COML 3971

Last Updated

  • Schedule of Classes - January 31, 2019 7:14PM EST
  • Course Catalog - January 31, 2019 7:15PM EST

COML 3971
Books Turned into Operas

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2018-2019.

How and why is a book "translated" into an opera? We will study several such works and the operas they inspired: Mozart's Marriage of Figaro, Verdi's Rigoletto, Massenet's Werther, Giordano's Andrea Chénier, Holten's The Visit of the Royal Physician, and the movie A Royal Affair, a bridge between opera and novel. There will be opportunities for original historical research. What is so fascinating about the literary texts the operas (and the movie) draw on? It is partly their formal and linguistic qualities and partly their relation to history. Each of the literary works we study reflects the crisis of authority dating from the French Revolution; each of the operas in some way "manages" historical experience by creating aesthetic pleasure. We will see how.

When Offered Fall.

Breadth Requirement (HB)
Distribution Category (CA-AS)

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: ENGL 3713, ROMS 3971

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 17135 COML 3971   SEM 101

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