Voicing gender : Castrati, Travesti, and the second woman in early-nineteenth-century Italian opera
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Voicing gender : Castrati, Travesti, and the second woman in early-nineteenth-century Italian opera
（Musical meaning and interpretation / Robert S. Hatten, editor）
Indiana University Press, c2006
- : pbk
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Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. [213]-222) and index
Description and Table of Contents
- Volume
-
: pbk ISBN 9780253217899
Description
The early 19th century was a period of acute transition in operatic tradition and style, when time-honored practices gave way to the developing aesthetics of Romanticism, the rise of the tenor overtook the falling stars of the castrati, and the heroic, the masculine, and the feminine were profoundly reconfigured. These transformations resounded in operatic plot structures as well; the happy resolution of the 18th century twisted into a tragic 19th-century finale with the death of the helpless and innocent heroine-and frequently her tenor hero along with her. Female voices which formerly had sung en travesti, or basically in male drag, opposite their female character counterparts then took on roles of the second woman, a companion and foil to the death-bound heroine rather than her romantic partner. In Voicing Gender, Naomi Andre skillfully traces the development of female characters in these first decades of the century, weaving in and around these changes in voicings and plot lines, to define an emergent legacy in operatic roles.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Hearing Voices
1. Sounding Voices: Modeling Voice and the Period Ear
2. Haunting Legacies: The Castrato in the Nineteenth Century
3. Meyerbeer in Italy: The Crusader, the Castrato, and the Disguised Second Woman
Interlude: Queens, Hybridity, and the Diva
4. Taming Women's Voices: From Hero to Pageboy
5. Women's Voices in Motion: Voices behind the Romantic Heroine
Coda: Looking Ahead to Risorgimento Heroism
Glossary
Notes
Bibliography
Index
- Volume
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ISBN 9780253346445
Description
The early 19th century was a period of acute transition in operatic tradition and style, when time-honoured practices gave way to the developing aesthetics of Romanticism, the rise of the tenor overtook the falling stars of the castrati, and the heroic, the masculine, and the feminine were profoundly reconfigured. These transformations resounded in operatic plot structures as well; the happy resolution of the 18th century twisted into a tragic 19th-century finale with the death of the helpless and innocent heroine - and frequently her tenor hero along with her. Female voices which formerly had sung en travesti, or basically in male drag, opposite their female character counterparts then took on roles of the second woman, a companion and foil to the death-bound heroine rather than her romantic partner. In "Voicing Gender", Naomi Andre skilfully traces the development of female characters in these first decades of the century, weaving in and around these changes in voicings and plot lines, to define an emergent legacy in operatic roles. Naomi Andre is Associate Professor at the University of Michigan.
Trained as a musicologist, her research focuses on nineteenth-century opera and issues surrounding women, gender and voice. Working within feminist theory, she has examined voice as a sounding phenomena and as a conceptual construct. Her publications include topics on Italian opera, Schoenberg and women composers. Current research interests extend to constructions of race, ethnicity, and identity in opera.
by "Nielsen BookData"
