Aalto Theater (Essen), 116

Abbate, Carolyn, 72, 164n72

acquaintance/date rape, 32

agency of characters, 13, 17–18, 41; and absence of violence in Mouawad’s Entführung, 104–9; in captivity in Bieito’s Entführung, 85–89; compromised by trauma backstory, 14, 56–57, 59, 61, 66–67, 75, 78; and consent, 18; power over self-perception, 55; tension with victimhood, 55; and trauma, in Salome productions, 50–56; in wartime rape settings, 120, 122, 138; Wilde’s Salomé, 48. See also power

Airey, Jennifer, 137, 165n12

alcohol-assisted sexual assault, 32, 37

alienation effect, 128–29, 136

alla turca style, 79, 96, 143

Amnesty International, 136, 170n9

Anckarström (Renato) (Un ballo in maschera), 119, 120

Anderson, Scott, 31–32

André, Naomi, 6

Anna, Donna (Don Giovanni), 13, 16, 18; in Act 1, Scene 1, 19–23, 22; alleged desire for Don Giovanni, 21–23, 22, 25–29; impact of assault on, 28–29, 35; in reception history, 25; Arias: “Don Ottavio, son morta! . . . Or sai chi l’onore,” 23–29, 38; “Non mi dir,” 29, 41, 43

Anna Bolena (Donizetti), 1–2, 12

antisemitic tropes, 75–76, 164n74

Aplin, Julia, 164n77

Apocalypse Now (film), 123

Archibald, Jane, 103, 104

Asian communities, 2, 111, 169n58

Aston, Elaine, 94–95

Attridge, Laura, 44–45

audience: and alienation effect, 128–29, 136; aligned with characters via staging, 97–98; and allegorical rapes, 137–38; and care ethics, 8–11, 15, 145; directors’ responsibility to, 6, 9–10, 13, 15, 45–46, 76–77, 95, 139–40, 144–45; emotional distance, and potential for fetishization, 70–72, 174n4; feminist spectatorship, 7–8, 38; imagined, 153n18; increased awareness of sexual violence, 45, 77, 139; lack of reaction to rape scenes, 1; modeled by characters’ responses, 40; modern, 5, 40–41, 113, 143; rape myths, responsePage 188 → to, 74, 80; Regietheater attempts to shock, 2, 4, 11, 83, 113, 116, 130–31, 143; retraumatization, potential for, 9, 34, 77, 84, 139–40; role models, search for, 38, 40; tension between discomfort and pleasure, 142, 144; threat of rape as reality for, 137–39; titillation of, 2, 134, 165n12, 227; and voyeurism, 49–50, 68–69, 73, 100, 125; wellbeing of, 11–12, 77

Austria, 116–18, 123

authoritarian state setting, 15, 116, 120

Baker, Evan, 83–84

Balkan Conflict, 15, 116, 122, 171n28

Un ballo in maschera (Verdi, Bieito production), 15, 140; operatic chorus in, 129; police state setting, 15, 116, 119; rape as metaphor in, 136–38; rape of young man in, 119, 138; Pieces: “O figlio d’Inghilterra,” 129

Banks, Russell, 51

Baranello, Micaela, 96, 135, 166n23

Barthes, Roland, 6

Bartz, Anjara, 58

Baumgarten (Wilhelm Tell, Schiller), 131

believing victims, 13, 26–27

Belmonte (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), 79, 81–82; in drag in Bieito production, 81, 84; ego of, 107; takes over brothel in Bieito production, 87, 88, 99, 107; Arias: “Wenn der Freude Thränen fliessen,” 107

Bennathan, Serge, 72, 73

Bentham, Jeremy, 50

Bieito, Calixto: choices made as male director, 94–95; critical reading of problematic operas, 82–83, 96; reviewers of, 83–84. See also Un ballo in maschera (Verdi, Bieito production); Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Mozart, Bieito production); Don Giovanni (Mozart, Bieito production)

Birnbaum, Mary, 68

Blonde (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), 79, 87, 102; brutally realistic response to violence, 95; musico-rhetorical prowess, 97; as servant to Konstanze, 106–7; Pieces: “Durch Zärtlichkeit und Schmeicheln,” 105–7; “Ich gehe doch rate ich dir,” 89–90, 96–97, 106

Blue Woman (Bowler and Lomas), 146

Bogart, Anne, 111

Bosnia and Herzegovina, 116, 124, 171n28

Bowler, Laura, 146

Bradshaw, Richard, 50

Brecht, Bertolt, 128, 171n33

Bretzner, Friedrich, Entführung libretto by, 79, 86, 94, 105; and tensions in Mouawad’s production, 102, 112

Brimberg, Ingela, 65

Britain, sexual violence in, 8, 10

Britten, Benjamin, 12

Broman, Rolf, 58

Brook, Peter, 71–72

Brown, Laura, 40

Brownmiller, Susan, 120, 123, 136, 170n10

Burke, Tarana, 3

Butterfly (Heartbeat Opera production), 111

Caddy, Davinia, 70, 162–63n54

Cahill, Anne, 117, 120, 139

Calaf (Turandot), 120–21, 121, 130; Aria: “Nessun dorma,” 121, 133

Calico, Joy, 128

Canadian Opera Company (COC) productions, 1, 14, 49–50, 76, 101, 104

Canning, Charlotte, 92–93

Carbone, Nicola Beller, 57, 58

care ethics, 7, 8–11, 15, 145, 154n28

Caruth, Cathy, 28, 54, 73

Page 189 →Castellucci, Romeo, Salome production, 62, 161–62n36, 162n37

Chamberlain, Jessica, 125

cheerfulness, as coping mechanism, 35–36

Cheng, William, 146

Clark, Caryl, 66

Clément, Catherine, 6, 7

Clément, Mariame, 59, 61, 62, 63, 68

coercion, 31–32, 86, 108, 109

colonial project, in Entführung, 113–14

Commedia dell’Arte, 16, 41

Commendatore (Don Giovanni), 21, 22, 23, 36, 38, 43

consent, 13–14; and agency, 18; and class status, 31; and deception, 30, 37; gender gap in conceptions of, 31; and intoxication, 37, 45; not possible for enslaved women, 108; in rape myths, 23, 140; and safety for performers, 146; and sex work, 100; through coercion, 31–32, 86, 109

