The course provides a survey of opera from its inception in the 17th-century to the present, considering such issues as opera’s relationship to its cultural context, contemporary stagings, opera conventions and singers (including the castrato), opera and literature, exoticism, and opera’s representation of gender and sexuality. Classes will allow students to focus on close readings/viewings of specific scenes. Students enrolled in the course will have the opportunity to attend at least one performance at the Metropolitan Opera.
