Zhang Y. The theme of "eternal femininity" in European opera: to the problem of gender approach in art history

The study reveals the significance of the gender theme and the phenomenon of "eternal femininity" for opera, determines their conceptual place in modern operative discourse. The originality of the embodiment of the gender theme in opera, the significance of the phenomenon and the concept of "eternal-feminine" in the evolution of the opera genre is revealed. Coverage of the modern art discourse of gender issues allows to update the musicological approaches to the genre nature and the main figurative guidelines of the opera. Aesthetic and art prerequisites for the interpretation of the "female theme" and the idea of "eternal-feminine" in music are revealed, the leading ways and means of conceptualizing the female theme and female images in European opera are covered, including the creation of a specific musical conceptual sphere of "eternal femininity". The typological tendencies of opera characterology and their interdependence with the semantics of opera female images are determined, the gender peculiarities of the conceptualization of beauty, love and destiny in the opera form are clarified. It turns out that the theme of love and the feminine theme – the theme of "eternal femininity" – form a single and inviolable semantic basis. Musicological criteria for the study of female images in opera as a complex conceptual phenomenon allow us to add to the conceptosphere of "eternal-feminine" destiny and beauty. The development of the musical-textological aspect of studying the theme of "eternal femininity" allows to deepen the idea of melodic-thematic thesaurus of female images in opera, to prove the importance of operatic musical-linguistic representation of the idea of "eternal-feminine".