content warnings, 10, 139

Copelon, Rhonda, 136–37

Così fan tutte (Mozart), 87

costuming, 17, 119, 123, 133, 143, 168n54; disguises, 19, 33, 36–37, 61; ethnicity in choices, 80, 129–30; of Giovanni, 19, 33, 36–37, 155n10; of Herodes, 61, 71; of Salome, 57–59, 58, 162n36

criticism: of current politics by Regietheater directors, 68, 81–83, 96, 98–101; production as, 81–83, 98–101, 125, 133; of written text by directors, 102, 105, 107, 125, 131, 135

cultural appropriation, 80

cultural context, 5–6, 13

DaimlerChrysler representative, 81

Dalila (Samson et Dalila), 76

Dance of the Seven Veils (Salome), 13, 48, 50–54, 92; badness and arousal in music, 70; blindfolding metaphor, 52, 54–55, 73, 160–61n21; as moment of psychic dislocation, 57–58, 58; music as representative of Salome, 70; not conducive to an ethical representation of rape, 75; offstage locus of pathology portrayed in, 51–52; Orientalist eroticism in score, 70, 75, 76; performed as striptease, 52, 64, 67, 71–75; pornographic potential of music, 75; as psychoanalysis, 70; rape as performance in, 67–75; revenge scenarios, 62–66, 63, 65, 67; revolutionary potential of, 56; veils as psychic partitions, 60; versions in which Salome does not dance, 56–57

Da Ponte (librettist, Don Giovanni), 17, 42, 46

deception, rape by, 30, 36–38, 44, 74, 157n39

deconstruction as critical intimacy, 144

dehumanization: of enemy, 129; of women, 84, 87–88, 93; of women during warfare, 120, 122, 129

deindividualization of rape, 138

de Lauretis, Teresa, 113

desensitization, 83–85, 139, 143

Despina (Così fan tutte), 87

Diamond, Elin, 94–95

directors: changes to written text, 43, 55, 62, 66, 75–76; intimacy directors, 145–46; male, 94–95, 143; responsibility of to audience, 6, 9–10, 13, 15, 45–46, 76–77, 95, 139–40, 144–45. See also Regietheater (director’s theater); specific directors

Doane, Mary Ann, 59–60

Dominelli, Lena, 66

Domingo, Plácido, 3

Don Giovanni (Mozart), 4, 12, 16–46; agency of characters in, 13, 17–18; character archetypes in, 16, 40, 46, 158n51; choice between good and evil, 38–39; cultural contexts, 16, 25–26; ethically informed performances, 44–46; feminist perspective on, Page 190 →16–17; full Vienna version, 41; lying woman stereotype in, 23–27; as opera buffa, 41; opera seria style in, 24, 25, 38; outdated aspects of, 24; popularity of, 45; productions between 2002 and 2019, 13; publicity materials and popular media, 7–8; rape myths and stereotypes in, 13, 18; reception history, 25; relevance of in modern society, 46; silent figures in staging of, 38–39; trauma staged in, 18–19, 27–29, 34–36, 38–40, 42–44; Zerlina as only example of seductions, 34; Pieces: “Alfin siam liberati . . . Là ci darem la mano,” 29–32, 34; “Batti, batti, o bel Masetto,” 35; “Don Ottavio, son morta! . . . Or sai chi l’onore,” 23–29, 38; “Il mio tesoro,” 40, 43; “In quali eccessi, o Numi . . . Mi tradì,” 37–40, 41, 43; “Non mi dir,” 29, 41, 43; overture, 20, 34, 159n55; “Vedrai, carino, se sei buonino,” 35; Scenes: Act 1, Scene 1, 19–23, 22; Act 1 finale, 32–36; Act 2, Scene 1, 36–37

Don Giovanni (Mozart, Bieito production), 14, 17, 30, 35–37; domestic abuse in, 35–36; misogyny and violence critiqued, 44–45, 83; rape myths in staging of, 21–23, 22, 24–26, 36–37; trauma staged in, 43–44

Don Giovanni productions: Attridge, 44–45; Bieito, 14, 17, 21, 23–26, 30, 32, 35–37, 43, 44; Kent, 17, 20, 30, 32–33, 38, 41; Norris, 17, 20, 28–29, 30, 32–34, 33, 38–39, 43; Pynkoski, 17, 21–24, 26–27, 30, 32, 41–42, 44; Sivadier, 17, 19–20, 27, 30, 32, 39, 40, 42–43, 159n55, 159n57; staging against libretto, 21; Terfel, 43; Zambello, 17, 30, 39–40, 41

Dora (patient of Freud), 48

Drabowicz, Wojtek, 21, 22

Duke (Rigoletto), 4

Dworkin, Andrea, 93

Ebenstein, Thomas, 82

Egoyan, Atom, 49–56, 68–71; film oeuvre, 50. See also Salome (Strauss, Egoyan production)

