Books by Ingrid Schraffl
Tutti i diritti riservati. Nessuna parte di questa pubblicazione può essere tradotta, ristampata ... more Tutti i diritti riservati. Nessuna parte di questa pubblicazione può essere tradotta, ristampata o riprodotta, in tutto o in parte, con qualsiasi mezzo, elettronico, meccanico, fotocopie, film, diapositive o altro senza autorizzazione degli aventi diritto.
Ihren hohen Unterhaltungswert verdankt die Opera buffa dem Element des Spielerischen. Dieses ist ... more Ihren hohen Unterhaltungswert verdankt die Opera buffa dem Element des Spielerischen. Dieses ist von der Forschung bisher als selbstverständlich betrachtet und weitgehend vernachlässigt worden. Dabei weist schon allein die im 18. Jahrhundert übliche Gattungsbezeichnung „dramma giocoso“ auf die zentrale Rolle des Spielerischen in dieser Opernform hin. Auf der Grundlage von Spieltheorien aus unterschiedlichen Disziplinen – Anthropologie, Psychologie, Pädagogik und Philosophie – untersucht Ingrid Schraffl am Repertoire Venedigs, der damaligen „Hauptstadt des Vergnügens“, die vielschichtigen Momente des Spiels der Opera buffa und ihres Aufführungskontexts. Der Spielbegriff dient damit als Interpretationsschlüssel des gesamten Kulturphänomens.
Papers by Ingrid Schraffl
Musicologica Austriaca, 2020
Up to now in the research on Vienna’s theater and opera life in the 1770s the subject of the Ital... more Up to now in the research on Vienna’s theater and opera life in the 1770s the subject of the Italian repertoire and its reception remained rather underexposed, among other reasons for lack of outstanding artistic events, but also for the particular attention devoted to the institution-historical developments of this decade, namely the foundation of the Deutsches Nationaltheater and the Deutsches Nationalsingspiel. The first aim of this contribution is to present an overview of the Italian branch of Vienna’s theater activity in the 1770s, first of all by reconstructing the daily program of Italian operas in both teatri privilegiati, thus correcting erroneous data contained in the standard literature on the one hand and answering a series of questions concerning the local production system on the other: which operas were performed, when, how often, and where, how long did they stay in the repertoire, how did Vienna’s theater season function, how were Italian operas embedded in Vienna’s theater business, what repercussions did institutional changes have on the Italian repertoire in that heterogeneous period?
The second objective consists in creating, on the basis of the information and data collected on the organization of the theater season, a more suitable and differentiated tool with respect to the conventional methods used for the success assessment of operas staged in Vienna. A systematic processing of the collected performance data, daily ticket sales—for lack of sources not available for the whole period—and contemporary commentary will thus enable statistically based statements that better reflect the reality of the reception and the success of individual Italian operas performed in Vienna and of the Italian opera branch in general than was previously possible.
The reconstructed calendar, including the aforementioned information supplements, and the aggregated statistical data are annexed as Excel tables, allowing individual readers to retrieve, sort, and filter data for further research according to different criteria—date, day of week, title, theater, premiere type (absolute premiere, Viennese premiere, or revival), composer, librettist, and statistical keys.
De musica disserenda, 2020
In this article the first Viennese version (1767) of the opera buffa Il marchese villano by Pietr... more In this article the first Viennese version (1767) of the opera buffa Il marchese villano by Pietro Chiari and Baldassarre Galuppi (Venice 1762) is examined from the perspective of cultural transfer. The notable differences between the performance context of the Venetian premiere in the commercial theatre system of the Republic of Venice and the Viennese performance context – the betrothal festivities for Maria Josepha of Austria at the imperial court of Vienna – are mirrored in the radical Viennese adaptation, which generally tends to a more elevated kind of entertainment and a less buffo-style music.
