Modernity through syncretism and eclecticism: Wu Guanzhong's artistic practice in the cultural and political environment of the PRC (1949-1989)

<p>This thesis examines Wu Guanzhong’s 吴冠中 (1919-2010) art and art theory in the context of socialist and post-socialist China. Wu’s art came to maturation through a sophisticated syncretism of Chinese and Western painting styles and techniques. Aesthetic considerations notwithstanding, each of Wu’s artistic breakthroughs was also a direct response to the cultural policies of the Chinese Communist Party or to the larger cultural and political currents at important junctures of twentieth-century China. Mirroring the syncretistic style and political nature of his artwork, Wu’s art theory is characterised by an eclecticism that mediates between Chinese and Western artistic concepts and walks a thin line between creative agency and political correctness. By identifying the particular qualities of Wu’s art practice that captured the spirit of the 1980s and contributed to his phenomenal success during the ‘Culture Fever’ at the time, this thesis seeks to demonstrate how Wu’s unique blend of syncretism may exemplify an alternative path of Chinese artistic modernity, one that is forged by ‘official artists’ working within the system and shaped by the artists’ strategies of cultural politics as much as their aesthetic choices.</p>

From Callas To Netrebko: Diva power, vocality, and the mediatisation of the operatic voice

<p>Maria Callas’s fame as an opera star in the 1950s is still recognised today, and, for many, her name is synonymous with the modern concept of the opera ‘diva’. The increasing diversity of mediatised forms of operatic performances since her time has altered the way audiences engage with the art form. This has implications for singers in terms of values around vocality, authorship and power, and, in particular, the agency of singers in creating the meaningful, affective, and distinctively personal vocal tone that opera calls for. I suggest that for “divas” as defined by twentieth- and twenty-first century global stardom, power is amassed at least in part through particular ways in which they make use of their vocality or vocal timbre, and the way they manage their voices’ presentation in the mediatised versions of their performances. The recent turn towards a performative focus in musicology encourages the investigation of such aspects of performance. While authorship remains central in the consideration of performance, the contribution of the singer to the authorial and creative process has tended to be ignored, and at times the singer’s work has been regarded as servile to the point of nullification. A critical examination of scholarly writings around operatic performance, with reference to those of diva, voice, and stardom studies, forms the foundation of my study. In case studies of Callas and two later divas, Kiri Te Kanawa and Anna Netrebko, I examine the individual vocality of each singer, their interaction with the forms of mediatisation of their time, their position in the continuum of vocal fashion and influence, and the function of all of these factors in relation to perceptions of creative agency. My study investigates these issues from the standpoint of a singer, and it provides insights into the singer’s processes around the creation of vocality. It offers a new perspective through a fine-tuned analysis of vocal production, which reconnects perceptions of specific timbres with explicitly defined techniques for their production. Through this dissertation I show how signature vocality works: how it is created and managed by these divas, and how the mediatisation of vocality affects perceptions of their power as performers.</p>

Modernity through syncretism and eclecticism: Wu Guanzhong's artistic practice in the cultural and political environment of the PRC (1949-1989)

<p>This thesis examines Wu Guanzhong’s 吴冠中 (1919-2010) art and art theory in the context of socialist and post-socialist China. Wu’s art came to maturation through a sophisticated syncretism of Chinese and Western painting styles and techniques. Aesthetic considerations notwithstanding, each of Wu’s artistic breakthroughs was also a direct response to the cultural policies of the Chinese Communist Party or to the larger cultural and political currents at important junctures of twentieth-century China. Mirroring the syncretistic style and political nature of his artwork, Wu’s art theory is characterised by an eclecticism that mediates between Chinese and Western artistic concepts and walks a thin line between creative agency and political correctness. By identifying the particular qualities of Wu’s art practice that captured the spirit of the 1980s and contributed to his phenomenal success during the ‘Culture Fever’ at the time, this thesis seeks to demonstrate how Wu’s unique blend of syncretism may exemplify an alternative path of Chinese artistic modernity, one that is forged by ‘official artists’ working within the system and shaped by the artists’ strategies of cultural politics as much as their aesthetic choices.</p>

From Callas To Netrebko: Diva power, vocality, and the mediatisation of the operatic voice

