NONORMOPERA · Sexual and Gender Non-Normativity in Opera after the Second World War
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2020-11-01 → 2024-05-02
- EU contribution
- €255,768
- Participants
- 2
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
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Results in brief
Sexual and Gender Non-Normativity in Opera after the Second World War
NONORMOPERA has investigated the representation of sexual and gender non-normativity in opera by gay composers between the end of the Second World War and the end of the 20th century. Non-normativity includes all sexual and gender identities that do not conform to heteronormativity, i.e. to the paradigm of heterosexuality assumed as norm. This hegemonic paradigm generates the binarism that stereotypically defines the male and female roles and, as a consequence, the perception of all identities that transgress it as deviant. Since the late 1970s musicology began to study the issues related to sexual and gender non-normativity in contemporary opera, showing that the operatic genre is a very productive field for analysis of social issues because of its impact on a broad audience. However, sexual and gender non-normativity in opera after the Second World War by gay composers remains relatively under-examined in comparison with opera from previous ages. NONORMOPERA aims to fill this gap in current musicological scholarship, by comparatively investigating operas by 20th-century gay authors of various ages, nationalities, educational backgrounds and musical styles. NONORMOPERA is founded on the need to integrate the gender dimension into musicological research and to properly take into consideration the issues related to non-normative sexual and gender identities in approaching contemporary opera. Since music is a cultural phenomenon and gender influences the production of culture, a gay composer, whose homosexuality does not conform to heteronormativity, can feel the need to address issues related to sexual and gender diversity in his music. Opera is the ideal genre to achieve this goal, as its representational component permits authors to communicate more easily with the audience. Through operatic performance, they critique the gender stereotypes that result in discrimination and suggest alternative ways of relating to otherness. Bringing to light this political meaning, the project helps to demolish the walls of skepticism and resistance towards the integration of the gender dimension into the European musicological research and will show its relevance for the full understanding of a musical work. The overall objective of this project is to shed light on the expressive strategies employed by gay composers to represent sexual and gender non-normativity in selected operas premiered between 1945 and the end of the 20th century. The overall objective is reached through the developing of three specific objectives (SO): 1) the SO1 is to relate the level of encoding of the queer meanings (from disguised to overt) to the self-perception of his non-normative identity by the author, on the one hand, and to the perception of sexual and gender non-normativity by the socio- historical context where the opera was composed, on the other hand; 2) the SO2 is to identify the aspects of the libretto that refer to sexual and gender non-normativity; 3) the SO3 is to identify the musical elements that contribute to the expression of sexual and gender non-normativity.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
In the late 1970s, North-American musicology inaugurated the exploration of the ways in which gender and sexuality affect musical expression. Since the development of queer theory in the early 1990s, a new orientation has manifested in musicological research. Musicology that integrates queer theory – most briefly defined as ‘Queer musicology’ – considers music the site for the confrontation between heteronormative dominant culture and the composer’s non-normative gender identity, who questions social prejudices on grounds of sexual and gender diversity through his art. Research in this recent trend is very productive in North-America, but it has developed less in Europe. Despite the flourishing of this field in small-scale studies across many genres, there are yet few book-length studies of coherent repertoire. The project is unique in queer musicology in its focus on opera. By comparatively investigating eight operas premiered between 1945 and 2000 by gay composers of various ages, nationalities, educational backgrounds and musical styles, it will shed light on the expressive strategies employed by authors to represent sexual and gender non-normativity. The overall objective will be reached through the developing of three specific objectives: I) to relate the representation of sexual and gender non-normativity to the self-perception of his non-normative identity by the author, on the one hand, and to the perception of sexual and gender non-normativity by the socio-historical context where the opera was composed on the other; II) to identify the aspects of the libretto that refer to sexual and gender non-normativity; III) to identify the musical elements that contribute to the expression of sexual and gender non-normativity.Through the inquiry into how gay composers use operatic genre to explore non-normative genders and sexualities, the project will highlight how music can relate experiences of marginalisation and challenge discriminatory prejudices.
Original text from CORDIS.
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Data: CORDIS, © European Union