Music 251 - THE HISTORY OF THE OPERA

An introduction to opera with emphasis on the role of women in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. We consider the monstrous and beautiful representations of women in opera and the discourses that surrounded them, and we interrogate the real women who performed, listened to and sometimes wrote this music. Works include Verdi's La traviata, Bizet's Carmen and Strauss's Salome.