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True Loves, Dark Nights: Queer Performativity and Grieving Through Music in the Work of Rufus Wainwright

Salerno, Stephanie
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1476645017261653

Abstract Details

2016, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, American Culture Studies.
This dissertation studies the cultural significance of Canadian-American singer/songwriter Rufus Wainwright’s (b. 1973) album All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu (Decca, 2010). Lulu was written, recorded, and toured in the years surrounding the illness and eventual death of his mother, beloved Quebecoise singer/songwriter Kate McGarrigle. The album, performed as a classical song cycle, stands out amongst Wainwright’s musical catalogue as a hybrid composition that mixes classical and popular musical forms and styles. More than merely a collection of songs about death, loss, and personal suffering, Lulu is a vehicle that enabled him to grieve through music. I argue that Wainwright’s performativity, as well as the music itself, can be understood as queer, or as that which transgresses traditional or expected boundaries. In this sense, Wainwright’s artistic identity and musical trajectory resemble a rhizome, extending in multiple directions and continually expanding to create new paths and outcomes. Instances of queerness reveal themselves in the genre hybridity of the Lulu song cycle, the emotional vulnerability of Wainwright’s vocal performance, the deconstruction of gender norms in live performance, and the circulation of affect within the performance space. In this study, I examine the song cycle form, Wainwright’s musical score and vocal performance, live performance videos, and fan reactions to live performances in order to identify meaningful moments where Wainwright’s musical and performative decisions queer audience expectations. While these musical moments contribute to the already rich and varied lineage of the gay male artist in both classical and popular music, I argue that Wainwright’s queer performativity and nontraditional musical choices speak to larger issues important to American culture in the contemporary moment. These issues include the visibility of male public mourning and the healing power of artistic expression in the face of traumatic loss.
Jeremy Wallach, PhD (Advisor)
Kimberly Coates, PhD (Committee Member)
Katherine Meizel, PhD (Committee Member)
Christian Coons, PhD (Other)
235 p.
American Studies; Gender; Gender Studies; Glbt Studies; Music; Performing Arts
Affect; Classical Art Song; Concept Album; Death; Emotion; Fan Studies; Genre; Grief; Kate McGarrigle; LGBT; Live Performance; Performativity; Popular Music; Public Mourning; Queer; Rhizome; Rufus Wainwright; Song Cycle; Textual Analysis; Trauma; Vocality

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Salerno, S. (2016). True Loves, Dark Nights: Queer Performativity and Grieving Through Music in the Work of Rufus Wainwright [Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1476645017261653

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Salerno, Stephanie. True Loves, Dark Nights: Queer Performativity and Grieving Through Music in the Work of Rufus Wainwright. 2016. Bowling Green State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1476645017261653.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Salerno, Stephanie. "True Loves, Dark Nights: Queer Performativity and Grieving Through Music in the Work of Rufus Wainwright." Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1476645017261653

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.