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The merger of madness, music, and female sexuality on stage began with Ophelia’s mad ballads in Shakespeare’s Hamlet (1609) and remained a critical facet of musical dramas through the early twentieth century. This course will examine musical portrayals of madness in Western Europe across the common practice period, from Ophelia through Richard Strauss’s Salome. We will analyze the precise musical components of each piece that make it “mad,” and we will also evaluate the social perceptions associated with madness in each century.