CFP: Operatic Modernism (4/30/05; MSA, 11/3/05-11/6/05)

CFP for the Modernist Studies Association Conference
Chicago, November 3-6, 2005
 
Operatic Modernism

For this proposed panel, I seek papers that explore modernist
developments in opera and/or opera’s place within (or
displacement from) accounts of modernism. Working within and
against an impressive traditional apparatus, to what extent did
opera share in the subversive agenda of avant-garde movements
in the visual arts, literature, and "absolute music?" To what extent
did it, on the contrary, provide a nostalgic or residual antidote to
such brands of modernism? How is opera’s hallmark formal
characteristic, its "extravagance," treated in modernist operas and
in modernism more generally? Other topics relevant to an
exploration of modernist opera include (but are not restricted to):

--Nationalism and politics
--Emotion and affect
--Homoeroticism
--Embodiment/corporeality
--Virtuousity
--Stage design and theater space
--Coterie audiences
--Situation as "highbrow" or "lowbrow" art form
--Technological reproduction and mass culture
--Relationship between words and music
--Role of libretto/librettist
--Predominance of "Literaturoper"
--Anti-opera
--Development and use of specific methods, such as
Schoenberg’s "Sprechstimme" or Brecht/Weill’s "gestus"

Papers that take a broad or theoretical approach to operatic
modernism from sociological, musicological, or literary and
cultural studies perspectives are welcomed, as are papers that
focus on individual operas, productions, composers, librettists, or
performers.

Please send a 250-word abstract and a 2-3 sentence biography by
April 30, 2005 to Heidi Hartwig at <hartwig_at_gwu.edu>

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Received on Wed Apr 06 2005 - 19:30:55 EDT