Electra complex, 60–61

Elvira, Donna (Don Giovanni), 13, 16, 18, 24–25, 36–40, 158n43; intervention in Zerlina’s seduction, 30, 35, 36; warnings to other women, 36, 41; Aria: “In quali eccessi, o Numi . . . Mi tradì,” 37–40, 41, 43

emotional distance, and potential for fetishization, 70–72, 174n4

engaged musicology, 6

English National Opera, 17

English Restoration theater, 93–94, 137, 165n12

Englund, Axel, 5, 134, 135

Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Mozart), 12, 79–114; Act I, 89; Act II, 89; alla turca style in, 79, 96, 143; choice to depict violence as ethical, 85; colonial project in, 113–14; comic interpretation of, 79–80; early productions of, 79–80; mockery of the East in, 14, 79–80, 106; musical and scenic correlation, 96–97, 106; neutralization of violence in, 14, 80, 104–9, 112–13; as rescue opera, 85–86, 94–95, 101, 107; as site of transaction between men, 113–14; threats to women in written text, 14, 79–80, 82, 96, 105–6; Pieces: “Ach, ich liebte,” 90, 97–98, 105; chorus numbers, 79, 82, 96; “Durch Zärtlichkeit,” 105–7; “Ich gehe doch rate ich dir,” 89–90, 96–97, 106; lovers’ quartet, 107–8; “Martern aller Arten,” 84, 85–86, 90–92, 97–98, 104, 166n23; overture, 79, 87; “Solche hergelauf ‘ne Laffen,” 89, 90, 96

Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Mozart, Bieito production), 80, 81–101; chorus numbers in, 79, 82, 96; coercion in, 86, 109; commentary on Page 191 →sex trade in, 82–83, 88–89, 98–101, 110; confusing representation of sex trade in, 99–100; controversy over, 81, 95, 143; dehumanization in, 84, 87–88; departure from original story, 81–82; “hyperbolic gambit” in, 134, 135; individuality of women denied in, 88; massacre scene, 88, 93, 96, 99; mise-en-scène, 81; Mozart’s score, treatment of, 95–96; nudity in, 81, 83–85, 92–94; seraglio as modern-day brothel, 81, 99; unnamed sex workers in, 87–88; violence and desensitization in, 83–85; whitewashing in, 81, 98–99, 143

Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Mozart, Mouawad production), 14, 80, 101–14, 143–44; agency and absence of violence in, 104–9; apologetics in, 104, 109; class issues in, 106–7; coercion in, 108, 109; European men as selfish in, 107; feminist lens attributed to, 104, 109; gender politics in, 104, 111; issue of sex and romance with one’s captor, 108; new dialogue in, 101–8; Orientalism and reparation in, 109–11; patriarchal eighteenth-century Europe, commentary on, 102, 106, 109; prayer session in, 103–4, 109–10; synopsis explains directorial changes, 102–4; Turkish men as heroes in, 107

epic theater, 128, 171n33

eroticization of sexual violence, 68, 75, 92–94, 100, 165n12

ethically informed performances, 2, 42–46, 75, 77, 80, 85, 101, 139, 141, 144–45; ethic of care, 7, 8–11, 15, 145, 154n28; Guillaume Tell, 130–31, 139; Mouawad’s Entführung, 113–14; Turandot, 141

ethic of care, 7, 8–11, 15, 145

Exotica (Egoyan), 50

exoticism, musical, 71, 75–76, 79

Expressionism, 48, 49

fascism, critiques of, 128–29, 172n37

feminism, 4, 13–14, 122, 153n19; attributed to Entführung, 104, 109; and Attridge’s Don Giovanni, 44–45; and ethical representation of sexual violence, 85; focus on women’s responses to Don Giovanni, 16–17; incest, critiques of, 50–51, 66; literal representations of rape needed, 112, 113; prohibitionist, 100; rape during wartime, views of, 116–17; realism, critiques of, 94–95, 112; and Salome’s empowerment, 75, 77; second-wave, 50–51; sex work, views of, 100; and spectatorship, 7–8, 38; stylized idea of rape as alternative, 92–93; trauma, understandings of, 40

femme fatale figure, 59–60, 66

Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, 17

fetishism, 5, 49, 70–72, 111

Fitzpatrick, Lisa, 137

flashbacks, traumatic, 28, 56–57, 59, 62, 64, 73, 80

Floyd, Carlisle, 12

La forza del destino (Verdi, Kratzer production), 15, 172n34; chorus in, 123, 129, 172n34; Playboy Bunnies in, 123, 124; Vietnam War setting, 15, 115–16, 123–24, 129, 137; Pieces: “Rataplan,” 129

fourth wall, breaking of, 42, 45, 63

Freud, Sigmund, 48–49; regression theory, 57–60

gang rape, 116–18, 123, 171n24; as male bonding, 123; in Salome, 50, 52–53, 53, 69–70; in Guillaume Tell, 131–32. See also rape

gaze, 56–57, 68, 91; and aestheticization of suffering, 70–74, 77; power of, 54–56; role of in Wilde’s and Strauss’s Salomé/e, 68; spectatorship problematized, 91–92; voyeuristic, 49–50, 67–69, 73, 100, 125

Page 192 →Geller, Brigitte, 91

Geneva Conventions, 116, 169n3

genocide, rape as tool of, 116, 122, 136

Germany: Nazi, iconography of, 128, 129; Prostitution Act (ProstG), 82–83, 164–65n2; Regie productions in, 143; and Salome, 48–49; sex trade, 81–83, 99–100; Turkish population in, 81, 98–99

Gessler (Guillaume Tell), 118, 125–27, 132

Gill, Rosalind, 26

Gilligan, Carol, 9–10

Gilman, Sander, 49

Giovanni, Don (Don Giovanni): Anna, encounter with, 19–29, 22; as comic character, 41–42; costuming of, 33, 155n10; dark portrayals of, 43; directors’ perceptions of, 16, 30; feminist focus on women’s responses to, 16–17; as hero and delight, 34; nonconsensual conquest of women, 7–8; as predator, 16, 30, 34, 44; as rapist, 43; as seducer, 4, 29–30, 33–36; size relative to women in productions, 31–32; as “womanizer” or “ladies’ man,” 4, 7–8; Zerlina, encounter with, 29–36, 33, 64

