cover image: Opera: Mimesis or Diegesis?

20.500.12592/3sv55qk

Opera: Mimesis or Diegesis?

17 Nov 2023

Opera is not just a kind of programmatic music: it is a fictional genre, with its own processes. Contrast between recitatives (or ordinary manner of singing) and arias creates effects of psychological focalization. Plurality of voices singing together shows how individual actions become collective action, transcending each character. The orchestral music, which is almost continuous during all the opera, is capable to underline how metaphysical forces influence human actions. Therefore, there is no doubt that singing and music is part and parcel of the operatic narration. Nevertheless, we must consider each of them differently: the singing alone is a fictional truth, while the orchestral music is merely an imaginative prop with no fictional truth. Consequently, opera is not a diegetic genre. Operatic story is not narrated by some composer’s voice. Opera is a mimetic genre, where characters are singing when they are speaking.

Authors

Maud Pouradier

Bibliographic Reference
Maud Pouradier. L’opéra, genre mimétique ou diégétique ?. Cahiers de philosophie de l'université de Caen, 2023, Narration et sens, 60, pp.79-98. ⟨10.4000/cpuc.2133⟩. ⟨hal-04285795⟩
DOI
https://doi.org/10.4000/cpuc.2133
HAL Collection
["Sciences de l'Homme et de la Société", 'Archives ouvertes de la Philosophie', 'Normandie Université', 'Université de Caen Normandie', 'Identité et subjectivité']
HAL Identifier
4285990
Institution
Université de Caen Normandie
Laboratory
Identité et subjectivité
Published in
France

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