Monteverdi's Venetian Operas: Sources, Performance, Interpretation, ed. by E. Rosand and S. La Via, London & New York, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-367-19196-2, 2022
On June 3, 1937, in the amphitheatre of the Boboli Gardens in Florence, L’incoronazione di Poppea... more On June 3, 1937, in the amphitheatre of the Boboli Gardens in Florence, L’incoronazione di Poppea by Claudio Monteverdi was performed by an ensemble of remarkable artists. It was the first stage performance of the opera in Italy in modern times. This article aims to reconstruct the historical context and details of this performance, which can be considered emblematic in many ways of the reception of ancient music in Italy in those years. In the first part I will discuss this performance in the context of Fascist Florence, showing how it served to celebrate Florence’s cultural primacy. In the second part, I will deal with L'incoronazione's prior performances in Italy and abroad. In the third part, I will reconstruct the production of the opera through unpublished documents conserved in Maggio Musicale Fiorentino's archive. In the fourth section I will consider the reaction of the critics, in comparison to the opinions of the artistic director(s). Finally, in the conclusions I will discuss the significance of this event in the context of the rediscovery of Monteverdi's operas, also indicating new paths to follow in this research.
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Articles by Anna Tedesco
Il CD-Audio allegato contiene brani di Gaetano Donizetti e Antonio Pasculli eseguiti dall’Orchestra sinfonica “V. Bellini” del Conservatorio di Palermo provenienti da manoscritti conservati presso la Biblioteca del Conservatorio.
https://www.olschki.it/libro/9788822267986
Grippaudo’s essay traces the musical activity promoted by ecclesiastical institutions and includes also new documents on Sicily’s Royal Chapel, or Palatina, while Scalisi’s article takes into exam three manuscript scores of La Passione di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo attributed to the little-known Egidio Lasnel. Finally, Dominguez’s short Noterella tells the story of the celebrations held in Palermo for Charles II of Spain in 1696.
This monographic issue of “Drammaturgia musicale” is the occasion for reconsidering previous scholarship on Palermo’s musical life and for offering new perspectives.
in the history of Italian theatre that is wrongly unappreciated.