Opera Exotica

The word "exotic" has at least two dictionary entries: first, a bland one - " introduced from another country;" second, one with a deeper resonance: "strikingly, excitingly, or mysteriously different or unusual." In the world of opera, composers and librettists from the late eighteenth to early twentieth century have put stories and music onstage that promised to transport the audience to another world---a world in some ways recognizable, but in other ways reflecting images, customs, and situations unknown to the average European. These strange byways promised a realm of romance and sexuality forbidden by conventional morality. They also acted as fantastic travelogues to countries where colonially subjugated people became understandable in European terms but also retained enough "otherness" so that their dramatic plight had no political overtones.

We will examine exoticism through depictions of the Middle East, Asia, Spain, and the American South, drawing on such composers as Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, Massenet, Bizet, and Gershwin.

Class is limited to 25 members.

BOB SIMON has lectured for Opera North's Sherry & Sopranos series for a decade, and is a past president of that organization. He is a retired psychiatrist with a lifelong involvement in music, opera in particular. He gave the ILEAD course "Opera Appreciation" twice last year, and repeated it for Adventures in Learning in New London this past fall.