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
A Modernist Version of Handel’s Orchestration
A Virtual Reality Site for Semele and the Jazz Age
A Libretto for a Semele Set in 1920s Hollywood
Semele and The Jazz Age
Characters & Costumes
Costume Designs and Character Sketches for a 1920s Semele
Character Guide to a 1920s Semele
Semele
Dramatis Personae The Score & the Libretto
A Compact Guide to the Characters in Semele
The Minor Characters in Handel’s Semele
Handel versus Congreve
Handel’s Romantic Harmony
Semele in the Visual Arts
Religion & Myth
Pagan and Christian Syncretism in the Myth of Semele
Pride and Hubris Among Mortals and Immortals
Giulio Romano’s The Birth of Bacchus
Images of Characters from the Semele Myth—Antiquity to Modernity
Gustave Moreau’s Jupiter et Sémélé
History & Performance History
The Performance History of Handel’s Semele
The Historical Context of Congreve’s Semele
The Jazz Age
New Media & Social Change
Charlie Chaplin and Class Warfare
Flappers & Freedom
The New American Woman
Women’s Suffrage
Jazz & Booze
The Road to Prohibition
Jazz and Prohibition
The Lost Generation as the Children of Bacchus