Tangible and Intangible Heritage

The subject of this study is "female characters in select 19th century operas". The aim of this study is to analyze the era's perspective of the role and the status of women in social life and to contribute to the literature with the approach of gender studies in a specific period of music history with socio-musicological frame via 19th century operas. The scope is limited with one of each example of Puccini and Wagner's operas from the 19th century. To examine the subject, two operas; "Madam Butterfly" from Giacomo Puccini and "The Flying Dutchman" from Richard Wagner are chosen. The Japanese geisha woman "Cio-Cio-San" also known as the Butterfly from Madam Butterfly and "Senta" from The Flying Dutchman are examined. In this paper, the question of how Puccini and Wagner approached female characters in these specific operas is researched. In the course of this research, feminist methodology is utilized. As references; academic dissertations, articles and books are used during the literature search. Among the sources; Cevad Memduh Altar's Opera Tarihi (The History of Opera)'s third volume, on page 36; from the Austrian opera critic Joseph Gregor's citation, the sentence; "In his works, Puccini has convicted …the woman, to suffer, and as a result… Wagner have heralded salvation for the woman… and in both examples, the male who was in most need of spiritual redemption has instead, become an unjust and cruel person…" is used as a starting point for the research of the subject and has helped with setting boundaries. With regards to the mentioned claim, select Puccini and Wagner opera examples are examined within a context based on gender. It is concluded within the findings that both examples of the female characters end up dying; however, while Puccini's Cio-Cio San, chooses death and commits suicide for her honor, Wagner's Senta, commits suicide for the redemption of the male character. In conclusion, even if the theme of death of women shows similarities; it is possible through these examples to indicate that the subject; the independence and the salvation of women, is left open for discussion.

In this work, women jazz musicians in Turkey have been examined within the gender studies context. The purpose of this research, of which its theoretical frame was formed with a socio-musicological approach, via female musicians who are active in jazz music in Turkey, is to research and form a descriptive analysis by asking questions, such as: how gender roles affect women's careers, what steps female musicians have to go through in a sector dominated by men in order to be seen and which roles are attributed to women in jazz. Due to the fact that women jazz musicians who play instruments are a minority, the scope of the subject has been limited to 'women jazz instrumentalists in Turkey', and in-depth interviews were conducted with selected sources within this context. The boundaries of the research topic were determined by the conducted interviews, and utilizing the feminist theory, qualitative research methods were used.
With this research, an effort was made at forming a systematic reference about female jazz musicians, which was previously not found in a thorough academic research before in Turkey. The people selected for the examination of their status in the field of jazz were seen as a starting point for the research of the subject, and following the transcription of their interviews, an attempt was made to determine the causes and conclusions of gender inequalities within jazz music in Turkey. Using the implications and the results gathered during the research, there was an intention to place an emphasis on the recognition of women jazz instrumentalists beyond what's known. In conclusion, in this paper, in order to provide support to studies of musicology with a feminist approach, up to date observations were made with the examination of women jazz instrumentalists in Turkey within the gender context.