Neoliberalism, Homophobia, and the Long Arm of the 1980s: The Second Production of Harrison Birtwistle's The Mask of Orpheus and its Press Reception.
In May 1986, Harrison Birtwistle's The Mask of Orpheus premiered at the English National Opera. Despite being lauded in the New York Times as 'unquestionably the greatest achievement by a British composer in our time', it would not be staged again for another 33 years. When it finally was, again at...
| Publicado en: | Contemporary Music Review Vol. 44; no. 3; pp. 167 - 188 |
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| Formato: | Arts/Entertainment Review |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
Sep2025
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=193835173&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 193835173 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 07494467 7VR jtl: Contemporary Music Review issn: 07494467 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Sep2025 vid: 44 iid: 3 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 193835173 10.1080/07494467.2025.2605808 ppf: 167 ppct: 21 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 571KB tig: atl: Neoliberalism, Homophobia, and the Long Arm of the 1980s: The Second Production of Harrison Birtwistle's The Mask of Orpheus and its Press Reception. aug: au: Haggett, George K. affil: University of Oxford, Oxford, UK su: Homophobia Opera Liberalism Birtwistle, Harrison, 1934-2022 LGBTQ+ people English National Opera Criticism Composers United Kingdom sug: subj: United Kingdom Homophobia Opera Liberalism Birtwistle, Harrison, 1934-2022 LGBTQ+ people English National Opera Criticism Composers keyword: Birtwistle Contemporary opera homophobia neoliberalism Orpheus queer ab: In May 1986, Harrison Birtwistle's The Mask of Orpheus premiered at the English National Opera. Despite being lauded in the New York Times as 'unquestionably the greatest achievement by a British composer in our time', it would not be staged again for another 33 years. When it finally was, again at the ENO in 2019, Daniel Kramer's production was suffused with queer signification. Deemed too kinky, too violent, too camp, and obscene, it was critically panned. This article presents the two productions of Orpheus in tandem with the seemingly unrelated anti-gay legislative events of 1980s Britain to demystify both Kramer's supposedly radical departure from the 'original' production, and the motivations behind a revealingly reactionary episode in the British opera commentariat's recent activities. As well as asking what political baggage works written during the 1980s might carry in their reception histories, it investigates the wider critical and musical history of the Orpheus myth and its queer significations. This article seeks to provoke a more progressive reading of Kramer's production. By situating Orpheus within the fray of queer British history, it advocates for more politically self-conscious approaches to contemporary opera criticism today. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Arts/Entertainment Review src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Contemporary Music Review is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Contemporary Music Review holder: Taylor & Francis Ltd dt: @attributes: year: 2025 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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