Glenn, Susan, 48

Glyndebourne Festival, 17, 41

Gospels of Matthew and Mark, 47

Gran Teatre del Liceu, 15, 17, 116, 119

gratuitousness, 8, 77, 100, 132, 142; as question of realism, 130

Guillaume Tell (Rossini, Michieletto production), 9–10, 84; attempted rape of Swiss woman in ballet scene, 117–18, 125, 125, 131–32, 140–41; Austrian occupation of Switzerland in, 116; changes to between dress rehearsal and opening night, 132–33, 139, 146; choruses, 115, 118, 125, 132; credits for ROH DVD, 131; critique of as opera, 133; dissonance of music with characters’ experiences, 126, 126–28, 127; fascist Austrian regime in, 129; heroes not immune to oppressive behavior, 132; “hyperbolic gambit” in, 134, 135; opening scene, 131–32; Pas de soldats, 127; rape as metaphor in, 136–38; at Royal Opera House, 8–11, 15; Schiller’s play, 117–18, 131; sexual violence in written text, 131–33; sexual violence portrayed as bad, 135–36; vocalizations of Swiss woman in, 127; Woodward’s critique of, 8–10, 84, 130, 132, 134–35

Gürbaca, Tatjana, 62

Gustavo (Ricardo) (Un ballo in maschera), 119

harm: desensitization, potential for, 83–85, 139, 143; director responsibility for, 140, 144–45; understandings of, 9

Heard, Ethan, 111

Heartbeat Opera, 111

Herman, Judith, 35–36, 39, 50

Herod, historical, 47–48, 60.162n40

Herodes (Salome), 13, 47, 59; disguised, 74; music as representative of, 70–71; offstage assaults by, 68; as substitute for Salome’s birth father, 60–61; surveillance of Salome, 52, 54, 68–69, 160n17

Herodias, early narratives of, 46, 47–48, 60

Higgins, Lynn, 112

Hirschman, Lisa, 50

Hisama, Ellie, 2, 68

Holloway, Robin, 70

Holten, Kasper, 8–11, 130, 132–33

Hörl, Andreas, 82

Howe, Elizabeth, 93–94

Huffman, Ted, 64–66

humanization, misogyny excused by, 105

Hunter, Mary, 38, 40

Hutcheon, Linda, 56

Page 193 →Hutcheon, Michael, 56

“hyperbolic gambit,” 134–35

hyper-sensitization, 139

hysteria, 49

identity groups, harm to, 85

In a Different Voice (Gilligan), 9–10

incest, 66–67, 74, 160n10; feminist critiques of, 50–51, 66

intimacy direction, 145–46

Intimacy Directors International, 145–46

intimate partner violence, 3, 35, 40, 169n8

“Is Don Giovanni a #MeToo Monster or an Honest Seducer?” (Toronto Star), 44

Islam, stereotyped representations of critiqued, 81, 98, 101, 104, 109–10, 114. See also Orientalism

Japanese internment, 111

Jean-Charles, Régine Michelle, 138

Jewish Antiquities (Josephus), 47–48

Jochanaan (Salome), 14, 50, 54–55, 59, 74; equated with Salome’s birth father, 60–61; recapitated, 64; Salome denied head of, 61–62, 161n35

John the Baptist, biblical narrative of, 47–48

Joosten, Guy, 63–64

Josephus, 47–48

Judith beheading Holofernes, 67

Jung, Carl, 60–61

justice, ethic of, 9–10

Kaiser, Matthias, 59

Kemp, Lindsay, 163n71

Kent, Jonathan, 17

Knabe, Tilman, 15, 116

Komische Oper Berlin, 14, 80, 81

Konstanze (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), 79, 82, 91, 103; agency of, 86–87; brutally realistic response to violence, 95; power in voice of, 85, 88; Arias: “Ach, ich liebte,” 90, 97–98, 105; “Martern aller Arten,” 84, 85–86, 90–92, 97–98, 104, 166n23; “Welcher Wechsel herrscht in meiner Seele,” 86

Kramer, Lawrence, 48–49, 56, 70

Kratzer, Tobias, 15, 115–16

Kremer, Annemarie, 63

Lachmann, Hedwig, 47

Larsen, Jens, 96–97

Lavinia (Titus Andronicus), 71–72

Lawless, Stephen, 1

Lebrecht, Norman, 8

Leporello (Don Giovanni), 19–20, 22, 32; disguised as Giovanni, 36–37; Aria: “Notte e giorno faticar,” 20

Leuthold (Guillaume Tell), 131

Levin, David, 6, 50, 66, 69, 72

Levine, James, 3

libretti. See written texts/libretti

Lindsay, Meghan, 22

Lomas, Laura, 146

Lo-u-Ling (Turandot), 133–34, 173n48

Loving Music Till It Hurts (Cheng), 146

Lucretia (The Rape of Lucretia), 68

MacKinnon, Catharine, 31, 93, 124

Madama Butterfly (Puccini), 111, 169n58

Madame Arvidson (Ulrica) (Un ballo in maschera), 119

masculinity, hegemonic model of, 118–19

Masetto (Don Giovanni), 29, 32, 35, 38, 43

Mathilde (Guillaume Tell), 131

McVicar, David, 59, 68

media depictions of rape, 18, 20–21

memory, and trauma, 27–28, 54, 60, 73; choice to reveal past, 63–64; flashbacks, 28, 56–57, 59, 62, 64, 73, 80

