Opera on the Move in the Nordic Countries during the Long 19th ...

Gendered agendas and the representation of gender …
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ing cases reflect changing gender norms and fears, as well as the possible
consequences and opportunities that were triggered in the wake of these
changes. Both cases have been omitted from our performance canons and
consequently are not part of a living performance tradition. If we continue
to research only the rich and multivalent dramaturgical meanings, genre
problems and historical-cultural foundations of canonized operas by men
without reviving and analyzing opera and theatre music by women, we risk
recycling dilemmas associated with the traditional “great man” approach
instead of nurturing much-needed dialogical approaches.
The time is ripe for asking: Who were Munktell and Griebel? What do
their activities, experiences and roles have in common, and how do they differ?
Under what conditions did they compose and perform theatre music?
Starting from the assumption that gender perception connected with opera
and dramatic music were self-organising dynamic systems, two very different
works, In Florence and The Rose Time, will be placed in their respective
representational contexts and overall gender political situation. Although
the two composers followed different geographical and historical paths,
Munktell and Griebel offer different historical answers to how theatre music
composed by women was represented, how it questioned perceptions of
gender and how it (de)constructed these perceptions. Thoroughly reviewed
in the Scandinavian press, both works were discussed in terms of gender.
Hence, reception materials will account for live experiences in our cultural
heritage, and tracing the critics’ descriptions in the scores and librettos is
possible: Examined in a historically-informed way, the reviews reveal the
meanings that critics and audiences gleaned from plots, settings, staging
and dramatic actions.
“The Nordic Frenchwoman”
Helena Munktell (1852–1919) was the first woman composer to debut on the
Swedish operatic stage. She studied piano and composition in Sweden with
Ludvig Norman, Johan Lindegren and Joseph Dente, as well as in France
with Benjamin Godard and Vincent d’Indy. Her musical talent was fostered
with all the care and tact necessary for a lady of noble disposition in a noble
world. 1 Hence, her eagerness to work and her urge to achieve perfect ro-
1 The well-to-do Munktell remembered the art to which she dedicated so much of her
life in her will, leaving the Swedish Royal Theatre Orchestra, Hovkapellet, a sum of
money to keep her memory alive with concerts at the Royal <strong>Opera</strong> that included her
compositions. The programme was meant to provide a comprehensive illustration of
her compositional personality.