Emergent Media and Opera Circulation in Twentieth-Century North America by Brianna Lindsay Wells A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in ENGLISH Department of English and Film Studies University of Alberta © Brianna Wells, 2017 ii Abstract In North America, opera constitutes both an art form and an industry. Because companies rely on philanthropy and ticket revenues, they respond to a mass audience among the public at large, and yet granting agencies’ and critics’ influence suggests restricted circulation and in some ways a “high” culture status. Opera’s multifaceted performance practices and its contradictory social roles in North America are reflected in the diverse disciplines currently engaging in its study. Critical musicology has, since the early 1990s, increasingly studied operatic texts through theoretical lenses of post-structuralism (Levin, Kramer) feminism (McClary), psychoanalysis (Abbate) and musical dramaturgy (Bianconi). More recently, issues of prominence include digital contexts of performance and composition (Morris, Michaels) and indigeneity (Karantonis, Robinson). Literary scholars have examined issues of adaptation and intertextuality (Lindenberger, Hutcheon, Wiesenthal). Historians have investigated the business of opera (Preston, Dizikes), and social science approaches, especially those related to Bourdieu’s formative study Distinction, focus on the relationships between the art form and its audiences (Calhoun, Benzecry, Johnson). As a richly multidisciplinary field, opera studies follows, in general, two trends. The first treats the opera score or performance context as its object of study, and the second focuses on political or social circumstances of opera production in specific historical periods or geographic locations. This study investigates the boundaries between these approaches. It takes as its primary archive the circulation of opera in North America in the twentieth century: within live performance, mediated through recording and broadcasting, and adapted into popular contexts far removed from the opera house. It posits contemporary opera circulation as a site of aesthetic and social negotiation in North America, traceable through the intertwined histories of opera and emergent media in the twentieth century. iii Using methods of media genealogy (Gitelman, Parikka), circulation (Warner, Povinelli and Gaonkar) and cultural theory (Williams, Appadurai) this study proposes the concept of “operascape” to account for the circulation of specific opera texts, and the impacts of that circulation on the broader public culture of North America. Treating opera as multi-form media frames its musical, dramatic and performance facets in the context of the related, reified social activities that have developed over time. These “protocols” include publics’ investments in celebrity culture, the primacy of the voice, attentiveness, and negotiations around expertise; they are archived in the early histories of mass media throughout the twentieth century. As industries of recording and broadcasting emerged in North America, they relied upon opera in a number of ways to make their new media desirable for potential consumers. This long-standing media- opera relationship impacts repertoire decisions, casting, and communications practices in the opera industry today. It also resonates throughout contemporary cultural production beyond opera. iv Preface This thesis is an original work by Brianna Wells. The research project, for which this thesis is the primary output, received research ethics approval from the University of Alberta Research Ethics Board: Project Name “Cultural Expectation in Contemporary North American Opera Production” Project ID: No. Pro00029740 Date: May 23, 2013 v Acknowledgements This project would have been impossible without the artists and administrators who create, produce and promote opera in North America. Thanks especially are due to those that spark my curiosity and who support my research with their opera work. Mary Phillips-Rickey and Brian Deedrick at Edmonton Opera gave me a wonderful, impossible job. Janet Lewis, Ian Rye, Timothy Vernon and Patrick Corrigan at Pacific Opera Victoria invited me to be part of their company family for a month. The folks at Opera America, particularly Patricia Kiernan Johnson and Laura Lee Everett, welcomed me in New York, and Christina Loewen at Opera.ca let me try out some of my early thinking with her. Brent Krysa let me pick his Figaro brain on numerous occasions and Garnett Bruce took the time to share with me his considerable experience staging Cio-Cio-San. To my opera buddies, old and new, and especially to Gwen May and Paul Holubitsky, thanks for coming with me on this adventure! Thank you to my committee, colleagues and mentors at the University of Alberta for your support, sympathy, and insights. To Kim Brown, Mary Marshall Durrell and all the English and Film Studies staff, thank you for helping me negotiate this degree with unflagging good humour. Thank you to my examiners, Lisa Gitelman and Brian Fauteux, for your thoughtful feedback and encouragement. Brad Bucknell and Piet Defraeye, thank you for shifting gears with me as this project evolved. Mary Ingraham, thank you for so many opportunities to grow as a researcher. Roz Kerr, your passionate approach to research inspires me to walk my own path. Nat Hurley, I carry your unwavering support and insightful critique with me: thank you for showing me a bit of how you think. To my writing group, Clare Mulcahy, Louise Harrington, and Lisa Ann Robertson: thank you for being gentle when it was terrible writing, and for saying so when it was good. To the Fighting Words, and my beloved Blazing Kiltz, thanks for being my teammates and friends, and for talking shop—or not—as needed. Libe Garcia-Garanz, Derritt Mason, Theo Finigan and Tash Pinterics, thank you for sharing your laughter, a few tears, and some unforgettable dance moves. Melissa Stephens, how can I ever thank you for all your listening? Priel Buzny, thank you for sitting next to me on the first day, and so many days after. To my family, both biological and acquired: thank you for letting me put this work before so much else. Sean and Christine Dewitt, thank you for a lifetime-to-date of laughing together. Peter Chomyn, your generous spirit lights up the world. Russ Wells and Kate Halliwell, thank you for loving me long-distance and being safe havens in so many ways. Caitlin Wells, my cara sorella brillante, thank you for liking me even though you know everything about me. Vern Nelson, you have seen the best in me even when I could not. To my mother Barbara, who took me to my first thirty operas and read every last word of this dissertation: watching you confront the world with grace and courage compels me to attempt the same. vi Table of Contents Prologue: Opera on the Phone ..................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 5 !"#$%&'()*+*')#,)-#.%/*)*+*')#"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""#0# 1"#2#3%-*,#24&5*6%7#,)#89%4,#:%)%,;'(<#""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""#1=# >"#?5%#89%4,@&,9%A#2),;<B*)(#89%4,#2&4'@@#3%-*,#"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""#>C# D"#E5,9+%4#F4%,G-'H)#""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""#D=# Chapter 1: Opera On Record .................................................................................................... 43 !"#I'&,;#E%;%J4*+<A#K,6,4'++*#,)-#E,4L@'#""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""#DM# 1"#2-6%4+*@*)(#,)-#8)+';'(*&,;#N;*99,(%#"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""#O1# >"#2++%)-*)(#89%4,#,+#P'Q%#"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""#OM# D"#R)+%4#?5%#SK#"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""#0!# T"#$%&'()*+*')#,)-#$%&'4-*)(A#E')@%UL%)&%@#'/#89%4,#K5')'(4,95<#""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""#0M# Chapter 2: Opera on the Airwaves ............................................................................................ 99 !"#F%/'4%#+5%#$,-*'#F''Q#""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""#!=># 1"#R,4;<#89%4,#F4',-&,@+@#,)-#+5%#VFE#V,+*'),;#:4,)-#89%4,#E'Q9,)<#"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""#!!=# >"#N,+L4-,<#2/+%4)'')#,+#+5%#89%4,#,&4'@@#V'4+5#2Q%4*&,#""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""#!1O# D"#R,4;<#?%;%6*@*')A#!M>TW!MD0#"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""#!D># T"#?5%#?%;%6*@*')#F''Q#""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""#!TC#