Men Explain Things to Me (Solnit), 104

metaphor, rape and sexual violence as, 13, 14–15, 136–38; allegory of oppression, rape used as, 137

Page 194 →#MeToo movement, 3, 44, 46

Metropolitan Opera, 43; Entführung (2019), 80; Levine dismissed by, 3; Salome (1907 performance), 48

Metzger, Kay, 61, 74

Michael, Nadja, 59

Michieletto, Damiano, 8, 11, 15, 84, 116; changes to Guillaume Tell made by, 132–33, 139, 146; criticisms of, 131. See also Guillaume Tell (Rossini, Michieletto production)

The Mikado: Reclaimed (GenEnCo), 111

Millett, Kate, 163–64n72

Minaker, Clea, 69–70, 73, 164n77

misogyny, 154n1; criticism of by Bieito, 44–45, 83; excused by humanization, 105; #MeToo movement highlighting of, 3, 44, 46; neglected in Turandot, 141; in opera canon, 142–47; wartime rape and structures of, 116–17, 139–41; Western European pointed out by Mouawad, 105–6, 109; women said to be childlike, 59; women said to be irrational, 37–38; in written texts, 6, 101, 141

Moneka, Ahmed, 109

Mouawad, Wajdi, 14, 80, 101–14

Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus: Così fan tutte, 87; and current ethical standards, 46; failure to produce commentary on, 81; musical and scenic correlation, 96–97, 106, 158n43; Le nozze di Figaro, 4, 87; opera seria style in comic operas, 24, 25, 38, 90; scatological humor in letters of, 84. See also Don Giovanni (Mozart); Die Entführung aus dem Serail

musical correlation with characters and staging, 70–71, 96–97, 106, 136, 158n43

Narraboth (Salome), 50, 54, 59

Neef, Alexander, 104

Negrin, Francisco, 62, 68

Nevitt, Lucy, 69, 71–72, 77

Norris, Rufus, Don Giovanni production, 17, 28–29, 32–34, 33, 38–39, 43

Le nozze di Figaro (Mozart), 4, 87

nudity, 5; in Bieito’s Entführung, 81, 83–85, 92–94, 100; in Egoyan’s Salome, 72, 75, 77; not made visible, 132–33, 135; reduction of, 139–40

objectification of women’s bodies, 14; in Entführung productions, 83, 88, 101, 112; in Salome productions, 56, 72, 74; during wartime, 120, 136–37

Oedipus complex, 60

offstage: as location for rape, 4, 19–20, 32–36, 42–43, 56, 64, 68; as locus of pathology, 51–52

Opera, or the Undoing of Women (Clément), 8

opera buffa, 41, 156n17

opera canon, 2, 12, 15; as collection of problems, 142; cultural anxieties about, 116; male violence as norm in, 134; multiple problems with, 146–47; nonliteral stagings and estrangement effect, 128; wartime operas, 115–16, 132

opera industry: abuse and sexual violence in, 2–3, 145; whiteness of, 129–30, 143

operas, as texts, 6–7

opera seria style, 24, 25, 38, 90

Oper Frankfurt, 115–16, 123

Orientalism, 168n56; alla turca style, 79, 96, 143; East/West binary, 104–6, 110; Enlightenment thought as counter to, 79, 86, 88; linked with Salome, 70, 75, 164n73; monolithic other created by, 110; and reparation, 109–11; in score of Dance of the Seven Veils, 75, 7076; and whitewashing, 81, 98–99, 143; in Wilde’s Salomé, 48. See also Islam

Osmin (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), 79, 82, 87; as gangster in Bieito production, 81–82, 99; Mozart’s musical Page 195 →and scenic correlation, 96–97, 106, 158n43; new dialogue in Mouawad production, 102; Pieces: “Ich gehe doch rate ich dir,” 89–90, 96–97, 106; “Solche hergelauf ‘ne Laffen,” 89, 90, 96

Ottavio, Don (Don Giovanni), 23–29, 36; Aria: “Il mio tesoro,” 40, 43

Ottomans, Russian defeat of, 79

outrage, mitigation of, 72

panopticon, 50

Parditka, Magdolna, 57–58, 58, 60, 61–62

Parker, Roger, 6, 134

Paterson, Iain, 33

Paul, Russian Grand Duke, 79

Pedrillo (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), 79, 81–82, 82, 88, 89; new dialogue in Mouawad production, 102

performance: rape in/as performance in warfare settings, 123–28; of rape in Entführung, 89–98

perversion, Regietheater as, 5

police state setting, 15, 116, 119

Pollock, Griselda, 72

pornography, 92–93

positionality, acknowledgment of, 144

post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), 9, 19, 28, 111, 169n8

power: diminished by traumatic backstory, 59–60, 62, 66–67; femme fatale as carrier of, 59–60; of gaze, 54–56; gender imbalance of, 18, 31–32, 51–52, 66; and incest, 50–51; of non-normative sexual desire, 78; in opera industry, 3; over self-perception, 55; rape as act of, 7; of Salome, 14, 48–49, 55–56, 59–60, 62–63, 75, 78, 161n24; of women’s voices in opera, 72, 85. See also agency of characters

power motivation, 118

pregnancy, as tool of war, 122

Preziosilla (La forza del destino), 123

prison rape, 120

production, 6–7; as best tool for exploring opera canon, 142; contemporary changes reflected in, 44–45; as criticism, 81–83, 98–101, 125, 133; critique of problematic operas, 81–83, 89, 96; white racial frame of, 76, 98–99, 129–30, 143

psychoanalysis: Electra complex, 60–61; and “post-Wagnerian compositional logic,” 48–49; regression theory, 57–60

public discourse, 6–8

Puccini, Giacomo: Madama Butterfly, 111, 169n58; possible commentary on fascism, 129. See also Turandot (Puccini, Knabe production)

