Opera and the Politics of Tragedy

KATHARINA CLAUSIUS is Assistant Professor in the Department of Literature and World Languages, Université de Montréal, Canada.

• Exhibition ListPatrons of the MuseumGuidebook A Mozartean MuseumThe Death of TragedyExhibiting Enlightenment Dramma per musicaMap of the Exhibits Entrance Hall Arts, Letters, and MusicModern Antiquarian Spaces"La Poésie" and its SystemsArts and LettersThe Lyrical Impulse Exhibit A The Poet's Prose: MitridateRoom 1 Literary Adventures in TélémacomaniaTreasonous PopularitySensual LyricismTragic Prose on TrialOpera as Mediator Room 2 Mitridate's Operatic PoetryAllegorical MithridatesPolitical MithridatesOperatic MithridatesTransformative Farnace Exhibit B Paintings Unseen: IdomeneoRoom 3 Imagi(ni)ng the Prose EpicEpic ValuesPainting TélémaqueMyths Invisible and UnheardEpic Opera Room 4 Idomeneo's Operatic CanvasThe Operatic Stage as CanvasThe Composition of an OperaPortrait of a KingSupernatural Angles Exit Regrets on PartingDecorative LuxuryProse PaintingDeclassification Bookshop

A finely crafted interdisciplinary study, that throws light on the intellectual atmosphere of eighteenth century France by investigating the pervasive influence of François Fénelon's novel Télémaque (1699) on literature, the visual arts, and opera, pertinently for this book on the librettos of Mitridate and Idomeneo. The author's extensive exploration of Telemacomania, largely unknown in opera studies, goes far in elucidating aspects of both Mozart operas, particularly Idomeneo.