On Wed, 13 Sep 2000, Paul Sinasohn wrote:
> can you get more specific about WHICH european classical music represents
> Victorian values in its melody??
Not in melody - in vocal technique. The bourgeoise male hegemony
maintained its power in part by perpetuating very clear ideas about how
men and women should act. Each culture has its rituals to uphold the
dominant paradigms. I believe opera was such a ritual at many levels.
Errant female characters died right and left (can you say Gilda?).
Sopranos were heroines. Mezzos were evil, witches, old, nymphomaniacal,
cross-dressed or ugly. The clear head voice was considered the paragon of
pristine femininity - it had very little trace of "chest" and therefore
not a threat to men. By giving the sopranos the attractive characters,
each opera served to reinforce the message that the good woman was
obedient and sexually faithful.
So I mean "Victorian" in the general sense... The English simply
epitomized it. Continental Europe may have ridiculed some of its outer
trappings, but subscribed to its essential values. The male power paradigm
was a dominant force on the continent as well. Even our vocal pedagogies
reflect this bias.
Tako
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