Puffett, Derrick, 70

Pynkoski, Marshall, Don Giovanni production, 17, 21–24, 26–27, 34, 41–42; Toronto Star interview, 44

queer sexuality, 84

racism, 111–13, 142–44, 147, 169n58; blackface debates, 143, 174n1

Radvanovsky, Sondra, 1

rape: acquaintance/date rape, 32, 155n11; agency destroyed by, 120; center-stage, 34; as coerced sex, 31, 86; consequences to victims, 8; as crime of violence, 120; by deception, 30, 36–38, 44, 74, 157n39; deindividualization of, 138; English Restoration theater portrayal of, 93–94, 137, 165n12; glamorized by aesthetic softening, 70, 77, 109; in/as performance, 123–28; by intimate partners, family members, or acquaintances, 20; irreconcilability of with sex, 74; media and public responses to, 7; offstage occurrence of, 4, 19–20, 32–36, 42–43, 56, 64, 68; as performance, 67–75; performance of, 89–98; personhood destroyed Page 196 →by, 120; in prison, 120; as public spectacle, 123–28; and queer sexuality, 84; seriousness of in Britten and Floyd’s operas, 12; simultaneous pervasiveness and invisibility of, 112; as spectacle for entertainment, 49; stylized idea of as feminist alternative, 92–93. See also gang rape

Rape and Representation (Higgins and Silver), 112

rape and sexual violence: ambivalence about, 5; as mainstays of contemporary opera performance, 1–2, 4; obscured by innuendo and ambiguity, 4; offstage, 4; suffering and death of women, opera’s reliance on, 7; as war crimes, 116; widespread interpolation of into operas, 1–2

rape myths and stereotypes, 13, 17, 155n3; audience response to, 74, 80; classic stereotype of attempted rape, 20; “crying rape” for revenge or attention, 26; deserving to be raped, 138–39; desire to be raped, 22–23, 26–27, 134; directors’ responsibility when introducing, 76–77; false complaints/lies, 23–27, 156n23; intoxicated women as responsible, 37; lack of distress after rape, 34–35; perpetrators excused by, 18; “saying no and meaning yes,” 4, 22–23, 30–31, 42; in staging of Bieito’s Don Giovanni, 21–23, 22, 24–26, 36–37; trauma downplayed, 18–19; twenty-first century sexual politics, 25–26; victims discredited by, 18; women expected to resist, 20; women provoke rape, 74

The Rape of Lucretia (Britten), 12, 68, 154n35

realism, 110, 130, 132, 163n68, 165n13; feminist critiques of, 94–95, 112

Regietheater (director’s theater), 4–5, 11, 15; critical distaste for, 5, 97; criticism of current politics in, 9, 68, 81–83, 96, 98–101; directors’ changes in response to criticism, 69–70, 132–33; economy of shock, 2, 4, 11, 83, 113, 116, 130–31, 143; greater diversity of creators needed, 144; “hyperbolic gambit” in critiquing sexual violence, 134–35; jingoism critiqued by, 128; musical and scenic correlation, 96–97, 106, 126, 126–27, 127, 136, 158n43; nudity as hallmark of, 92; one-upmanship culture, 83, 131; potential and flaws, 142–43; and psychoanalytic thought, 49; scandal-mongering, 83–85, 116; tactics of Regie-hating opera-goers thwarted, 97. See also directors

reparation, 109–11, 142–43

representation, politics of, 113

repulsion, as approach to music analysis, 2

rescue operas, 85–86, 94–95, 101, 107

responsibility of directors: to audience, 6, 9–10, 13, 15, 45–46, 76–77, 95, 139–40, 144–45; to works, 6, 144, 146, 174n5

revenge scenarios, 62–66, 63, 65, 67, 76

rights discourse, 10

Rigoletto (Verdi), 3, 4

Risi, Clemens, 96, 98

risks of staging sexual violence: desensitization, 83–85, 139, 143; “hyperbolic gambit,” 134–35; rape myths and stereotypes, 21–23, 22, 24–26, 36–37; retraumatization, potential for, 9, 34, 77, 84, 139–40; titillation of audience, 2, 134, 165n12, 227; voyeurism, 49–50, 68–69, 73, 100, 125. See also rape myths and stereotypes; sexual violence

Robinson, Dylan, 144, 153n18

Robinson, Paul, 72

Rodolphe (Guillaume Tell), 118

Röhr, Rainer Maria, 63

role models, student search for, 38, 40

Royal Opera House (ROH), 116; Don Page 197 →Giovanni (Zambello production), 17; Guillaume Tell production, 8–11, 15; Salome production, 59

Russian defeat of Ottomans, 79

Rwandan Genocide, 116

Sadnik, Roman, 58

Saint-Saëns, Camille, 76

Salome (Salome), 13, 47–78; cathartic revenge, 64, 163n69; costuming of, 162n36; denied head of Jochanaan, 61–62, 161n35; development toward agency, 54; Electra complex attributed to, 60–61; and exotic dancers in New York, 75; music as representative of, 70–71; power of, 14, 48–49, 55–56, 59–60, 62–63, 75, 78, 161n24; power of diminished by traumatic backstory, 59–60, 62, 66–67; psychoanalytic readings of, 48; radical femininity of sanitized, 67; regression attributed to, 57–60, 161n27; revenge scenarios, 62–66, 63, 65, 67; self-harming portrayal, 61, 62; sexualization of child-Salome, 71

