GRMUS 696H — First Nights at the Opera

2 credits
Fall
Thomas Forrest Kelly

This course takes as subject matter the cultural context of performance and the study of material culture as a significant element of artistic heritage. The first performances of five iconic operas, Giulio Cesare, Don Giovanni, Les Huguenots, Das Rheingold, and Verdi’s Otello, are considered at length, both as timeless works of art and as moments of cultural history. Careful attention is paid to technical and production aspects, especially the details of the first performance of each and the problems involved in assembling such a picture. Students will research and present a further operatic performance, chosen in collaboration with the instructor. By the end of the course, in addition to mastering research techniques, students come to understand themselves as humans capable of aesthetic appreciation of music—and, by extension, of the arts more broadly.