Masculinity and the other in Belle Époque opera

Thesis

For more than three decades, opera scholars have dedicated significant attention to the topic of gender. The portrayal of female characters has been closely evaluated, with a particular interest in how the representation of femininity relates to larger questions of the Other. Scholarly assessment of men in opera, however, has been a largely neglected line of enquiry. Specifically, the application of wider theories in masculinity and men’s studies — in either its contemporary sociological or historical forms — is rare. This thesis examines how opera in France during the Belle Époque reflected a widespread and deep-seated unease about manhood, which extended far beyond the theatre, in order to assess how it echoed and responded to social change.

Through an examination of seven case studies, my thesis argues for a multivalent understanding of operatic masculinity in Paris at the fin de siècle, which existed in dialogue with the prevailing social discourse and the sense of manhood in “crisis”. The subjects of my discussion are: the homosocial interactions in George Bizet’s Carmen; the representation of male desire and its relationship with power and patriarchy in Léo Delibes’s Lakmé and Jules Massenet’s Thaïs; the Orient in the male imagination in Camille Saint-Saëns’s La Princesse jaune; the provincial Other and Mediterranean gender stereotypes in Massenet’s Sapho; and autobiographies of bohemian masculinity in Gustave Charpentier’s Louise and its sequel, Julien. In so doing, the thesis demonstrates the value of the lens of masculinity and men’s studies in the study of opera and gender, and the potential of such an approach in offering scholars new interpretative strategies for these works and beyond.

Authors: Kavanagh, E

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-kzqkrg4eb
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English