Disciplines: Philosophy; Political Theory; Art & Art history; Performing arts
Themes: Opera, Politics, Philosophy, Aesthetics, Performing arts
Type: Honours Class: This course combines theory and practice to learn how to tackle a complex issue.
Admission requirements
This course is an (extracurricular) Master Honours Class aimed at talented Master’s students. Admission will be based on academic background, GPA and motivation.
Description
This course provides a unique and engaging opportunity to think about the arts in society. We’ll focus on the relationship between philosophy, opera and politics. Student will attend an opera at the National Opera. They will work with young singers on character interpretation. We’ll have lectures by and discussion with a stage-director, conductor, composer, singers and of course academic experts on the political and philosophical interpretation of the art. The course will end with a public concert, showcasing the roles and aria’s the students have been working on.
At first sight, it is sometimes hard to take opera seriously. But once we get passed the stereotypes (of ladies wearing helmets) and accept that people on stage sing instead of talk, there is a wealth to discover. Opera, perhaps more so than any other form of art, is deeply intertwined with philosophy and politics. Think of Wagner’s relationship with Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, or Verdi’s role in Italian unification. Or the riots which broke out during an opera about people suffering from foreign oppression at De Munt in Brussels, which led to Belgian independence.
Composers and librettists emphasized social issues they saw in their own environments. Sometimes indirectly, the censors wouldn’t allow ideas politically risky performances. But these works still speak to us today, in a classical setting or re-imagined by stage directors. Not just because these works are often ridiculously beautiful our touching – although there is also that! Sometimes because the social issues simply persist, that the ideas at stake still puzzle us, or that the problems driving the action are a universal part of the human condition. Political authority, redemption, misogyny, trauma, xenophobia, power, betrayal, love, equality, social exclusion are explored through a combination of words, music, the human voice, acting, staging and a large orchestra. This allows for a range of expression and depth that is hard to match.
The first part of the course lays the foundations. What is opera, and how does it express political and philosophical ideas (taking e.g. the Nozze di Figaro as an example). We’ll also think about problematic pieces and performance practices – think of black-face in Otello and Aida or orientalism and sexism in Turandot. We’ll critically reflect on the composition of the (male-dominated) operatic canon, and what this tells us about the politics of opera now.
The second part turns to opera as a practice. It will be set up around Frau ohne Schatten (Strauss). We’ll study the opera and the ideas it revolves around, and we’ll invite speakers from the dramaturgy department or stage direction of the national opera, a conductor/composer, and singers to reflect the relationship between their work on the piece and social/political ideas. We’ll attend a rehearsal of the opera at the Dutch National Opera.
For the final assignment, we’ll work with students from the National Opera Academy (DNOA). Students will work, in groups, on one character in an opera and consider what happens to that character in a particular aria (emotionally, socially, politically). Students will get to discuss their ideas with young DNOA singers who are participating in the course. We’ll end the course with a recital (with the DNOA), in which students introduce the aria briefly.
This course does not require familiarity with opera our classical music whatsoever, only curiosity and openness toward the genre.
Course objectives
Upon successful completion of this course, students will:
be able to critically reflect on the role of the arts in society;
be able to analyse interpretations, and interpret, political and philosophical ideas in opera;
be able to critically reflect on performance practices and the composition of classical canon;
develop skills to put views about arts into words;
see how art mirrors and engages with social and existential issues;
be able to engage, cooperate and find a common language with people with a background in other disciplines.
Programme and Timetable
The sessions of this class will take place from 17.15 - 19.00 on the following Wednesdays :
Session 1: 5 March, 2025 (Lipsius building, room 1.48)
Why Opera?
Session 2: 12 March, 2025 (Lipsius building, room 2.06)
Politics and Opera
Session 3: 19 March, 2025 (Lipsius building, room 1.48)
Politics in Opera
Break from meetings. Students have independent meetings in groups.
Session 4: 9 April, 2025 (Lipsius building, room 1.48)
Ideas and Music (in Strauss)
Session 5: 16 April, 2025 (Lipsius building, room 2.06)
Putting Frau on Stage
Session 6: 17 April at 18.30 at the Dutch National Opera
To the opera! Pre-dress rehearsal of Frau Ohne Schatten
Session 7: April 24 (Thursday) 17.15 - 19.00, (Lipsius building, room 1.48)
Debrief & Discuss
Session 8: 9 May, 2025 at 19.00 at a Concert hall in Leiden (TBC)
THE RECITAL
Location
Lipsius building, rooms 1.48 and 2.06, and other locations
Course load
This course is worth 3 ECTS, which means the total course load equals 84 hours:
Seminars: 7 seminars of 2 hours (14 hours) participation is mandatory
Excursion: 1 excursions (6 hours)
Literature reading and seminar preparation (e.g. watching an opera): 4 hours per session (32 hours)
Assignments & final performance: 32 hours
Assessment
This course is pass/fail. In order to pass the course, the student has to perform to acceptable level on the following elements:
Active participation is required to pass this course.
Attendance is required. One class can be skipped without consequences, further absence to be discussed with the teacher.
For each meeting, students will be asked to do a short assignment (not always written).
Students need to pass the final group assignment (to work, with a singer, on a particular character/role in an opera). The written product needs to be a pass. The deadline for the short final report will be mid-May.
Students could only pass this course after successful completion of all partial exams.
Reading list
We’ll read texts about opera, politics and philosophy. Examples of texts we might engage with are Martha Nussbaum’s discussion of love in Mozart’s Nozze di Figaro.
Other possible literature will be announced in class or via Brightspace.
Brightspace and uSis
Brightspace will be used in this course. Upon admission students will be enrolled in Brightspace by the teaching administration.
Please note: students are not required to register through uSis for the Master Honours Classes. Your registration will be done centrally.
Registration
Submitting an application for this course is possible from Monday, 3 February until and including Sunday, 23 February 2025 through the link on the Honours Academy student website.
Note: students don’t have to register for the Master Honours Classes in uSis. The registration is done centrally before the start of the class.
Contact
Tim Meijers: t.meijers@phil.leidenuniv.nl