Salome (Strauss), 47–78; emergent tropes in productions of, 56–66; erotic spectacle at center of, 13–14, 67; gang rape introduced into story, 50, 52–53, 53, 69–70; imagined as post-Freudian pop-psychology story, 53; music of as compositional psychoanalysis, 48; page, role of, 51, 160n13; preoccupation with finding motivations for Salome’s acts, 53; realist version, 74–75; surveillance portrayed in, 50–55, 53, 68–69, 160n17; thirteen productions between 2008 and 2018, 50, 56; trauma and agency in, 50–56; traumatic backstory added to, 49, 52, 56–57, 61, 66–67, 77–78; white racial frame of productions, 76, 98–99, 143. See also Dance of the Seven Veils (Salome)

Salome (Strauss, Egoyan production), 49–56, 66; 1996 version, 51–56, 53, 69, 76; 2002 version, 51, 69; 2013 version changes, 69–74, 146, 164n77; blindfolding metaphor, 52, 54–55, 73, 160–61n21; child-Salome and dancer-Salome, 52–54, 71, 72, 75; images projected on screen, 52–54, 53, 72–73; proximity of rape and striptease, 73–74; rape as performance in, 68–71; regression portrayed in, 58–59, 161n27; shadow-play ballet, 52–54, 53, 69.72–73; surveillance portrayed in, 50–55, 53, 68–69, 160n16; time as continuous, 53–54

Salome, historical, 47–48, 60, 162n40

Salome productions: Castellucci, 62, 161–62n36; Clément, 59, 61, 62, 68; Gürbaca, 62; Huffman, 64–66; Joosten, 63–64; Kaiser, 59; McVicar, 59, 68; Metzger, 61; Negrin, 62, 68; Schröder, 74–75; Slater, 60; Sunnegårdh, 58–59; Szemerédy and Parditka, 57–58, 58, 60, 61–62

Salomé (Wilde), 47–48, 55, 68, 160n13; queer readings of, 75, 163nn70–71, 163–64n72

Samson et Dalila (Saint-Saëns), 76

Santa Fe Opera, 60

Schiller, Friedrich, 117–18, 131

Schmidgall, Gary, 48

Schörg, Regina, 21, 22

Schröder, Silvana, 74–75

Schroeder, Patricia, 95

self-preservation, 22, 54, 100, 109

Selim (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), 79, 82, 90, 91, 103; added dialogue in Mouawad production, 103–4; apologetics for in Mouawad’s production, 102–4, 102–5, 103, 112–14; brutality of in Bieito production, 86–94, 91, 98, 99; coerciveness of in Bieito production, 109; colonial project celebrated in character of, 113–14; as gangsterPage 198 → in Bieito production, 81–82, 99; murder of in Bieito production, 96; as representative of Orient in Bieito production, 88

sex trafficking, 99–100

sexual violence: and agency in captivity, 85–89; as central to canonic opera, 5; and critical staging, 128–36; downplayed in opera world, 4–5; eroticization of, 68, 75, 92–94, 100, 165n12; ethical representation of from feminist view, 85; glamorized by aesthetic softening and stylization, 70–74, 77, 109; “hyperbolic gambit” in critiquing sexual violence, 134–35; as mainstay of Regietheater, 5; men not held accountable for, 42; opportunity for directors to push back against problematic social ideas, 68; overly explicit portrayals of, 2, 34, 43–44, 81, 100–101, 112–13, 139–40; problem of in opera, 2–6; women interpreted as wanting sex, 4. See also risks of staging sexual violence

sex workers, European, 81–83, 85, 99–100

Shakespeare, William, 71–72

shorb, kt, 111

Sielke, Sabine, 136

Silver, Brenda, 112

Simonson, Mary, 56

Sivadier, Jean-François, 17, 19–20, 27, 30, 39, 40, 42–43, 159n55, 159n57

Skjelsbæk, Inger, 119

Slater, Daniel, 60

slavery: equated with patriarchal eighteenth-century Europe, 102, 109; literal and figurative, 105–6

Slipped Disc blog, 8

social body, health of, 11–12

Solga, Kim, 95

Solnit, Rebecca, 104

Soltesz, Stefan, 122, 136, 173n56

South Pacific (Rodgers and Hammerstein), 111

Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty, 144, 168n56

staging: audience aligned with characters via, 97–98; critical, and sexual violence, 128–36; and estrangement effect, 128; musical correlation with characters, 70–71, 96–97, 106, 136, 158n43. See also risks of staging sexual violence

Stephanie, Gottlieb, libretto for Entführung, 79, 81, 95; and tensions in Mouawad’s production, 102, 108–9

Stiglmayer, Alexandra, 116–17

Stockholm syndrome, 108

suffering, communication of, 72

suffering and death of women, opera’s reliance on, 7, 133

Sunnegårdh, Erika, 58–59

supernumeraries, 42–43, 91–93, 99, 168n54; as nameless and objectified, 88, 112, 122, 123–24, 138, 155n8

surveillance, portrayed in Egoyan’s Salome, 50–55, 53, 68–69, 160n16

Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), 87

Susannah (Floyd), 12, 154n35

The Sweet Hereafter (Banks), 50

The Sweet Hereafter (Egoyan), 50

Szemerédy, Alexandra, 57–58, 58, 60, 61–62

Tell, William (Guillaume Tell), 118, 172n45

Terfel, Bryn, 43

texts, operas as, 6–7. See also written texts/libretti

Theatre & Violence (Nevitt), 69, 77

Theorin, Iréne, 121

Thompson, James, 10–11

Titus Andronicus (Shakespeare), 71–72

Tolksdorf, James, 61, 74

trauma, 13; and agency, 19, 50–56; as backstory in Salome, 49, 52, 56–57, 61, Page 199 →66–67, 77–78; and belatedness, 54; in Entführung, 95; fallout of, 39–40, 44; flashbacks, 28, 56–57, 59, 62, 64, 73, 80; and memory, 54, 60; post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), 9, 19, 28, 111, 169n8; and rape myths, 18–19; regression theory, 57–60; retraumatization, 9, 34, 77, 84, 139–40; sexual assault and domestic violence excluded from, 40; staged in Don Giovanni, 18–19, 27–29, 34–36, 38–40, 42–44. See also memory, and trauma

