| This dissertation is a study of three moments in opera history at which the relationship between literature and opera is transformed. All three moments demonstrate how changes in the way people think about literature affect and are affected by changes in the history of opera.;In my first chapter, I discuss why Handel turned from opera to oratorio composition during the same years that the novel was emerging. I show that the novel and the oratorio can be understood as expressions of the desire of audiences and readers to belong to the aristocracy, and yet to appear superior to such status concerns altogether; furthermore, the shared experiences of novel-reading or oratorio-going encouraged audiences to think of themselves as belonging to a common middle-class, rather than, as is usually claimed, the reverse.;My second chapter deals with the Otello of Rossini and that of Verdi. Verdi's opera, unlike Rossini's, was inspired by a romantic conception of the genius of Shakespeare, a conception that Verdi attempted to appropriate for his own works in order to guarantee a greater control over their performance and production than had ever been possible previously. At the same time, Verdi's Otello was an attempt to co-opt the national bard of England to create an opera that could rescue and revitalize the Italian nation through art.;In my third chapter, I discuss the challenge Benjamin Britten faced: how to carry on the tradition of opera composition in the twentieth century. In addition to writing himself into the history of opera by choosing as the basis for his operas established masterpieces of the literary canon, he attempted to secure the future of opera as a living art through the creation of the Aldeburgh Festival and the composition of works to encourage children to appreciate the world of classical music and opera. Britten's failure in his endeavors to counteract the elitism that underlay the formation of an operatic canon and persists in opera-going today can be understood when seen in the light of the two-century-old history of the relationship between opera, literature, and society. |
