Race and Representation in Baroque Opera—Some Thoughts on Pedagogy, Scholarship, and Performance

Abstract

Abstract: Our early music canon traces a narrative of cultural ritual and social representation that reveals national, political, and economic priorities, of both the past and the present—a function not altogether different from historic monuments, or from other culturally bounded architectural spaces, such as museums, or concert halls. As we interact with these objects from the past, what is our ethical responsibility in choosing how to present these materials—either in the classroom, in published scholarship, or in performance? Opera provides an interesting fluidity within this matrix of past and present, narrative and representation, cultural exchange and difference. Revealing layered meanings from the mimetic to the imaginary, operatic symbolisms challenge our relationships to the past, sometimes creating performative discomfort with race and ethnicity. This article examines intellectual frameworks and methodologies that can expand our interpretive lenses, while providing simple strategies and resources for classroom engagement that can (with alteration) also be fruitful for the studio and the stage. Drawing on excerpts from Rameau's "Les Sauvages" from his opera-ballet Les Indes galantes (1735), I explore layers of narrative and cultural symbolism regarding race and representation and question the limits of "exoticism" as a conceptual foundation.