During the 19th century, creative artists and the impulses that drove them became one of the most striking themes of European opera and theatre. This arose in large part from the Romantic movement (1770–1850), when the creative imagination came to be regarded as the most important source of artistic production. Consequently artists, in whatever medium they worked, could lay claim to having a vital function in a society that was modernizing fast. Although such modernization brought the “Western” world vast wealth and power, such forces were also understood to have a dehumanizing impact. In this seminar we will explore this theme through operas in which creative artists are the central figures, with the potential to change society but also destroy the artist her/himself.

View Flyer