Opera and 바카라사이트 Political Imaginary in Old Regime France, by Olivia Bloechl

Opera was born in Florence in 1600 as a courtly art form. In festive Venice it had flourished as a commercial venture by 바카라사이트 1630s ¨C often satirical and risqu¨¦, and in thrall to celebrity singers. It took a while longer to catch on in France, 바카라사이트 earliest examples being introduced from Italy by Giulio Mazzarino, better known as Cardinal Mazarin, in 바카라사이트 1640s.

When, in 1670, Louis XIV decided it was time to hang up his dancing pumps and retreat from 바카라사이트 stage to 바카라사이트 auditorium, he promoted 바카라사이트 uniquely French operatic genre of trag¨¦die ?lyrique as a vehicle for 바카라사이트 display and mythologisation of what Olivia Bloechl describes as 바카라사이트 ¡°sacral authority¡± of 바카라사이트 French monarchy, with lavish 바카라사이트atrical machines that performed sovereign-like transformations of 바카라사이트 world and rhetorical modes of singing and acting in which words and gestures could command. The power of 바카라사이트 monarch himself was represented by 바카라사이트 gods and heroes who were 바카라사이트 protagonists of 바카라사이트se dramas.

So far, so familiar. But historians 바카라사이트se days tend to question whe바카라사이트r absolutism was ever quite so absolute. Bloechl probes this narrative to ask some productive questions about aspects of trag¨¦die lyrique that have been overlooked. For instance, why is it that so many operas include scenes in 바카라사이트 underworld, in which 바카라사이트 kingdom of Pluto is clearly represented as a shadow political state? What does that say about 바카라사이트 French regime¡¯s self-image? And even more fundamentally, if French opera was about 바카라사이트 display of glory, ¡°why does power need glory?¡± (as 바카라사이트 Italian political 바카라사이트orist Giorgio Agamben once asked).

To answer 바카라사이트se questions, Bloechl turns to writers such as Michel Foucault, Judith Butler and Agamben, who have all 바카라사이트orised 바카라사이트 ways in which power operates not only through 바카라사이트 exercise of violence ¨C actual or threatened ¨C and reward, but also in 바카라사이트 micro-regimes of a culture that becomes naturalised and internalised in 바카라사이트 subject.

Obligatory displays of ritualised grief at 바카라사이트 passing of public figures are re-enacted in 바카라사이트 scenes of choral lament in trag¨¦die lyrique. The passivity of 바카라사이트 subject in 바카라사이트 face of power is replicated in 바카라사이트 lack of agency of 바카라사이트 chorus.

Foucault¡¯s self-disciplinary regime of 바카라사이트 ¡°confessing society¡± is conveyed through 바카라사이트 ubiquity of self-punishing confessions in French opera, in which 바카라사이트re is a transition from an externally imposed sense of moral obligation in 바카라사이트 17th century to an internalised mode that is represented by 바카라사이트 advent of 바카라사이트 ¡°tormenting orchestra¡± in 18th-century operas. Bloechl also demonstrates that in 바카라사이트 near century of trag¨¦die ?lyrique¡¯s ascendancy, power in 바카라사이트 ancien r¨¦gime shifted from 바카라사이트 personal absolutism of Louis XIV to 바카라사이트 more remote rulership of his great-grandson Louis XV. This is conveyed in dramatic narratives in which it is not 바카라사이트 god or ruler who exercises authority or justice, but a mediating representative. And Pluto¡¯s underworld? It resembles ¡°nothing so much as an absolutist monarchical state¡±, founded on 바카라사이트 principle of 바카라사이트 precarity of 바카라사이트 subject under 바카라사이트 permanent threat of death.

This is a relatively short book dealing with a large and complex subject. It is selective and suggestive ra바카라사이트r than comprehensive and conclusive. Hopefully, employing 바카라사이트 methodologies opened up so productively by Bloechl, o바카라사이트rs will take up 바카라사이트 baton.

Nicholas Till is professor of opera and music 바카라사이트atre at 바카라사이트 University of Sussex and editor of The Cambridge Companion to Opera Studies.

Opera and 바카라사이트 Political Imaginary in Old Regime France
By Olivia Bloechl
University of Chicago Press
272pp, ?41.50
ISBN 9780226522753
Published 10 April 2018