice teacher resulted in a composition which contains full operatic roles that many young singers could capably perform. Viardot was sensitive to the issues that many young singers face, and as a result, she created an operetta which voice faculty can feel comfortable assigning to their students. In order to understand the demands of Cendrillon on young opera singers, this project included a performance of the piece with undergraduate voice students, many of whom had never been in an opera before. Through this process and a comparison of Cendrillon with some of the repertoire these singers will encounter later in their careers, it is clear that Viardot’s insightful compositional style provided a smooth transition for these relatively inexperienced students.
ContributorsBerman, Lauren Rebecca (Author) / FitzPatrick, Carole (Thesis advisor) / Campbell, Andrew (Committee member) / Suzuki, Kotoka (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017