English Subjectivities and Sound Personalities: Musical Narrative in Remigio Acevedo's Opera Caupolicán

Abstract

This article analyzes the construction of subjectivities and sonic personalities in the opera Caupolicán (1902) by Chilean composer Remigio Acevedo. Through an examination of the libretto and its musicalization, it explores how the work configures different narrative figures and contrasting psychological profiles that transcend mere historical representation to articulate a framework of sonic identities. The analysis reveals how Acevedo uses specific musical resources—such as rhythmic oppositions, differentiated choral textures and contrasting harmonic treatments—to build distinctive sound profiles that define the characters, both individual and collective. The musical characterization of the indigenous hero, the female figures (Fresia and Tegualda) and the opposition between the Mapuche and Spanish choirs as manifestations of subjectivities in tension are particularly studied. This approach allows understanding the opera not only as an artifact of national construction, but as a space for negotiation and configuration of multiple identities that reflect the ambivalences and contradictions of the Chilean national project of the early 20th century.