College Bulletin 2022-2023 
    
    Mar 28, 2024  
College Bulletin 2022-2023 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

CLST 025. Greek Myth in Opera and Ballet


Greek myths have provided the subject matter for some of the most important and pivotal works in the history of opera and ballet. Just as Greek myth informs these arts, so too, opera and ballet transform these myths and the way they are viewed by modern audiences. New and daring productions of classical operas continue to transform both Greek mythology and its operatic incarnations. George Balanchine’s Neoclassicism modernized ballet radically in the 20th century by drawing largely on Greek myth and classical aesthetic structures. In this course, we will study the relevant primary classical sources for operas and ballets such as Handel’s Xerxes, Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, Berlioz’s Les Troyens, Strauss’s Electra, Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex, Balanchine’s Apollo, Agon, and Orpheus. At the same time, we will study the operas and ballets themselves in their cultural context, and in the course of their performance history, paying special attention to recent productions.
Humanities.
1 credit.
Catalog chapter: Classics  
Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/classics


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