The Queering of the Opera (original) (raw)

The ability to create original music is perhaps the most challenging paradigm to articulate, given that music is inherently emotional, non-verbal and ‘semiotic’, making it assessable in primarily subjective terms. My composition portfolio includes two operas, one based on my interpretation of “The Strange Tale Of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde” by the Scottish author, Robert Louis Stevenson, and the other on my own libretto relating the scandalous downfall of the Irish playwright, Oscar Wilde. The emotional engagement of an audience with particular inclusion of a focus on three dimensional stage representations of complex same gender relationships are primary emphases of my doctoral study in music composition. Very few such depictions are to be found in the grand opera repertoire, by contrast with television and cinema where, over the years, this has gradually changed, notwithstanding the simplistically tragic portrayals that still abound. When it comes to the question of ‘style’ for my proposed operatic work, this has presented a major problem for me when trying to reconcile the emotional ‘accessibility’ of my commercial work with the intellectual imperatives of acadaemia, despite the fact that some stylistic features of ‘Contemporary Classical’ as exemplified by Serialism, Minimalism, Aleatory and the Avant Garde have already on occasion trickled into the ‘Contemporary Popular’ arena, especially through the medium of film, and more rarely in the reverse direction - "Art Imitating Life". Emotional engagement does not necessarily have to stand in opposition to intellectual rigour, and thus a work can be ‘accessible’ to an audience without ipso facto lacking substance and thus longevity. Moreover, the inherent complexity and detail of a great work may take time to appreciate through repeated exposure, and these attributes alone may of themselves generate emotional engagement.