Estética, musicología y secularización. El mito del nacimiento de la ópera en la historiografía del último siglo

Abstract

In this article I study the influence of the myth of the birth of opera on musicology, focusing on the monographs on the history of opera in the last century, from Kretzschmar’s founding work (1919) to the present. This myth has served to present the birth of opera from a secular approach, articulated by a history of geniuses, works and styles under the idea of absolute music. This was essential for the very foundation of musicology, when authors such as Abert tried to found a new operatic aesthetics. This was later inherited by the American musicology, starting with Grout’s history, which influenced all historians since then. They repeat a series of topics linked to this myth, such as the idea of the theoretical birth of the genre, the idea of a well-known origin, or the idea of the first operas as experiments. The most obvious consequence of this approach is the marginalization of Rome, which has led to an underestimation of the importance of geopolitics and Catholicism in this period.

Keywords

• opera
• aesthetics
• secularization
• musicology
• founding myth