Andrew Mosely
Music Postgraduate Research Student
PhD Project Title: The Representation of Gender in Surrealistic Operas of the 1920s to 1940s
Supervisors: Ian Biddle and Bennett Hogg
About Andrew: Andrew is a retired business executive who has been pursuing his passion for opera academically for over 10 years, having graduated from Rose Bruford in 2020 with a BA Opera Studies. His PhD research focuses on the intersection of Opera, Surrealism and Gender.
PhD Project Description:
My overall research question is “How does opera question, intervene in and help to reshape debates on
gender in the first half of the 20th century?” The period 1900 – 1950 was a time when gender roles in society were undergoing change and sexual morality based on religious doctrine was being actively challenged. The historical avant-garde movements, including Dada, Surrealism and Neue Sachlichkeit, working alongside and sometimes integrating relatively new theories of psychoanalysis such as those propounded by Freud provided a rich vein of psychological material to be explored in operas, allowing scope for its music to highlight emotional nuances and dissect moods.
My research is focused on six areas:
- How opera responded to surrealist notions concerning transgressive sexual love and desire in order to subvert conventional bourgeois attitudes
- How the fundamental ideas of Surrealism derived from male, patriarchal perspectives on heterosexual love are manifested in opera
- How the dominant sexist, misogynistic and anti-feminist discourse of the early twentieth century is reflected or challenged
- How opera reflects the often radical and unsettling thinking on sexually motivated coercion and violence reflected within Surrealism and related contemporary avant-garde movements
- How masculinity is represented in opera
- How traditional gender roles are upheld or challenged
Personal Interests: Outside of his PhD research, Andrew is Chair of Longborough Festival Opera (lfo.org.uk) which presents world class opera to international audiences in a 500-seat theatre in the Cotswolds that started life as a chicken shed. He is also a trustee of The Cosman Keller Art and Music Trust (cosmankellertrust.org).