Trauma and Recovery (Herman), 39

trauma studies, 7, 35–36, 39, 50

Tronto, Joan, 10

Turandot (Puccini, Knabe production): Alfano’s music, 134, 135, 173n50, 173n56; authoritarian state setting, 15, 116, 120; Chinese music and race issues, 143; choruses in, 121, 129, 141, 172n35; departure from written script, 136; ethical performance of, 141; ethnicity in costuming choices, 129–30; as male fantasy, 141, 174n69; program notes, 129; sexual violence in written text, 133; Pieces: “Ai tuoi piedi ci prostriam,” 129; “Nessun dorma,” 121, 133, 141

Turandot (Turandot), 121; agency of, 120–21; allusions to sexual violence against ancestor, 133–34; costuming of, 130; as vehicle for Calaf’s power, 120, 122

Turkey, dual representations of, 80–81

Turkish immigrants, in Germany, 98–99

Turkish novelties, in operas, 79, 143

Tutsi women (Rwanda), 116

twenty-first century sexual politics, 25–26

Tynan, Sarah, 33

“unfounded” accusations, 25

United Nations, 116

victims/survivors: agency of, 13; in audience, 8–12, 34, 84, 135, 138–39; believing, 13, 26–27; blamed for acquaintance/date rape, 32; changes in attitude after assault, 28–29; characterized as passive, 117; discredited by rape myths, 18; focus on white women, 130, 143; portrayed as ambivalent, 28–34, 51, 59–60; Salome portrayed as, 47; self-preservation, 22, 54, 100, 109; tension with agency, 55

Vietnam War, in La forza del destino, 15, 115–16, 123–24, 129, 137

violence: absence of in Mouawad production of Entführung, 104–9, 111; liveness of in opera medium, 84; neutralization of, 14, 80, 104–9, 112–13; rape as crime of, 120. See also rape; sexual violence; trauma

Volonté, Dario, 121

voyeurism, 49–50, 68–69, 73, 100, 125

Wagner, Richard, 49

Wagner, Wieland, 49

war crimes, 116

warfare: cultural anxieties about, 116; dehumanization of women during, 120, 122; normalization and valorization of, 116, 138; rape linked with, 115; sexual violence and agency in armed conflict, 117–23. See also wartime rape

Warns, Guntbert, 91

wartime rape, 115–16; dominance/power/control dimension, 118, 120; feminist interpretations of, 117; Geneva Conventions, 116, 169n3; and genocide, 116, 122, 136; and hegemonic model of masculinity, 118–19; as male bonding, 123; of men, 119–20; as public spectacle, 123–28, 124, 125; public understanding of, 116; racialized, 123–24; as terrorism, 118–19, 125; as weapon, 116–17; women Page 200 →as “ceremonial battlefields,” 120, 136; women as representatives of enemy, 118–19, 173n61, 174n65. See also wartime settings in operas

wartime settings in operas, 8–11, 14–15, 115–41, 169n1; choruses of soldiers, 115, 118, 123, 141, 172n34; invention of violence in, 115; rape as metaphor for war, 136–38; romanticization of war and military, 129, 132. See also Un ballo in maschera (Verdi, Bieito production); La forza del destino (Verdi, Kratzer production); Guillaume Tell (Rossini, Michieletto production); Turandot (Puccini, Knabe production); warfare; wartime rape

Waterperry Opera Festival (Oxfordshire), 44–45

Weinstein, Harvey, 3

Weinstock, Raphael, 103, 105

Wheelock, Gretchen, 89–90, 91

white directors, 76, 143

white racial frame of productions, 76, 98–99, 129–30, 143

whitewashing, and Orientalism, 81, 98–99, 143

Wilde, Oscar, Salomé, 47–48, 55, 68, 75, 160n13, 163nn70–71

Will, Richard, 23

women’s voices, acoustic power of, 72, 85

Woodward, Catharine (Rogers), 8–10, 84, 130, 132, 134–35, 138, 139

work, defined, 6

written texts/libretti, 6–7, 42, 55; added characters, 42–43, 64; authorial intent of composer/librettist, 131; consent in, 30; criticism of by directors, 102, 105, 107, 125, 131, 135; cuts made to, 41, 94, 121, 169n6, 4373n56; directorial changes to, 1, 43, 55, 62, 66, 75–78, 81–82, 94, 95, 101–2; historical context of, 38; inaccurate interpretations of, 77–78; and reparation, 111; responsibility of director to, 6, 144, 146, 174n5; sexual violence glossed over in, 131; sexual violence in original, 3–5, 12, 125, 131–33, 173n52; spoken dialogue altered, 81; tensions with directorial changes, 102, 108–9, 112; tensions within, 142; threats to women in, 14, 79–80, 96, 105–6

Youn, Kwangchul, 22

Zambello, Francesca, 17, 39–40, 41

Zerlina, Donna (Don Giovanni), 13, 16, 18, 19, 87; in Act 1 finale, 32–36; as tragic heroine, 39; as traumatized, 39–40, 44; unflappability of, 34–35; Pieces: “Alfin siam liberati . . . Là ci darem la mano,” 29–32, 34; “Batti, batti, o bel Masetto,” 35

Zorn, John, 2

Zurbriggen, Eileen, 118