Fénelon’s operatic novel: audiovisual topoi in Télémaque and their representation in opera

Fénelon’s Télémaque underwent numerous operatic adaptations. The present essay aims to explore and explain the novel’s striking afterlife on the lyric stage. By comparing the ‘Calypso’ episode with selected operas on Telemachian and non-Telemachian subjects, it points out the extent to which Fénelon’s novel can be considered operatic by its own nature, in that its narrative provides such a complete ‘scenario’ that its musico-dramatic rendering hardly requires conceptual interventions from the librettist, composer or stage designer. Conversely, it suggests how Fénelon appropriated topoi pertinent to opera of the late 17th century and beyond.

ISBN:9789042038172

Publication year:2014

Keywords:opera, Télémaque, Fénelon