Many of the greatest works in the operatic repertoire bear the hallmarks of modernism.
At first glance, modernism and opera may seem like strange bedfellows鈥晅he former hostile to sentiment, the latter wearing its heart on its sleeve. And yet these apparent opposites attract: many operas are aesthetically avant-garde, politically subversive, and socially transgressive. From the proto-modernist strains of Richard Wagner鈥檚 Parsifal through the twenty-first-century modernism of Kaija Saariaho鈥檚 L鈥檃mour de loin, the duet between modernism and opera, at turns harmonious and dissonant, has been one of the central artistic events of modernity. Despite this centrality, scholars of modernist literature only rarely venture into opera, and music scholars generally return the favor by leaving literature to one side. But opera, that grand cauldron of the arts, demands that scholars, too, share the stage with one another.
In Modernism and Opera, Richard Begam and Matthew Wilson Smith bring together musicologists, literary critics, and theater scholars for the first time in a mutual endeavor to trace certain key moments in the history of modernism and opera. This innovative volume includes essays from some of the most notable scholars in their fields and covers works as diverse as Debussy鈥檚 Pell茅as et M茅lisande, Bart贸k鈥檚 Bluebeard鈥檚 Castle, Berg鈥檚 Wozzeck, Jan谩膷ek鈥檚 Makropulos Case, Thomson鈥檚 Four Saints in Three Acts, Strauss鈥檚 Arabella, Schoenberg鈥檚 Moses und Aron, Stravinsky鈥檚 The Rake鈥檚 Progress, Britten鈥檚 Gloriana, and Messiaen鈥檚 Saint Fran莽ois d鈥橝ssise.
A collaborative study of the ultimate collaborative art form, Modernism and Opera reveals how modernism and opera illuminate each other and, more generally, the culture of the twentieth century. It also addresses a number of issues crucial for understanding the relation between modernism and opera, focusing in particular on intermediality (how modernism integrates music, literature, and drama into opera) and anti-theatricality (how opera responds to modernism鈥檚 apparent antipathy to theatricality). This captivating book鈥晅he first of its kind鈥晈ill appeal to scholars of literature, music, theater, and modernity as well as to sophisticated opera lovers everywhere.
