Hilde Roos
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780520299887
- eISBN:
- 9780520971516
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520299887.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Opera
Opera, race, and politics during apartheid South Africa form the foundation of this historiographic work on the Eoan Group, a so-called colored cultural organization that performed opera in the Cape. ...
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Opera, race, and politics during apartheid South Africa form the foundation of this historiographic work on the Eoan Group, a so-called colored cultural organization that performed opera in the Cape. The La Traviata Affair: Opera in the Time of Apartheid charts Eoan’s opera activities from its inception in 1933 until the cessation of its work by 1980. By accepting funding from the apartheid government and adhering to apartheid conditions, the group, in time, became politically compromised, resulting in the rejection of the group by their own community and the cessation of opera production. However, their unquestioned acceptance of and commitment to the art of opera lead to the most extraordinary of performance trajectories. During apartheid, the Eoan Group provided a space for colored people to perform Western classical art forms in an environment that potentially transgressed racial boundaries and challenged perceptions of racial exclusivity in the genre of opera. This highly significant endeavor and the way it was thwarted at the hands of the apartheid regime is the story that unfolds in this book.Less
Opera, race, and politics during apartheid South Africa form the foundation of this historiographic work on the Eoan Group, a so-called colored cultural organization that performed opera in the Cape. The La Traviata Affair: Opera in the Time of Apartheid charts Eoan’s opera activities from its inception in 1933 until the cessation of its work by 1980. By accepting funding from the apartheid government and adhering to apartheid conditions, the group, in time, became politically compromised, resulting in the rejection of the group by their own community and the cessation of opera production. However, their unquestioned acceptance of and commitment to the art of opera lead to the most extraordinary of performance trajectories. During apartheid, the Eoan Group provided a space for colored people to perform Western classical art forms in an environment that potentially transgressed racial boundaries and challenged perceptions of racial exclusivity in the genre of opera. This highly significant endeavor and the way it was thwarted at the hands of the apartheid regime is the story that unfolds in this book.
Todd Decker
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- March 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199389186
- eISBN:
- 9780199389223
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199389186.003.0006
- Subject:
- Music, Popular, History, American
This chapter considers white male singers, mostly from the operatic stage, who recorded and performed “Ol’ Man River.” The song was a popular choice for such singers in the middle decades of the ...
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This chapter considers white male singers, mostly from the operatic stage, who recorded and performed “Ol’ Man River.” The song was a popular choice for such singers in the middle decades of the twentieth century, a time when white singers could put on this song about the black experience without fear of criticism. What black listeners did object to was such singers’ use of derogatory words such as “darkies” and “niggers.” Black newspapers protested these word choices publicly; several white singers and music industry executives responded positively to their requests for revisions. The white male singers of “Ol’ Man River” took a remarkably consistent approach to the song, demonstrated by close comparison of performance choices captured on recordings. By the 1990s, the space for white male singers to perform “Ol’ Man River” had shrunk appreciably, as this sort of metaphorical performance of blackness became generally unacceptable.Less
This chapter considers white male singers, mostly from the operatic stage, who recorded and performed “Ol’ Man River.” The song was a popular choice for such singers in the middle decades of the twentieth century, a time when white singers could put on this song about the black experience without fear of criticism. What black listeners did object to was such singers’ use of derogatory words such as “darkies” and “niggers.” Black newspapers protested these word choices publicly; several white singers and music industry executives responded positively to their requests for revisions. The white male singers of “Ol’ Man River” took a remarkably consistent approach to the song, demonstrated by close comparison of performance choices captured on recordings. By the 1990s, the space for white male singers to perform “Ol’ Man River” had shrunk appreciably, as this sort of metaphorical performance of blackness became generally unacceptable.
