Conference Agenda
The Online Program of events for the 2026 AMS Annual Meeting appears below. This program is subject to change. The final program will be published in early November.
Use the "Filter by Track or Type of Session" or "Filter by Session Topic" dropdown to limit results by type. Some of the sessions are also color-coded: purple indicates performances, grey indicates paper forums, and orange indicates sessions which have been organized by one of the regional associations of IMS (ARLAC or IMSEA). (Sessions which are both IMS sessions and performances are only colored orange.)
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Please note that all times are shown in the time zone of the conference. The current conference time is: 1st Sept 2026, 02:58:02am EDT
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Daily Overview |
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French Opera From the Reign of Terror to 20th-Century Nostalgia Session Chair: Mark Everist | |
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Reviving Rameau: The (Un)Controversial Nostalgia of the Paris Opéra's 1952 Les Indes galantes University of Arizona The glittering 1952 revival of Rameau's Les Indes galantes was widely regarded as one of the triumphs of French Fourth Republic opera. The press celebrated the production as evidence that, although a devastating war had damaged France’s economy, its artistic superiority remained intact. These cultural claims took on greater urgency as American influence in France increased, the Cold War intensified, and France struggled to maintain its colonies and global status. This revival, like much of French Fourth Republic opera, has received little scholarly attention, and its narrative of success remains unexamined. This presentation, however, reveals how remarkable its uncontroversial reception was and argues that the production was carefully framed to suit the current cultural-political context. Recent premieres at the Opéra had been the subject of substantial debates. The uproar over Milhaud’s 1950 Bolivar had been so contentious that journalists dubbed it a querelle. Bolivar had come under fire in part because of the colonial context of its plot, which focused on the liberation of South American colonies. Yet, Les Indes galantes, a production set almost entirely in exotic locales with colonial connotations, received no comparable debate—positive or negative—in the press. Drawing on materials from the Opéra archives and contemporary press, this presentation argues that Les Indes galantes enacted a soothing and sumptuous display of ‘colonial culture’ deeply familiar to French audiences that eclipsed its potential for controversy. For example, while changes to the score were deeply debated, the decision to relocate the fourth entrée of the opéra-ballet from a North American forest to a highly exoticized tropical coastal jungle went unchallenged. Maurice Lehmann, head administrator at the Opéra, seems to have mastered the grand opera tactic of using luxury and spectacle to contain potentially volatile subjects. Les Indes galantes evoked nostalgia for a time of French greatness. Instead of turmoil and controversy, it offered a fantasy of prosperity and splendor in which France remained the center of the artistic world. | |