POLITICS OF EQUALITY IN FINNISH OPERA

POLITICS OF EQUALITY IN FINNISH OPERA (2017–2023)

Academy of Finland research project (Academy of Finland Research Fellow, 5 + 1 years)

Liisamaija Hautsalo

Peer-reviewed articles related to the project

Several articles related to the project will be published during 2024.

Hautsalo, Liisamaija & Heidi Westerlund (2023). The Politics of memory and place-making in local opera: The case of the Kymi River Opera. Svensk tidskrift för musikforskning/Swedish Journal of Music Research. Vol. 105. Pp. 23–40. https://publicera.kb.se/stm-sjm/article/view/14149/15376

Hautsalo, Liisamaija. (2021). Lastenoopperaa, koululaisoopperaa ja lasten tekemää oopperaa: Suomen Kansallisoopperan lapsille suunnatun ohjelmiston kulttuuripolitiikka, 40 (4), Synteesi, 7–26.

Hautsalo, Liisamaija. (2021). Expanding professionalism in and through Finnish local opera [2021]. In Helena Gaunt & Heidi Westerlund (eds.): Expanding Professionalism in Music and Higher Music Education. A Changing Game. Routledge. Pp. 1–15.

Hautsalo, Liisamaija & Heidi Westerlund (2021). The ‘operatic of opera’ in music history pedagogy – Exploring the temporal narrativization of opera. NRME Journal (Nordic Research in Music Education, previously NNMPF Yearbook), vol. 2. Pp. 1–18.

Hautsalo, Liisamaija (2020). Yhteiskuntakritiikki ja ympäristösuhde Kalevi Ahon Hyönteiselämää-oopperassa. In Juha Torvinen and Susanna Välimäki (eds.): Musiikki ja luonto. Soiva kulttuuri ympäristökriisin aikakaudella. Turku: Utukirjat. 115–138.

Hautsalo, Liisamaija (2018). Mitä paikallisoopperalla voi tehdä? Pentti Tynkkysen suullinen historia sosiaalisesti vastuullisen muusikkouden ilmentäjänä.  Musiikki  2/2018 (Musiikki ja tasa-arvo -teemanumero): 26–54.

Conference presentations

Individual paper:

From National Opera to Vernacularised Opera: The Finnish case. 5th Transnational Opera Studies Conference. Colégio Almada Negreiros, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, July 6-8, 2023.

Paper in a study session:

“Local Opera” Practices in Finland. Paper in "The Operatic Canon as Cultural Heritage: Transformations and Fragmentations of a Global Repertoire" Study Session. Session Organizer/Chair professor Gesa ZUR NIEDEN, University of Greifswald). 21st Quinquennial Congress of the International Musicological Society (IMS2022) August 22–26, 2022 Athens, Greece.

Popular lectures and speeches

Presentations connected to Politics of Equality in Finnish Opera project

”Kansallisoopperasta paikallisoopperaan: nationalisaatio ja vernakularisaatio suomalaisen oopperabuumin rakentajina”. Esitelmä Kansanoopperaseminaarissa. Elimäen puukoulu, Elimäki. August 3, 2019.

Presentation: Jouni Sjöblomin Aleksanteri II:n aikaan -kansanoopperan ensi-illan yhteydessä pidetty esitelmä Kansallistamisesta kansanomaistamiseen. Kansanoopperaseminaari, Mustilan puukoulu, Elimäki, 3.8.2019.

Presentation: ‘Vernacularization of Opera? – A Finnish Case’. Music department, Ludwig Maximillian Universität, München, Germany, June 5, 2018.

Presentation: Oskar Merikannon Pohjan neiti suomalaisten oopperakäytäntöjen rakentajana.

Historiafoorumin ja DocMusin ooppera-aiheinen luentosarja. Helsinki, 14.3.2018. <https://www.musiikkitalo.fi/fi/tapahtuma/oopperaluento-ii-liisamaija-hautsalo>.

