FIRST YEAR SEMINARS 038 - Class and Gender Through the Lens of Mozart's Da Ponte Operas

Institution:

Hobart William Smith Colleges

Subject:

Description:

As a genre, 18th-century Italian opera buffa depended for its dramatic effect on a reversal of the customary expectations of class and gender stereotypes held by members of the middle-class. Nowhere is this reversal clearer and more effectively used than in the three comic operas composed by Mozart for Vienna in the 1780s on texts supplied by the librettist Lorenzo da Ponte. Thus, study of these delightful works provides insight into attitudes about what was considered proper behavior for men and women among the three separate classes of Viennese society (landed aristocracy, professional middle class, and menial domestic servants). Many of those attitudes and expectations still may be found embedded in current European and American societies. This seminar uses the scenarios and the verbal and musical texts as a basis for considering issues of class and gender, then and now. This seminar requires basic reading skills in music notation. Taking Music 110 Introduction to Music Theory concurrently would cover the necessary notation before scores are used in class discussion. (Myers)

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

WWW.HWS.EDU

Phone Number:

(315) 781-3000

Regional Accreditation:

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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