Just Say the Words”: An Operatic Rendering of Winnie

It has been noted by the creators, performers and commentators on Winnie: The Opera, that Winnie Madikizela-Mandela is a good subject for operatic treatment. The most basic commercial logic explains the pairing a contentious public figure with what Lindenberger called the ‘extravagant art’. I propose that deeper roots support the suitability of Madikizela-Mandela to operatic treatment, and that these roots draw on the specific signifying capacities of opera as a genre. These capacities are best expressed through the uniquely operatic vehicle of the aria, and in this article the operatic rendering of Winnie is examined in relation to the aria as a conceptual unit. Furthermore, that this rendering nuances the story of Winnie in particular ways, suggesting a reversal of the opening comment: that opera as a medium offers an interesting perspective through which to consider Winnie Madikizela-Mandela as an historical figure. My primary argument is that Winnie Madikizela-Mandela makes such a good opera subject because of a combination of individual qualities that compel interest in what has been called the novelistic mould, and themes more usually encountered in representations of classical epic heroes. For particular reasons explored below, the operatic form is able to express these usually incommensurate renderings. Beyond the individual subject of Madikizela-Mandela herself, the strength of the generic capacity of opera and the growing body of South African operas speak to the potential for opera as a contemporary story-telling form in 21^st-century South Africa.