Podcasts and radio programmes connected to Politics of Equality in Finnish Opera project

Oopperan elitistisyys – totta vai tarua? Klasari2080. Radio Helsinki. Toimittaja Anne Teikari. October 24,

2019. <https://www.radiohelsinki.fi/ohjelma/klasari2080/?fbclid=IwAR2R8ktHa8wnADwVTnFIqmEx1oLs700uE1Q-_BU4u_qE_ShdtQ-uI2FR-8>. [20:00 min->]

Projektin suomenkielinen abstrakti

Suomessa sävelletään oopperaa kansainvälisesti ajatellen paljon. Tässä tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan suomalaista oopperaa suomalaisen yhteiskunnan perusarvon, tasa-arvon, näkökulmasta. Musiikkitieteen lisäksi poliittista historiaa, sosiologiaa, antropologiaa ja kasvatustiedettä hyödyntävä tutkimus lähtee oletuksesta, että suomalaisen oopperan elinvoimaisuuden taustalla on kaksi poliittis-historiallista tekijää: 1800-luvun jälkipuoliskolla syntynyt fennomaaninen sivistyskäsitys ja 1960-luvulla suomalaisessa hyvinvointivaltiossa 1960-luvulta alkaen harjoitettu kulttuuripolitiikka. Tutkimus olettaa, että oopperan tasa-arvoistuminen on erityisesti suomalainen ilmiö ja että pyrkimys tasa-arvoon näkyy esimerkiksi oopperan teemoissa ja aiheissa, henkilöhahmoissa, esityspaikoissa, säveltämisessä, yleisön rakenteessa, laulutyylissä sekä rahoituksessa. Tutkimus osoittaa, että suomalaisen oopperan elinvoimaisuus Suomessa perustuu sen tasa-arvoa tuottaviin käytäntöihin.

Abstract (popular)

On as international scale, Finnish opera is extremely prolific. This research project explores Finnish opera in the context of the core value of Finnish society, equality. Drawing on political history, sociology, anthropology, art research and opera studies, this study suggests that the vigour of Finnish opera is based on two factors: the Finnish version of European nationalism since 1870s, and the cultural politics of the Finnish welfare society. The central assumption of this study is that the principle of equality associates with opera is unique to Finland and impacts for instance in dramatis personae, topics, sites and geographic location(s), audiences, composer, singing style, and funding. This study suggests that in Finland practices of equality and through expanding the very concept of ‘opera’ the art form is socially and culturally legitimized as contrast to the European classic-romantic tradition. In Finland, opera is more than simply a form of high culture for the elite.

Abstract (scientific)

This research project explores Finnish opera in the context of the core value of Finnish society, equality. Currently, opera has largely been understood as an elitist and marginal art form, and during the 20th century it has, indeed, been declared dead several times. This view of opera is not, however, an accurate picture of opera in Finland where opera is indeed neither dead nor a fading cultural phenomenon. On the contrary, a notable number of contemporary first performances of Finnish opera has been commissioned, composed, and premiered at the turn of the millennium and after, peaking in 2011 with 23 first performances – thus continuing the Finnish opera boom that started in the 1970s. Importantly, almost all new operas deal with current, critical socio-political issues.

This interdisciplinary study, located in the field of new opera studies, investigates the entirety of Finnish operatic practice from the year 1852, when the first opera in Finland was composed, until today, however, placing emphasis on the last four decades. The project draws not only from the field of musicology, but also from history studies, social studies, anthropology, philosophy, cultural studies and research on the arts as well as educational studies. The main methodological approach of the study is conceptual and will be explored through three key concepts: vernacularization (Appadurai 1996) which refers to process of decolonizing, indigenised and vernacularized cultural phenomena; Zeitoper referring originally to operatic style in 1920–30s Germany dealing with contemporary socio-political issues; and equality which is an overall interpretative lens through which Finnish operatic practice will be investigated. The overall objective is to understand and demonstrate how Finnish operatic practice produces equality in terms of Rancière’s (2004) aesthetic regime. This study argues that equality is produced at least in eight areas or levels of Finnish opera: 1) Dramatis personae – giving voice to people in the margins; 2) Activism and political topics and subject matters; 3) Unusual sites and geographically spread locations; 4) Child audiences, child artists, disabled child artists; 5) Community art form – blurring the boundaries of professionals and amateurs; 6) Multiple manifestations of the composer; 7) Non-operatic singing and hybrid styles; and 8) Value-basis: Local and national policy and funding. It is also argued that practices of equality and through expanding the very concept of ‘opera’ the art form is socially and culturally legitimized as contrast to the European classic-romantic tradition.

POLITICS OF EQUALITY IN FINNISH OPERA (2017–2023)

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Conference presentations

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Podcasts and radio programmes connected to Politics of Equality in Finnish Opera project

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