The Operatic Roots of Performativity: Bodies Decontextualised in Butler, Brecht and Busoni

IF 0.3 2区 艺术学 0 MUSIC
S. Collins
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Abstract It has long been claimed that opera can give expression to the uneasy relationship between the body and the voice. Operatic voices seem to exceed the capacity of the bodies that produce them in a way that conveys a sense of mechanisation or limited agency, inviting metaphorical comparisons to marionettes. Yet recent studies of gesture have suggested that bodies are not simply passively inscribed with meaning but that they also mediate the process of inscription. Investigating the implications of this claim for opera, this article discusses two recent essays by Judith Butler, in which she draws from Walter Benjamin's account of gesture in Brecht's epic theatre to argue for the performative power of incomplete or decontextualised bodily actions. It then traces this idea to a moment in epic theatre's own prehistory, focusing on Ferruccio Busoni's opera Doktor Faust. The article makes both a theoretical point and an historical claim: it highlights how bodies and words that are decontextualised can perform a critical function despite not enjoying the usual citational supports necessary for a speech act; and it argues that Busoni's Doktor Faust and his theory of opera were a part of the intellectual prehistory to Butler's conceptualisation of bodily performativity.
表演性的歌剧根源:巴特勒、布莱希特和布索尼的身体去文本化
摘要长期以来,人们一直认为歌剧可以表达身体和声音之间不安的关系。操作性的声音似乎超出了产生声音的身体的能力,传达了一种机械化或有限的代理感,让人将其比喻为提线木偶。然而,最近对手势的研究表明,身体不仅仅是被动地刻有意义,而且它们也会调节铭文的过程。为了调查这一说法对歌剧的影响,本文讨论了朱迪斯·巴特勒最近的两篇文章,她在文章中引用了沃尔特·本杰明对布莱希特史诗戏剧中手势的描述,以论证不完整或去文本化的身体动作的表演力。然后,它将这一想法追溯到史诗剧院自身史前史上的一个时刻,重点关注费鲁奇奥·布索尼的歌剧《浮士德》。这篇文章提出了一个理论观点和一个历史主张:它强调了被去文本化的身体和词语如何能够发挥关键作用,尽管它们没有得到言语行为所需的通常引用支持;它认为,布索尼的多克托·浮士德和他的歌剧理论是巴特勒身体表演概念化的知识史前史的一部分。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
0.20
自引率
0.00%
发文量
19
期刊介绍: Containing lively and provocative essays, Cambridge Opera Journal has a well-established reputation for publishing first-rate scholarship on opera in all its manifestations. The Journal not only contains material on all aspects of the European canon, it has now widened its scope to publish high-quality essays on American opera and musical theatre, on non-Western music theatres, and on contemporary works. Carefully researched and often illustrated with music examples and pictures, articles adopt a wide spectrum of critical approaches. As well as major articles, each issue generally includes reviews on recent publications of importance in the field.
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