E.N. Shapinskaya Opera in the post-cultural context: playing with classics and the conflict of interpretations

Abstract: the article examines the challenges that classic Opera faces in the “post-cultural ” era, in which postmodern cultural traits (fragmentation, cultural pluralism, loss of history sense) become dominant in artistic culture. The author draws attention to the temporal issue of Opera, which is viewed as a correlation of time of the plot and the time of the viewer/listener. On the example of the modern “director’s opera” practice, the author demonstrates that liberal treatment towards the temporal aspect of the plot is not always justified and thus calls for close attention to all aspects of the play, lest it destroys the Opera ’s stylistic integrity. The author formulates several types of temporal structures and their possible interpretations, accenting archetypical images, which were subject to research on numerous occasions. The author shows the correlation between the interpretation of classic images, urging to preserve the traditional cultural values and to reject modernization for the sake of modernization alone.

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