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Viva La Liberta Essay, Research Paper

Politics in Opera Imprint

Information Viva la Liberta! – Politics in Opera by Anthony

Arblaster is published by Verso in 1992 in London, Great

Britain. It was the book’s first edition and publication. The

book contains 340 pages of text, no illustrations, and

includes a tables of contents, nine main chapters, conclusion,

notes and and an index. The chapters start with the period of

modern politics, the French Revolution in 1789 and with

"Mozart: Class Conflict and Enlightenment" from that period

till modern opera / musicals in "Democratic Opera: Victims

as Heroes". All nine chapters are written by the same author,

Anthony Arblaster. Each chapter tries to concentrate on one

to a few composers from the same period who share similar

political views and actions. Each chapter can be viewed as

an individual work / essay. The nine chapters follow the time

frame sequentially and are respectively: Ch.1 Mozart: Class

Conflict and Enlightenment, Ch.2 Opera and Revolution,

Ch.3 Patria Oppressa: Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and

Risorgimento (Nationalism I), Ch.4 Verdi: the Liberal

Patriot, Ch.5 Wagner: from Revolution to Racism, Ch.6

Russia, Czechoslovakia and a Footnote on England

(Nationalism II), Ch.7 Women in Opera, Ch.8 Interlude -

Opera without Politics: Puccini and Strauss and Ch.9

Democratic Opera: Victims as Heroes. The introduction and

conclusion helps in giving coherence to the vast time frame

of two hundread years and the different emphasis on political

of composers in their works. The detailed index is also

helpful in the cross referencing a particular work or

composer which might be mentioned in different chapters for

comparisons. The notes offer a detailed bibliography with

chance for further reference material on the issue of politics

in opera. General Summary Although the book does not

formally state the meaning of "politics", the definition used

throughout the book is the "beliefs about how a country

ought to be governed" instead of politics as in political

power and actions or activities. The book also presents the

argument of social context at the particular period and place

as "politics" and that if opera lacks the political element

(social context), it lacks a convincing element in which

communication and mutual consensus among composer and

audience would be neglected, that opera cannot be ‘pure’

music. Music and especially opera has to be out of

’something’, a ’something’ that lies outside and beyond the

music itself and in many instances, political beliefs play are a

major part in it. The book’s intend is not to illustrate politics

as the major cause or result of opera but that the influence

exist and to refute the common downplay and negligence of

politics in opera from critics. In all chapters, the author

follows a similar pattern in presenting his arguments. First,

the history and beliefs of the composer in various stages of

his life is discussed. Letters and books (in case of Wagner)

of the composer are presented as evidence. The viewpoint

of the composer in that should opera include politics is also

discussed. Individual operas are then discussed, citing

particular portions of the libretto as reference and evidence.

The story lines for the operas are also discussed in detail.

The audience’s reaction and the popularity at the time of the

initial performance is presented. Critics of different periods

for the interpretation of the work is also quoted to give a

more subjective point of view on the issue. Finally, for each

chapter, a brief conclusion on the period or the composer is

given and the central themes are reiterated. Chapter

Summeries Although Mozart by no means was a political

person, his works were cited as the dawn of modern opera

with its certain political meaning in chapter one. In his

operas, there were the ideas of class and sex conflicts and

war. Class conflicts involved the abuse of aristocratic

position and rise of the common people in both Le nozze di

Figaro and Don Giovanni. The sex war occures in Le nozze

di Figaro and Cosi fan tutte where women should be treated

with respect, rather than assuming in age old chauvinist way

that is the women rather than men who are to be mistrusted

in matters of love and sex. In Die Zauberflote, the moment

of hope and optimism after the French Revolution can easily

be seen where light and wisdom triumph over the Queen of

the Night and superstition. Arblaster in chapter three and six

argues that music, and therefore opera played a central role

in creating a sense of national identity and rallying people to

the national cause in the various European countries. Often

opera provided a forum for the expression of subversive

political sentiments disguised to get around census in

patriotic arias or choruses. In Italy’s case, the most explicit

of all for the independence of Italy came from Rossini’s

Guillaume Tell. Arblaster also states that all three operas of

Rossini: Mose in Egitto, Maometto Secondo and Guillaume

Tell are about national oppression and use of chorus in

which arias are not for individuals but of whole nations. All

three depicted the idea of militant liberal nationalism.

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