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Muses: Women Composer-Performers - Salome Unveiled with Kate Bolton-Porciatti

Muses: Women Composer-Performers - Salome Unveiled with Kate Bolton-Porciatti


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Can't make this time? A video recording will be sent to all participants after the seminar.

the second of a quartet of seminars celebrating the role of women in music and dance from Antiquity to the 18th century

From the lyric poet, Sappho, and the hetairai of Greek Antiquity, women through ancient history have written and performed music and poetry, often in defiance of convention. Women performers have been seen in a variety of ways: as divine muses or dangerous seductresses who, like the Sirens, could lure men to an ill-fated end. Many women musicians were also poets and artists whose poetry and self-portraits shed light on their musical talents.

Salome Unveiled
At once archetypal seductress and innocent maiden, Salome has inspired an unparalleled outpouring of music, art and literature over the last two millennia. The Biblical figure who danced at the banquet of King Herod achieved notoriety in the 19th century with Oscar Wilde's play, erotically illustrated by Aubrey Beardsley, and Richard Strauss's lusciously-scored 'Dance of the Seven Veils' - the classiest strip-tease ever performed. This seminar traces the story of the young, nameless girl (later called Salome) who inflamed the passions of Herod and whose dance indirectly led to the beheading of John the Baptist. Since then, for well over a millennium in the Christian world, dancing women were seen as dangerous temptresses and Salome was often depicted as a serpent-like figure cavorting her way to hell. Gradually, as the benefits of dance began to be recognized in the Renaissance courts (since it promoted grace and elegant comportment), Salome's story was rewritten. Artists subsequently portray her as a devout, innocent young woman associated with one of the most revered relics of Roman Catholic devotion: the head of John the Baptist. 

Led by an expert on music and cultural history, Kate Bolton-Porciatti, this Conversation unveils the figure of Salome through the art and music she has inspired, including works by Giotto, Filippo Lippi, Donatello, Artemisia Gentileschi, Titian and others. Designed to inform curiosity as well as future travels, participants will come away with an increased understanding of the power of dancing women to inspire and to shock. 

Kate Bolton-Porciatti is a professor of Italian cultural history and music at the Istituto Lorenzo de'Medici in Florence, where she teaches BA and MA courses in the humanities. She also lectures at the British Institute, Florence, and at the Chigiana Music Academy in Siena. Kate has published extensively as an academic and a journalist; she is a music critic for BBC Music and a travel writer for The Daily Telegraph, UK. Before moving to Italy permanently in 2005, she was a senior producer and broadcaster for BBC Arts & Classical Music in London and has won prestigious Jerusalem and Sony Awards for her programs. She did her M.Phil. thesis in Italy, exploring the musical culture of early Renaissance Florence.

This conversation is suitable for all ages.

90 minutes, including a 30 minute Q&A.

Customer Reviews

Based on 2 reviews
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Barb MacDonald (Victoria, CA)

Both the first and second seminars in this series are outstanding. With Salome, it is fascinating to see how writers, religious scholars, artists and others have created their own interpretations of this legendary story. Very well researched and presented. Highly recommended.

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A. (Paris, FR)

Excellent talk; research done for the talk is outstanding as are the images used and the presentation. As usual, KBP's series is not to be missed. Thank you.

Customer Reviews

Based on 2 reviews
100%
(2)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
B
Barb MacDonald (Victoria, CA)

Both the first and second seminars in this series are outstanding. With Salome, it is fascinating to see how writers, religious scholars, artists and others have created their own interpretations of this legendary story. Very well researched and presented. Highly recommended.

A
A. (Paris, FR)

Excellent talk; research done for the talk is outstanding as are the images used and the presentation. As usual, KBP's series is not to be missed. Thank you.