OVERVIEW

The course tackles a musical phenomenon with drama-performance implications at a Master’s level: from opera to the different forms of musical theatre to drama-musical genres bereft of a stage (such as oratorios or passions). The focus therefore is on the meeting point between music and theatre, examining how the different languages (verbal, musical, performative) interact reciprocally giving place to an aesthetic object of value.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to develop awareness of the central questions of musical theatre in its historical development in the modern and contemporary period, giving students the necessary theoretical instruments for a critical evaluation of the interaction between music and theatre in the broader sense of the term.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims at developing – at the level of knowledge – the awareness of the central questions of musical theatre in its historical development in modern and contemporary age, giving students – at the level of abilities - the necessary theoretical instruments for a critical evaluation of the interaction between music and theatre in the broader sense of the term.

6 CFU

At the end of the course students will be able to competently understand the musical theatre phenomena studied in class, remember and aknowledge the contribution of different components that compose the aesthetic object of extreme complexity; he/she will have the tools in order to analyze such complexity and will be able to apply this knowledge in the critical evaluation, also in creative terms, of the meaning that each component brings to the overall dialectic. 

9 CFU

The above mentioned learning outcomes will be achieved on a deeper level of awareness, both in the extent of the context the phenomena discussed are inscribed and in the more detailed analysis of the musico-dramatical questions implied.

PREREQUISITES

Basic knowledge of history of music and theatre in Europe, 17th to 20th centuries.

TEACHING METHODS

Lectures with systematic use of audiovisual support: CD, DVD, web.

Due to the pandemic, the course will be held online on Teams. The code to access the team will be published in the course AulaWeb before the course begins.  

Students are warmly invited to attend classes, because of the listening and watching experiences the course offers.

Students are warmly invited to enroll to Aulaweb, where study materials are going to be uploaded.

The teacher is available to discuss the preparation for students willing to study in a language other than Italian.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The Joy of Song under the shade of Mount Vesuvius: Opera in 18th-century Naples

18th-century Naples - first Spanish, then Austrian, and finally Bourbon – was a breeding ground of European musical theatre. Exposed by the philosophes as the natural home of music, proclaimed in 1739 by Charles de Brosses «la capitale du monde musicien», during the whole 18th century the city of Partenope enjoyed undisputed international prestige. This was based on the wealth and variety of vast private and public, religious and social musical activity fed by excellent training institutions such as the four Conservatoires and the continuous renewal of generations of composers and musicians who, with their sought-after title of “maestro di cappella napoletano”, colonised Europe from Lisbon to Saint Petersburg. In a similar context musical theatre encountered an exceptional flourishing both in relation to the excellent aesthetics and the wealth of permanent experimentation that led to production that had a decisive influence on a continental scale in an impressive variety of genres. The course will explore in its main part (6 CFU) the main genre, “dramma per musica”, and its comical counterpart, “intermezzi”, that is to say the main offer on Neapolitan stages for a whole century. Such a journey will allow to discuss questions related to the main subjects (composers, librettists, singers) of such a thriving operatic life and to specifically follow the birth and development of Metastasian opera. In its full format (9 CFU), the course will broaden its scope to consider the genre of serenata, the theoretical debate around opera, and comic theatre in its different forms, both “commedia musicale” and “dramma giocoso”.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Required Readings - Part 1 only (6 CFU).

1. L. Mattei, La scena napoletana e il contesto europeo: l’opera seria, in Storia della musica e dello spettacolo a Napoli. Il Settecento, I, a cura di Francesco Cotticelli e Paologiovanni Maione, Napoli, Turchini Edizioni, 2009, pp. 75-138.
2. R. Mellace, Teoria e prassi del melodramma, ivi, pp. 413-454: 413-442.
3. R. Mellace, Domenico Sarro: un profilo critico-documentario, in «Studi musicali», n.s., XI, 2, 2020, pp. 33-67
4. R. Mellace, Felicità sonore: le passioni musicali di Metastasio nello specchio dell’epistolario, in Incroci europei nell’epistolario di Metastasio, a cura di Luca Beltrami, Matteo Navone e Duccio Tongiorgi, Milano, LED, 2020, pp. 53-70.
5. R. Mellace, Demofoonte all’ombra del Vesuvio (1735-1775), in Demofoonte come soggetto per il dramma per musica: Johann Adolf Hasse ed altri compositori del Settecento, a cura di Milada Jonášová e Tomislav Volek, Praga, Academia («L’opera italiana nei territori boemi durante il Settecento» 5), 2020, pp. 143-165.
6. R. Mellace, Gli intermezzi di Pergolesi e di Hasse: due produzioni a confronto, in «Studi pergolesiani» 5, a cura di C. Fertonani e C. Toscani, 2006, pp. 187-210.
7. Libretto and recording (CD, DVD, web) of the following operas:

• Sarro, Didone abbandonata or Achille in Sciro
• Vinci, Artaserse
• Hasse, Demofoonte oppure Artaserse
• Jommelli, Demofoonte

