MUSICAL THEATRE
Academic year and teacher
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- Versione italiana
- Academic year
- 2022/2023
- Teacher
- ALESSANDRO ROCCATAGLIATI
- Credits
- 12
- Curriculum
- LETTERATURA, LINGUA, STORIA E SPETTACOLO
- Didactic period
- Primo Semestre
- SSD
- L-ART/07
Training objectives
- The concept of "musical dramaturgy" implies this argument: in an opera or melodramma, the principal factor which forms the work of art is music, and it forms that one as drama. When words and gesture are embodied in singing and sound, theatrality of a special kind arises, nearly as a "school of feelings (or emotions)", movements of the soul which are stylized, staged and transmitted by music with great variety and peculiar strength.
The skills acquired through the study of matter, therefore, concern the ways in which, in history, the element 'music' and other concurring elements - literary text, scenography, playing, staging, theatrical production system - were organized to realize on stage musical theatre performances.
The resulting abilities can be spent in a more conscious attendance of theaters, in working at their press or marketing offices, in making properly known the operatic culture. Prerequisites
- None
Course programme
- Opera from his origin to the French revolution (1600-1790 ca.)
The history of opera during 17th and 18th Century, between Italy, France, Germanic countries and United Kingdom, is sketched in the changements of formal models and structures which occurred in musical dramaturgy, by means of several craftsmen (composers, poets, scenographers, etc.) and by effect of changing cultural and productive conditions.
The course is organized in one term and occurs in the first semester of lectures (September-December 2022).
To sit the examination is essential to know not only the bibliography but also - through attentive listening/watching with librettos - the discography. Both of them are consultable on the WEB site through Classroom (codex: qwuionl).
Students who have to obtain 10 or 12 CFU will prepare the whole program; students who have to obtain 5 or 6 CFU will only apply themselves to the five Eighteenth-Century operas (bibliography n. 2 and 3; discography nn. 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10). Didactic methods
- Public lectures with audovisual exemplification.
After a first week of classes devoted to general elements, the course proceeds by examining the individual operas on the program . Their respective specificities , both historical-stylistic and musical-theatrical, are illustrated in the classroom on the basis of the texts - the basic literary drama (libretto) and video pieces from the opera - shown, screened and listened. Learning assessment procedures
- Oral exam.
It is aimed to ascertain on the one hand the acquisition of the historical-biographical notions (of authors, specific theater situations, artistic currents, etc.), on the other hand the concrete understanding of the musical-theater devices present in the works (through key-questions as "how is that scene musically and vocally realized?" , "how is it structured in the booklet?", "what is its overall effect?", etc.).
Normally, the teacher asks at first instance that the student speaks of a topic of his/her choice, bordered and not too general. Then he goes on to ask for a second argument, with equal width and depth . A further question of a third argument, but of more limited and punctual type, usually ends the exam. Reference texts
- BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. LORENZO BIANCONI, Il Seicento, Torino, EDT/Musica, 1991 (or later editions): part IV (pp. 175-279); readings nn. 5 e 6 (pp. 320-345).
2. FRANCO PIPERNO, L’opera italiana nel secolo XVIII, in Musica in scena, edited by A. Basso, vol. II, Torino, Utet 1996.
3. PAOLO GALLARATI, Musica e maschera. Il libretto italiano nel Settecento, Torino, EDT/Musica, 1984:
chapter IV, paragraphs 13-16 (pp. 70-86) and chapter IX (pp. 162-205).
DISCOGRAPHY
1. J. PERI, L'Euridice (1600)
2. C. MONTEVERDI, L'incoronazione di Poppea (1643)
3. F. CAVALLI, Xerse (1654)
4. J.-B. LULLY, Atys (1676)
5. H. PURCELL, The Fairy Queen (1692)
6. L. VINCI, Artaserse (1730)
7. G. B. PERGOLESI, La serva padrona (1733)
8. N. PICCINNI, Cecchina o sia La buona figliuola (1760)
9. C. W. GLUCK, Orfeo ed Euridice (1762)
10. W. A. MOZART, Le nozze di Figaro (1786)
