Phantoms of italian opera-cultural memory in italian and (west) german films

Roger Hillman

doi:10.4324/9781315298450-4

Phantoms of italian opera-cultural memory in italian and (west) german films

Roger Hillman^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review

Abstract

Just as music in film crosses media borders, music as an art form has always transcended national borders. This comparative study of cultural memory and national identity examines Italian and (West) German films from the second half of the twentieth century. Common to these films is the presence on the soundtrack of Italian opera, especially Giuseppe Verdi. Analyses of Bernardo Bertolucci’s La luna (1979, The moon), Werner Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo (1981), and Alexander Kluge’s Die Macht der Gefühle (1983, The power of emotion) provide a contemporary perspective on Verdi’s reception history as embodied in these films. In foregrounding the artifice of opera, they ironize any unquestioning celebration of Verdi as the politically resonant voice of Italy. What emerges is the operation of an iridescent cultural memory within an opera and film nexus.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Music, Collective Memory, Trauma, and Nostalgia in European Cinema after the Second World War
Publisher	Taylor and Francis
Pages	70-85
Number of pages	16
ISBN (Electronic)	9781315298443
ISBN (Print)	9781138238015
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315298450-4
Publication status	Published - 1 Jan 2019

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Phantoms of italian opera-cultural memory in italian and (west) german films

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