This webpage was produced by Daniel Foster and his Peabody students in the class, “Opera: Research as Rehearsal.” We acted on the premise that thoughtful research can make for useful rehearsal and, eventually, an interesting performance. Bridging the divide between theory and practice, we worked as dramaturges preparing for a performance of Georg Frideric Handel’s Semele set during The Jazz Age. The following texts, images, audio, and slideshows represent our research on Semele itself, The Jazz Age as a historical and cultural period in the US, and on a reimagining of Semele set during The Jazz Age. We hope this may prove useful for performers, directors, and technicians alike.


The Score & The Libretto

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A Modernist Version of Handel’s Orchestration

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A Virtual Reality Site for Semele and the Jazz Age

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A Libretto for a Semele Set in 1920s Hollywood

Semele and The Jazz Age

 

Characters & Costumes

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Costume Designs and Character Sketches for a 1920s Semele

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Character Guide to a 1920s Semele


Semele

Dramatis Personae The Score & the Libretto

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A Compact Guide to the Characters in Semele

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The Minor Characters in Handel’s Semele

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Handel versus Congreve

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Handel’s Romantic Harmony

Semele in the Visual Arts

Religion & Myth

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Pagan and Christian Syncretism in the Myth of Semele

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Pride and Hubris Among Mortals and Immortals

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Giulio Romano’s The Birth of Bacchus 

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Images of Characters from the Semele Myth—Antiquity to Modernity

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Gustave Moreau’s Jupiter et Sémélé 

History & Performance History

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The Performance History of Handel’s Semele

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The Historical Context of Congreve’s Semele 


The Jazz Age

New Media & Social Change

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Charlie Chaplin and Class Warfare

 

Flappers & Freedom

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The New American Woman

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Women’s Suffrage

Jazz & Booze

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The Road to Prohibition

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Jazz and Prohibition

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The Lost Generation as the Children of Bacchus