Van Opera tot “Politopera”? Nuwe Strominge in Suid-Afrikaanse Operakomposisie en -Resepsie’

Stolp, Mareli. 2016. ‘Van Opera tot “Politopera”? Nuwe Strominge in Suid-Afrikaanse Operakomposisie en -Resepsie’. Litnet Akademies 13(1), 138-160 

View resource here

Opsomming

Operakomposisie in Suid-Afrika het veral sedert 2010 opvallend toegeneem en dit is opmerklik dat die temas van nuutskeppings in die operagenre toenemend resoneer met onderwerpe en inhoud wat vir Suid-Afrika ter sake is. Die meerderheid van Suid-Afrikaanse operas wat sedert 2010 gekomponeer is, kan gekoppel word aan ’n model wat deur Richard Taruskin (2003) voorgestel is: hierdie werke poog om ter sake te wees ten opsigte van politieke en sosiale aktualiteite in Suid-Afrika vandag – soms deur gebruik te maak van geskiedkundige temas, maar ook deur kommentaar te lewer op die huidige samelewing. Hierdie artikel het ten doel om bondige oorsigte van agt operas wat sedert 2010 gekomponeer is, aan te bied, tesame met ’n kritiese beskouing van sekere aspekte van die werke. Daar word ook besin oor die posisie van opera as kulturele artefak binne die Suid-Afrikaanse konteks. Opera is, per definisie, ’n kunsvorm wat vertelling en musiek kombineer; komponiste soos Bongani Ndodana-Breen reken hierdie kombinasie is tipies van Afrikaïese kultuur, en dat opera dus ’n wesenlike posisie binne Suid-Afrikaanse kulturele produksie kan beklee. Ek stel dit in hierdie artikel dat die moontlikhede nog verder ontgin kan word om opera konseptueel sterker aan kultuurpraktyke eie aan Afrika te verbind.

Trefwoorde: komposisie; opera; resepsie; Suid-Afrika; Suid-Afrikaanse / Afrika-musiek

Abstract

From opera to “politopera”? New developments in South African opera composition and reception

Opera composition in South Africa has been on the increase, especially since 2010. A general observable trend in these compositions is the connection, through dramatic and thematic material, to topics and concerns relevant to the current South African historical moment. In this sense, these works may be connected to a model suggested by Richard Taruskin (2003), who posits that emergent American audiences for opera in the 1980s and 1990s were likely to support opera that had social and political relevance and the capacity to “monumentalise” historical experience. This is offered as a possible explanation for the increase during those decades in opera composition that dealt with topical political concerns (John Adams’s Nixon in China and The death of Klinghoffer, for example) and American history (such as The voyage by Philip Glass, composed to commemorate the quincentenary of Christopher Columbus’s journey to the “New World”).

This article begins with a short overview of opera composition, performance and reception in South Africa, especially in the years preceding the dawn of democracy in 1994. It is noted that in the early years of South Africa’s democracy Western art music generally, and opera specifically, went through a period of anxiety, where criticism of government support for Western cultural practices was commonplace and support for opera and other Western art music forms decreased dramatically.

The article continues to provide overviews and critiques of eight South African operas composed and performed since 2010: Five: 20 – Operas made in South Africa by Bongani Ndodana-Breen (Hani); Martin Watt (Tronkvoël); Peter Klatzow (Words from a broken string); Hendrik Hofmeyr (Saartjie); Peter Louis van Dijk (Out of time); Winnie, the opera by Bongani Ndodana-Breen; The Mandela trilogy by Allan Stephenson, Mike Campbell and Peter Louis van Dijk; and Die poskantoor by Braam du Toit. These works may be connected to Taruskin’s model in that they deal with topics and concerns relevant to contemporary South Africa, depicting the lives of political figures significant to the anti-apartheid struggle, historical figures as well as contemporary South African life.