Opera as Social Showcase: Rituals of “Magic Mirrors” at the Margravial Opera House in Mid-Eighteenth-Century Bayreuth

Court opera, exemplified by the mid-eighteenth-century Margravial Opera House in Bayreuth, functions as a social showcase and ritualistic communication tool. This study reveals how Wilhelmina of Bayreuth and her husband Frederick leveraged opera to establish and reinforce social and political relationships. By analyzing operatic rituals through anthropological frameworks—particularly Victor Turner's concept of 'magic mirrors'—the research demonstrates that court opera was not merely an artistic endeavor but a deliberate institution designed to reflect and shape societal dynamics, power structures, and cultural identities.

Kotnik, V. (2016). Opera as Social Showcase: Rituals of “Magic Mirrors” at the Margravial Opera House in Mid-Eighteenth-Century Bayreuth. Etnoantropološki Problemi / Issues in Ethnology and Anthropology, 11(1), 19–45. https://doi.org/10.21301/eap.v11i1.1