Sonorous Bodies: Representations of Female Sexuality in fin-de-siècle Austro-German Opera, from the Wiener Moderne toward the Weimar Republic
Sonorous Bodies: Representations of Female Sexuality in fin-de-siècle Austro-German Opera, from the Wiener Moderne toward the Weimar Republic
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/11401/76561 | |
| dc.description.sponsorship | This work is sponsored by the Stony Brook University Graduate School in compliance with the requirements for completion of degree. | en_US |
| dc.format | Monograph | |
| dc.format.medium | Electronic Resource | en_US |
| dc.language.iso | en_US | |
| dc.publisher | The Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY. | |
| dc.type | Dissertation | |
| dcterms.abstract | This dissertation examines shifting musical and visual representations of female sexuality in fin-de-siècle Austro-German opera, and demonstrates the ways in which these operatic representations attest to the changing conceptions of women during this era. From theatrical, visual, and literary representations, to legal and medical writings, numerous discourses proliferated regarding " normal" and " abnormal" femininity, often in relation to the health of society. Moreover, with the era's widespread belief that theater and opera fulfilled a social and often didactic role, the stage was understood as a place that could not only shape and regulate society, but also offer new social paradigms. In this dissertation, I contextualize and examine the sonic and visual representations of female sexuality in several fin-de-siècle operatic works: Wagner's Parsifal (1882); Strauss's Feuersnot (1901), Salome (1905), Elektra (1909), and Der Rosenkavalier (1911); Lehár's Die lustige Witwe (1905); Zemlinsky's Der Traumgörge (1906), Schreker's Der ferne Klang (1912); and Max von Schillings's Mona Lisa (1915). Each chapter focuses on a different musical and textual manifestation of the sexual " Woman" (from " the hysteric" and " the fallen woman," to " the muse" ), with the aim of illustrating the transformations and contradictions in relation to historical conceptions of female sexuality and femininity. For these various manifestations, specific moments in the above-mentioned operas are analyzed. Moreover, a central concern of this research is the " cultural work" that these operas performed: How did these operas actively participate in shaping attitudes about women through their musical and visual presentation of the female characters? And what response did these representations garner? As this project demonstrates, the multiple layers of these operas - from the vocal and the orchestral music, to the prescribed bodily movements in the stage directions - articulate the changing cultural norms of respectable femininity of the era. | |
| dcterms.abstract | This dissertation examines shifting musical and visual representations of female sexuality in fin-de-siècle Austro-German opera, and demonstrates the ways in which these operatic representations attest to the changing conceptions of women during this era. From theatrical, visual, and literary representations, to legal and medical writings, numerous discourses proliferated regarding " normal" and " abnormal" femininity, often in relation to the health of society. Moreover, with the era's widespread belief that theater and opera fulfilled a social and often didactic role, the stage was understood as a place that could not only shape and regulate society, but also offer new social paradigms. In this dissertation, I contextualize and examine the sonic and visual representations of female sexuality in several fin-de-siècle operatic works: Wagner's Parsifal (1882); Strauss's Feuersnot (1901), Salome (1905), Elektra (1909), and Der Rosenkavalier (1911); Lehár's Die lustige Witwe (1905); Zemlinsky's Der Traumgörge (1906), Schreker's Der ferne Klang (1912); and Max von Schillings's Mona Lisa (1915). Each chapter focuses on a different musical and textual manifestation of the sexual " Woman" (from " the hysteric" and " the fallen woman," to " the muse" ), with the aim of illustrating the transformations and contradictions in relation to historical conceptions of female sexuality and femininity. For these various manifestations, specific moments in the above-mentioned operas are analyzed. Moreover, a central concern of this research is the " cultural work" that these operas performed: How did these operas actively participate in shaping attitudes about women through their musical and visual presentation of the female characters? And what response did these representations garner? As this project demonstrates, the multiple layers of these operas - from the vocal and the orchestral music, to the prescribed bodily movements in the stage directions - articulate the changing cultural norms of respectable femininity of the era. | |
| dcterms.available | 2017-09-20T16:50:39Z | |
| dcterms.contributor | Fuller, Sarah | en_US |
| dcterms.contributor | Auner, Joseph | en_US |
| dcterms.contributor | Minor, Ryan | en_US |
| dcterms.contributor | Lee, Sherry. | en_US |
| dcterms.creator | Hulley, Kathleen | |
| dcterms.dateAccepted | 2017-09-20T16:50:39Z | |
| dcterms.dateSubmitted | 2017-09-20T16:50:39Z | |
| dcterms.description | Department of Music. | en_US |
| dcterms.extent | 491 pg. | en_US |
| dcterms.format | Monograph | |
| dcterms.format | Application/PDF | en_US |
| dcterms.identifier | http://hdl.handle.net/11401/76561 | |
| dcterms.issued | 2015-08-01 | |
| dcterms.language | en_US | |
| dcterms.provenance | Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-20T16:50:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Hulley_grad.sunysb_0771E_11217.pdf: 5074361 bytes, checksum: c633af964a9378cb5a40ee270c85fbce (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 | en |
| dcterms.publisher | The Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY. | |
| dcterms.subject | Austria, fin-de-siècle, Germany, Opera, Representation, Women | |
| dcterms.subject | Music | |
| dcterms.subject | Austria, fin-de-siècle, Germany, Opera, Representation, Women | |
| dcterms.title | Sonorous Bodies: Representations of Female Sexuality in fin-de-siècle Austro-German Opera, from the Wiener Moderne toward the Weimar Republic | |
| dcterms.title | Sonorous Bodies: Representations of Female Sexuality in fin-de-siècle Austro-German Opera, from the Wiener Moderne toward the Weimar Republic | |
| dcterms.type | Dissertation |
