"The Magic Flute," "The Marriage of Figaro" and "Don Giovanni" are household names. But more than 200 years after the death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the operatic music of this protean composer still eludes a rigorous musical analysis. And while much has been made of Mozart's contribution to the operatic pantheon, the complex links between his operatic music and its dramatic, historical and social context have yet to be fully explored.
James Webster is doing something about that -- with a little help from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Webster, the Goldwin Smith Professor of Music, will receive $30,000 from the NEH to help fund research for a work-in-progress titled "The Music of Mozart's Operas: Analysis in Context."
"Linear foot upon linear foot has been written about Mozart's operas, but very little goes into detailed musical analysis," Webster said. "And almost none of the literature discusses matters of principle or entails sophisticated methodological reflection."
Webster will spend the upcoming academic year, 1999-2000, on sabbatical leave to write the draft of his three-part book on Mozart's operas. Webster briefly describes his project as the "first comprehensive treatment of Mozart's operas in English that focuses specifically on the construction and organization of the music and yet also pays adequate attention to the libretto, the dramatic action and social and generic contexts."
"In addition, its combination of analysis, contextual approaches and interpretation will contribute to the ongoing debate as to the proper relation between traditional and postmodernist methods in musicological discourse," Webster said.
Jennifer Elliston, a 1997-98 visiting professor of anthropology, also was awarded $30,000 for her research topic titled "Engendering Nationalist Struggle: The Politics of Daily Life and French Colonialism in Polynesia." Elliston is now an instructor at New York University.
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