<p>Maria Callas’s fame as an opera star in the 1950s is still recognised today, and, for many, her name is synonymous with the modern concept of the opera ‘diva’. The increasing diversity of mediatised forms of operatic performances since her time has altered the way audiences engage with the art form. This has implications for singers in terms of values around vocality, authorship and power, and, in particular, the agency of singers in creating the meaningful, affective, and distinctively personal vocal tone that opera calls for. I suggest that for “divas” as defined by twentieth- and twenty-first century global stardom, power is amassed at least in part through particular ways in which they make use of their vocality or vocal timbre, and the way they manage their voices’ presentation in the mediatised versions of their performances. The recent turn towards a performative focus in musicology encourages the investigation of such aspects of performance. While authorship remains central in the consideration of performance, the contribution of the singer to the authorial and creative process has tended to be ignored, and at times the singer’s work has been regarded as servile to the point of nullification. A critical examination of scholarly writings around operatic performance, with reference to those of diva, voice, and stardom studies, forms the foundation of my study. In case studies of Callas and two later divas, Kiri Te Kanawa and Anna Netrebko, I examine the individual vocality of each singer, their interaction with the forms of mediatisation of their time, their position in the continuum of vocal fashion and influence, and the function of all of these factors in relation to perceptions of creative agency. My study investigates these issues from the standpoint of a singer, and it provides insights into the singer’s processes around the creation of vocality. It offers a new perspective through a fine-tuned analysis of vocal production, which reconnects perceptions of specific timbres with explicitly defined techniques for their production. Through this dissertation I show how signature vocality works: how it is created and managed by these divas, and how the mediatisation of vocality affects perceptions of their power as performers.</p>

Embodying Voice: Singing Verdi, singing Wagner

<p>Writers from diverse disciplines have rhapsodised over the impact of the operatic voice on the listener, while musicologists such as Abbate, Duncan, and Risi have explored the effect that concepts of voice and bodily engagement have had on our critical readings of opera. Yet although perspectives on performance have become an increasingly vital aspect of operatic criticism, no one has laid out how opera singers experience performance in relation to the ideas of embodiment that scholars write about. The discourse on embodiment and voice is theoretical; most discussions of female voice can be mapped on to any historical period and on to any voice, so that all voices end up being treated the same; paradoxically, in addition it is a discourse that largely omits the body. Indeed, the complexity of connecting many different layers of mind and bodily engagement, that is, the embodiment, is a task that requires detailed and specialised training. Without attempting to speak for all singers at all times, I propose that by acknowledging that different singers achieve and think about particular elements of embodiment in different ways, we can start to come to terms with an individual singer’s creative agency, as a co-creator of the composer’s music. In this dissertation I outline key characteristics of the type of embodied voice that has become the basis of operatic singing today, how that operatic voice is produced in performance, and the importance of the singer’s own bodily engagement in making that sound and constituting the performance itself. By juxtaposing operatic criticism and readings of voice and vocality with an interrogation of my own physical engagement in singing a few particular roles (as a singer specialising in nineteenth and twentieth-century operatic repertoire), I demonstrate how a singer “creates” roles. My detailed analyses illustrate how a singer’s fully conscious bodily engagement, in and through the breath, is inextricably linked with musical and dramatic interpretation, and sets up the vocal spectacle and embodied agency so central to our modern experience of opera. Moreover, in the context of specific readings of particular operatic roles, I argue that particular composers set up specific ways in which singers manipulate elements of body and mind – so that the score can influence and even control how a singer can or cannot breathe. As I will demonstrate in detailed studies of four roles by Verdi and Wagner (all of which I have sung in performance), some scores set up an almost physical collaboration between the singer herself and the way in which text, breath and music are shaped and moulded in performance by particular features of the vocal writing. While a large number of roles could be explored in those terms, the demands placed upon body and voice are individual and each role of every opera is always distinct; Verdi and Wagner roles provide particularly valuable examples because of the complex intersection between a rich psychological framework for interpretative engagement and a complex vocal and bodily collaboration. In addition, my focus on a particular timeframe in the historical development of vocal practice suggests fascinating correlations with the case studies I discuss from Il trovatore, Die Walküre and Parsifal. The new type of singer developing the skills and voice to sing these roles predicates today’s vocal and stage practices that in turn have influenced my own experience. Offering an in-depth examination of the complex tasks an opera singer undertakes, I also examine differences in the vocality in singing Wagner and Verdi roles, culminating in a detailed exposition of my chosen roles. This dissertation, therefore, sets up a complex picture of the ways in which vocal performance is constructed and controlled by Verdi and Wagner, on the one hand, and how particular scores also set up the conditions that allow singers in these texts to unleash their voice to achieve “wildness” and expression that lies beyond the text. Through these case studies, I establish a discourse of vocality that allows detailed readings of aspects of vocal performance that seemingly bypass rational communication. In the end, I build a case for understanding how singers’ embodiment contributes to the creativity of the performance in ways hitherto intuited but not analysed. Thus I offer a counterbalance and reinterpretation of traditional perspectives on the reality of performance, addressing singers and scholars alike.</p>

