Original scientific paper
Questions of Gender and Performance Practice on Examples of the Operas and Oratorios of George Frideric Handel
Ivan Ćurković
; Muzička akademija Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Abstract
In the past twenty years or so the performance practice of Handel’s vocalinstrumental music has experienced a true revival. Stage performances of the composer’s operas as well as some of his dramatic oratorios have become frequent not merely at specialised baroque festivals, but also in a large number of opera houses in Europe and the United States. Given the fact that stage performances of Handel’s dramatic works still haven’t truly taken off in Croatia, this research was conducted on a set of examples of video recordings available on DVD. Tendencies in the musical as well as the theatrical aspect of the performance practice of the composer’s operas and oratorios are examined through two lenses: the so-called authentic interpretation of early music and the so-called director’s theatre (Regietheater), within a theoretical framework stemming from musicology and theatre studies. Interrelationships between these two seemingly contradictory performance tendencies are to be examined, while concentrating on an important question that has repercussions on both of them. This question is: who is to interpret roles written for the castrati, females (mezzo-sopranos or contraltos) or males (countertenors)? In an attempt to debate about an insightful answer to this question, concrete examples will be examined in depth. In this process gender studies, a movement in humanities that opposes the cultural category of gender to the biological category of sex is going to be of prime importance, given the complex gender identity of the castrati in the opera seria of the 18th century.
Keywords
George Frideric Handel; opera seria; dramatic oratorio; authentic interpretation of early music; director’s theatre; discography; castrato; countertenor
Hrčak ID:
65567
URI
Publication date:
2.3.2011.
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