On the Brink of Insanity: Portrayals of Women as Crazy, Mad, and Unhinged

Dramatic musical works often contain scenes of overwhelming emotion in which male characters are frequently portrayed as being consumed by power. When women are overcome with emotion, however, male composers often attribute madness or craziness to them. Burning River Baroque will present a selection of works by George Frideric Handel, John Eccles, and Henry Purcell where women’s passions and emotional expressions render them as unhinged in the eyes of their creators. In a new move for the ensemble, the program will feature an original work by Malina Rauschenfels using texts from the Salem witch trial of Bridget Bishop. This fusion of new and old works will shed light on how the ways we describe those who are different from us can have very real and long-lasting effects on the community at large.