Martin Knust (Linnéuniversitetet):

The Visual Side of Opera: Stage, Light, Decoration and the Actor’s Body in the 19th and 20th Centuries

1.10. MA 14.30.–16.30. Sibelius-Akatemia, Töölönkatu 28 (Helsinki), auditorio, 5. kerros.

This overview about opera productions from the 19th and 20th centuries will present crucial artistic changes and technical developments in the practice of staging theatrical pieces. It will address the following questions: How did the technique of stage lighting change over time? How did the stage decoration look like and work and how was it produced? How did the actors on stage look like, that means, their costumes, make up, physical delivery and how were they choreographed?

The overview will focus on major technical shifts like the introduction of electric light and the abandoning of exclusively two-dimensional stage props around the turn of the century 1900, the introduction of video projections that started in the 1990s and also on the impact of new aesthetic trends in theatre like, for instance, the rise of the so-called Regietheater after WW II.

As a preparation, I recommend to browse historical photographs of stage decorations and singers in the web or to take a look on illustrated books about historical opera productions that present overviews of productions over a longer period like, for instance:

Philippe Olivier: ’Der Ring des Nibelungen’ in Bayreuth von den Anfängen bis heute, Mainz: Schott, 2007.

Dietrich Mack: Der Bayreuther Inszenierungsstil 1876 – 1976, Munich: Prestel, 1976.

VAPAA PÄÄSY, tervetuloa!