Embodying Voice: Singing Verdi, singing Wagner

<p>Writers from diverse disciplines have rhapsodised over the impact of the operatic voice on the listener, while musicologists such as Abbate, Duncan, and Risi have explored the effect that concepts of voice and bodily engagement have had on our critical readings of opera. Yet although perspectives on performance have become an increasingly vital aspect of operatic criticism, no one has laid out how opera singers experience performance in relation to the ideas of embodiment that scholars write about. The discourse on embodiment and voice is theoretical; most discussions of female voice can be mapped on to any historical period and on to any voice, so that all voices end up being treated the same; paradoxically, in addition it is a discourse that largely omits the body. Indeed, the complexity of connecting many different layers of mind and bodily engagement, that is, the embodiment, is a task that requires detailed and specialised training. Without attempting to speak for all singers at all times, I propose that by acknowledging that different singers achieve and think about particular elements of embodiment in different ways, we can start to come to terms with an individual singer’s creative agency, as a co-creator of the composer’s music. In this dissertation I outline key characteristics of the type of embodied voice that has become the basis of operatic singing today, how that operatic voice is produced in performance, and the importance of the singer’s own bodily engagement in making that sound and constituting the performance itself. By juxtaposing operatic criticism and readings of voice and vocality with an interrogation of my own physical engagement in singing a few particular roles (as a singer specialising in nineteenth and twentieth-century operatic repertoire), I demonstrate how a singer “creates” roles. My detailed analyses illustrate how a singer’s fully conscious bodily engagement, in and through the breath, is inextricably linked with musical and dramatic interpretation, and sets up the vocal spectacle and embodied agency so central to our modern experience of opera. Moreover, in the context of specific readings of particular operatic roles, I argue that particular composers set up specific ways in which singers manipulate elements of body and mind – so that the score can influence and even control how a singer can or cannot breathe. As I will demonstrate in detailed studies of four roles by Verdi and Wagner (all of which I have sung in performance), some scores set up an almost physical collaboration between the singer herself and the way in which text, breath and music are shaped and moulded in performance by particular features of the vocal writing. While a large number of roles could be explored in those terms, the demands placed upon body and voice are individual and each role of every opera is always distinct; Verdi and Wagner roles provide particularly valuable examples because of the complex intersection between a rich psychological framework for interpretative engagement and a complex vocal and bodily collaboration. In addition, my focus on a particular timeframe in the historical development of vocal practice suggests fascinating correlations with the case studies I discuss from Il trovatore, Die Walküre and Parsifal. The new type of singer developing the skills and voice to sing these roles predicates today’s vocal and stage practices that in turn have influenced my own experience. Offering an in-depth examination of the complex tasks an opera singer undertakes, I also examine differences in the vocality in singing Wagner and Verdi roles, culminating in a detailed exposition of my chosen roles. This dissertation, therefore, sets up a complex picture of the ways in which vocal performance is constructed and controlled by Verdi and Wagner, on the one hand, and how particular scores also set up the conditions that allow singers in these texts to unleash their voice to achieve “wildness” and expression that lies beyond the text. Through these case studies, I establish a discourse of vocality that allows detailed readings of aspects of vocal performance that seemingly bypass rational communication. In the end, I build a case for understanding how singers’ embodiment contributes to the creativity of the performance in ways hitherto intuited but not analysed. Thus I offer a counterbalance and reinterpretation of traditional perspectives on the reality of performance, addressing singers and scholars alike.</p>

Making News:

Produced between 1861 and 1866, the Penfield Extra resembles many nineteenth-century newspapers, with a notable exception. Nellie Williams, the paper’s founder and editor, began publishing her hometown weekly newspaper at the age of twelve. While her paper incorporates conventional modes of nineteenth-century journalism, it also disrupts this association through its indicators of a child’s gender, age, and self-expression. The resulting juxtapositions and fissures—between the editor embracing mainstream journalism and foregrounding her creative agency as a child—present a compelling window on child authorship during a tumultuous time in American history. This tension, moreover, exemplifies the ways by which children’s acts of authorship can dramatically unsettle cultural attitudes regarding children’s innocence and separateness from adult culture. The fact that Williams wrote and published amidst the culture-exploding Civil War was not coincidental. Drawing on established discourses and journalistic conventions while emphasising her free play as child author and newsmaker, Nellie’s Extra mimics cultural conventions and literary discourses requiring children’s obedience and innocence while also modeling the importance of children’s independent political engagement and their capacity to talk back to power.