Dr. Powell is a widely published
author on the French Baroque, music, dance, and theatre. He has also worked
with a long list of specialists around the world to revive long-forgotten works
for the stage. We asked him a little about himself.
What led you to your field of
expertise?
My PhD dissertation was on music in
the theater of Molière, which I came to after having seen a production of Le
Misantrope in Seattle. I wondered if there might be any music for
these plays, and it turns out that there was. From Molière’s comédies-ballets I became interested in
French opera.
How do you think opera in France was
different from other opera at the time?
Two ways: its heavy emphasis
on dance (the roots of French opera lay in ballet
de cour) and its allegory. All French opera of the 17th century aimed to
glorify Louis XIV, who was equated with the hero of the opera. In the
case of La Feste de Ruel, the praise
of Louis XIV is even more fulsomely obvious.
What is your favorite thing about
Baroque opera? Do you like conventional opera, too, or does Baroque opera stand
apart in your mind?
French baroque opera is a total Gesamtkunstwerk (to borrow Wagner’s term
-- I like Wagner too): music, dance, stagecraft, costumes, acting,
gesture, allegory. I like all opera, all periods. I teach a course
on the Mozart/da Ponte operas, and another course on Wagner’s Ring des Nibelungen. For a few
years I taught a course on Wagner and Tolkien, comparing Wagner’s Ring with
Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. I have also taught a course on the Faust legend
in music and literature.
Why is Charpentier a favorite? What
is his appeal for you?
I first encountered Charpentier’s
music in 1974 when he was comparatively unknown, especially in the U.S. I
was looking for a topic for my Master’s thesis, and so I settled on his secular
cantatas (which were unpublished, unperformed, and unrecorded). As a grad
student in the mid-1970s I organized two concerts of these works.
What are some interesting things you’ve
run across in your research?
One interest of mine is music that
was brought to Nouvelle-France, which
included French Canada and all of the Louisiana Purchase. This topic arose from
a course I taught at the Université de Nancy, for which I read many of the
accounts of the early French explorers. I have gone to archives in Quebec,
Montreal, and New Orleans to investigate this music, which was mostly brought
by the Jesuits. One thing I found amusing was a set of Lully opera scores in
Montreal that had engravings of lady opera singers with low-cut tops…and some
Jesuit (I presume) filled in their bodices with ink.
Dr. Powell's talk is free and open to the public.
7pm, Wednesday, June 1, 2016
Downtown branch of the Cincinnati Public Library
Huenefeld Tower Room
800 Vine St.
Cincinnati, OH 45202
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