The Legacy of 'Ariadne' and the Melodramatic Sublime
The Legacy of 'Ariadne' and the Melodramatic Sublime
Georg Benda’s Ariadne auf Naxos (1775) was an immediate success. By the end of the century, not only was it in the repertory of nearly every German theatre, but it was also one of the few German-language pieces translated for performances across Europe. Central to this melodrama—traditionally defined as an alternation of emotional declamation and pantomime with instrumental music—is its evocation of the sublime. Though scholars have posited Ariadne and its defining aesthetics as a model employed in subsequent Romantic opera, such teleological readings overlook reform melodramas that embraced vocal music and localized sublime moments. I argue that these works, rather than Ariadne, pushed melodrama’s generic boundaries to the verge of opera and in the process provided instrumental music with the power to express the sublime without the aid of text. This exploration offers fresh insight into melodrama’s music–text relations, generic hybridity, and aesthetic entanglements with opera and symphonic music.
233-270
Glatthorn, Austin
bbb6d5f0-5b60-4c5f-a93c-8be9f00deeed
13 July 2019
Glatthorn, Austin
bbb6d5f0-5b60-4c5f-a93c-8be9f00deeed
Glatthorn, Austin
(2019)
The Legacy of 'Ariadne' and the Melodramatic Sublime.
Music & Letters, 100 (2), .
(doi:10.1093/ml/gcy116).
Abstract
Georg Benda’s Ariadne auf Naxos (1775) was an immediate success. By the end of the century, not only was it in the repertory of nearly every German theatre, but it was also one of the few German-language pieces translated for performances across Europe. Central to this melodrama—traditionally defined as an alternation of emotional declamation and pantomime with instrumental music—is its evocation of the sublime. Though scholars have posited Ariadne and its defining aesthetics as a model employed in subsequent Romantic opera, such teleological readings overlook reform melodramas that embraced vocal music and localized sublime moments. I argue that these works, rather than Ariadne, pushed melodrama’s generic boundaries to the verge of opera and in the process provided instrumental music with the power to express the sublime without the aid of text. This exploration offers fresh insight into melodrama’s music–text relations, generic hybridity, and aesthetic entanglements with opera and symphonic music.
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e-pub ahead of print date: 1 May 2019
Published date: 13 July 2019
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Local EPrints ID: 455092
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/455092
ISSN: 0027-4224
PURE UUID: 83a0a8c6-aefa-4bf6-85e2-b0357fd6c629
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Date deposited: 08 Mar 2022 17:55
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 04:12
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