Gender-Based Violence in Music

Analysis of Three Scenes from the Opera Alma by Claudio Santoro

Abstract

This article is situated within the field of musicology, in dialogue with gender studies and the performing arts, investigating the representation of violence against women in opera. The study aims to analyze how gender-based violence is constructed and intensified through musical resources in the opera Alma by Claudio Santoro, highlighting the role of music in shaping the dramatic and sensory experience of violence. The research combines musical analysis and critical interpretation, based on the selection of three excerpts from the work in which the protagonist is subjected to different forms of violence. The analysis focuses on parameters such as harmony, rhythm, texture, dynamics, orchestration, and motivic development, considered in relation to the dramatic action. The results demonstrate that violence extends beyond the narrative level, becoming inscribed in the very sonic materiality of the work. In this context, music acts as an active agent in the production of meaning, revealing physical, psychological, and symbolic dimensions of violence.