       8. Libretto and recording (CD, DVD, web) of the following intermezzi (one only for each composer):

• Sarro: Eurilla e Beltramme, Dorina e Nibbio (L’impresario delle Isole Canarie), Moschetta e Grullo, La furba e lo sciocco
• Vinci: L’ammalato immaginario (Errighetta e Don Chilone)
• Hasse: Larinda e Vanesio (L’artigiano gentiluomo), Carlotta e Pantaleone (La finta tedesca), Merlina e Galoppo (La fantesca), Dorilla e Balanzone (La serva scaltra)
• Pergolesi: La serva padrona, Larinda e Vanesio

N.B.: n. 1-6 will be uploaded, after lessons have started, in the course's Aulaweb. 

Instructions are going to be given in class on how to find librettos and recording concerning n. 7-8.

Required Readings - Part 1+2 (9 CFU)

1. L. Mattei, La scena napoletana e il contesto europeo: l’opera seria, in Storia della musica e dello spettacolo a Napoli. Il Settecento, I, a cura di Francesco Cotticelli e Paologiovanni Maione, Napoli, Turchini Edizioni, 2009, pp. 75-138.
2. R. Mellace, Teoria e prassi del melodramma, ivi, pp. 413-454: 413-442.
3. R. Mellace, Domenico Sarro: un profilo critico-documentario, in «Studi musicali», n.s., XI, 2, 2020, pp. 33-67
4. R. Mellace, Felicità sonore: le passioni musicali di Metastasio nello specchio dell’epistolario, in Incroci europei nell’epistolario di Metastasio, a cura di Luca Beltrami, Matteo Navone e Duccio Tongiorgi, Milano, LED, 2020, pp. 53-70.
5. R. Mellace, Demofoonte all’ombra del Vesuvio (1735-1775), in Demofoonte come soggetto per il dramma per musica: Johann Adolf Hasse ed altri compositori del Settecento, a cura di Milada Jonášová e Tomislav Volek, Praga, Academia («L’opera italiana nei territori boemi durante il Settecento» 5), 2020, pp. 143-165.
6. R. Mellace, Gli intermezzi di Pergolesi e di Hasse: due produzioni a confronto, in «Studi pergolesiani» 5, a cura di C. Fertonani e C. Toscani, 2006, pp. 187-210.
7. R. Mellace, La gioia del canto alle falde del Vesuvio, note a Johann Adolf Hasse, Enea in Caonia, S. Montanari, Enea Barock Orchestra, CD CPO, 555334-2, 2020, pp. 30-34.
8. R. Mellace, Antonio Planelli, un intellettuale illuminista nella Napoli di Ferdinando IV, in «Rivista Storica Italiana», CXXXII, 2020, 1, pp. 6-25.7.
9. G. Staffieri, L’opera italiana. Dalle origini alle riforme del secolo dei Lumi (1590-1790), Roma, Carocci, 2014, pp. 298-312, 321-339
10. Libretto and recording (CD, DVD, web) of the following operas:

• Sarro, Didone abbandonata
• Vinci, Artaserse
• Hasse, Demofoonte or Artaserse
• Jommelli, Demofoonte

​      11. Libretto and recording (CD, DVD, web) of the following intermezzi (one only for each composer):

• Sarro: Eurilla e Beltramme, Dorina e Nibbio (L’impresario delle Isole Canarie), Moschetta e Grullo, La furba e lo sciocco
• Vinci: L’ammalato immaginario (Errighetta e Don Chilone)
• Hasse: Larinda e Vanesio (L’artigiano gentiluomo), Carlotta e Pantaleone (La finta tedesca), Merlina e Galoppo (La fantesca), Dorilla e Balanzone (La serva scaltra)
• Pergolesi: La serva padrona, Larinda e Vanesio

      12. Libretto and recording (CD, web) of Hasse's Enea in Caonia 

      13. Libretto and recording (CD, DVD, web) of Pergolesi's Lo frate ‘nnamorato 

      14. Libretto and recording (CD, DVD, web) of Piccinni's La buona figliuola

N.B.: n. 1-9 will be uploaded, after lessons have started, in the course's Aulaweb. 

Instructions are going to be given in class on how to find librettos and recording concerning n. 10-14.

Enrolling in the course's Aulaweb is warmly recommended. 

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

RAFFAELE MELLACE (President)

DAVIDE MINGOZZI

GIADA ROBERTA VIVIANI (Substitute)

LESSONS

LESSONS START

14.02.2022

Class schedule

MUSICAL DRAMATURGY

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Oral

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The exam consists of an assessment of the contents of the course and the bibliography. Knowledge of the authors, genre and historical-cultural context of the works treated in the course programme. The evaluation will consider knowledge of the programme (topics tackled in lectures, readings indicated in the bibliography, material made available on Aulaweb, mandatory or optional operas), as well as presentation ability, use of specific lexicon and capacity for critical reworking.

Exam schedule