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Opera and Politics in the Ancien Régime |
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Friday February |
This conference highlights current research on the politics of French opera, from its beginnings under the Sun King through the middle years of Louis XV’s reign. Historians of music, literature, and the performing arts have long explored the absolutist politics of opera in France, especially in relation to the tragédies en musique of Quinault and Lully. Yet historians’ understanding of the ancien régime and its politics has shifted in recent years, with many questioning the earlier emphasis on the centralizing monarchical state and drawing attention to other aspects of French governmentality and political life. Cultural historians have likewise reconsidered the earlier focus on absolutist representation, recognizing the importance of other modes of French political culture, even in royal performances. At the same time, scholars have devoted more attention to comic opera, opera-ballet, and operatic parodies, which mediated the political perspectives of a wider social register. In the early eighteenth century, French opera also became more cosmopolitan, as is clear from the popularity of operatic subjects, styles, and performers imported from Italy, the colonies, and other foreign locales. This cosmopolitanism begged the question of what precisely was “French” about French opera, a problem that became more urgent and more difficult to resolve as the century progressed. Philosophes, critics, and musical amateurs reflected extensively on such questions in the period’s many querelles, suggesting that part of opera’s attraction was as an occasion to imagine new forms of political community, in addition to its long-standing role in conserving the old.
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Registration Deadline: February 20th, 2009. Please click here for a printable registration form. Registration Fees: $25 per person; UC faculty & staff, students with ID: no charge* *Students should enclose a photocopy of their current ID with the registration form. Fees are not refundable and apply to full or partial attendance. Complimentary lunch and other refreshments are provided to all registrants. Please be aware that space at the Clark is limited and that registration closes when capacity is reached. No confirmation will be sent, but we will contact you if we receive your registration after we reach capacity. |
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| Program Schedule: | ||||
Friday, 9:30 A.M. 10.00 A.M.
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Session 1 —Politics of Spectacle Welcoming Remarks Steve Fleck, California State University, Long Beach John S. Powell, University of Tulsa Rose A. Pruiksma, Independent Scholar |
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| 12.00 P.M. | Lunch | |||
| 1.30 P.M. | Session 2 —Politics of Religion at the Opéra Olivia Bloechl, UCLA Charles Dill, University of Wisconsin-Madison William Weber, California State University, Long Beach Geoffrey Burgess, Eastman School of Music
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| 4:30 P.M. | Reception | |||
Saturday, 9:30 A.M. |
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10:00 A.M. |
Session 3 —Politics of Representation and Reception William Weber, California State University, Long Beach Olivia Bloechl, UCLA Raphaëlle Legrand, Université de Paris Sorbonne, Paris-IV Downing A. Thomas, University of Iowa |
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| 1:00 P.M. | Lunch. | |||
2:30 P.M
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Session 4 —Opera in the Late Reign and Regency Bruce Alan Brown, USC Thornton School of Music Don Fader, University of Alabama Georgia Cowart,Case Western Reserve University |
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| Return to Center for 17th- & 18th- Century Studies front page. | ||||