Commedia e musica al tramonto dell'ancien régime: CImarosa, Paisiello e i maestri europei. Ed. by Antonio Carroccia
Ästhetik der Innerlichkeit: Max Reger und das Lied um 1900. Ed. by Stefan Gasch, 2018
Alban Berg's Jugendlieder. The autodidactic beginnings
Alban Berg, inspired by the flourishing... more Alban Berg's Jugendlieder. The autodidactic beginnings
Alban Berg, inspired by the flourishing cultural environment of his home town Vienna, started autonomously experimenting with musical composition since the age of 16. The lied genre, as a musical means to express moods and emotions, with its typical fusion of lyric poetry and music, suited him particularly well and was, furthermore, especially apt to make music together with friends and siblings. Thus, between 1901 and 1904, when Berg would begin taking lessons from Schönberg, approximately 40 lieder were created on an autodidactic basis. The first ones are examined in this contribution within the framework of their genesis and subsequently compared with a more “advanced“ lied of 1903, to get to the bottom of the creative development process the young self-taught composer went through before his encounter with Schönberg.
"La cosa è scabrosa". Das Ereignis "Figaro" und die Wiener Opernpraxis der Mozartzeit. Ed. by. Carola Bebermeier and Melanie Unseld, 2018
During the second half of the eighteenth century, the Italian opera buffa successfully spread all... more During the second half of the eighteenth century, the Italian opera buffa successfully spread all over Europe. The works were often adapted to suit not only the new performers but also the respective cultural context. This is also true of one of the most popular comic operas of the period, La frascatana by Giovanni Paisiello and Filippo Livigni (Venice 1774). Although originally conceived as a modern buffa containing both comic and sentimental features, the opera was often staged in altered forms. A number of sources in Central Europe reflect a version performed originally in Vienna in 1775, where the opera was frequently staged until 1795.
The changes essentially consist in rather specific substitutions of four arias for secondary female roles (Donna Stella and Lisetta) that modify the original dramaturgy of La frascatana towards a more contrasting role setting and a less buffo style. This seems to be of considerable importance for the further dissemination of this specific version and its staging in different performing contexts, as in Dresden (1776) or Prague (1784).
Based on the outcomes of a current philological research project at the Department of Musicology ... more Based on the outcomes of a current philological research project at the Department of Musicology of the Vienna University, in which I am involved, on the opera buffa in Vienna, this paper is meant as a contribution to a desirable process of renewal or, better, differentiation of the Werkbegriff referred to XVIIIth-century operas and the treatment of the relevant texts within the present performance practice. The reflection aims at creating a greater awareness of the fact that the emphatic concepts of “original”, “definitive version”, closeness to the text, copyright, correspond to conceptions and values that came up only during the XIXth century, and that their application to earlier works – as is usually done nowadays mostly thoughtlessly, by tradition – lacks historical justification.
During the XVIIIth century the Italian opera spread all over Europe thanks to a dense network of opera houses, between which not only singers but also impresarios, composers and librettists moved, and with them opera texts too. As a consequence, libretti and scores kept on “moving”, and not only because they travelled throughout Europe, but also because – as sources reveal – for each town, season and sometimes even performance, texts underwent an adaptation to the specific needs of companies and theatres, so as to assure effectiveness and success of performances. As our accurate reconstruction of Viennese versions of operas imported from Italy demonstrates, modifications usually varied from minimal adjustments to radical interventions of substitution, shifting, insertion and cut. In the strict sense, during the XVIIIth century texts used for the première did not have a higher status at all with respect to subsequent variants.
Texts fully mirror habits of the time. In fact, for each town and season a new libretto was printed and used as a programme for spectators, while scores were usually left as manuscripts. Both, though having a high validity status for single performances, however lack it in absolute terms as “definitive versions“ because of their “volatility”.
A re-dimensioning of the text status reflecting the XVIIIth-century opera practice by using the new opportunities of philology-assisted electronic editing, in compliance with the whole genetic complex of a work, including its possible courses and variants, would confer more historicity onto the performance practice and offer further liberty of rearrangement and choice in view of an effective representation.
This contribution focuses on the scoring of Goldoni’s dramma giocoso in three acts “Le pescatrici... more This contribution focuses on the scoring of Goldoni’s dramma giocoso in three acts “Le pescatrici” by Florian Leopold Gassmann, staged in Vienna for the first time in 1771. A concise description of the historical opera context of Vienna in the 18th century and some biographic notes on Florian Leopold Gassmann, at that time Kapellmeister der italienischen Oper in the so-called privileged theatres of Vienna, are followed by an analysis of the adaptations made in Goldoni’s libretto of 1751 for the scoring in view of its performances on Vienna’s stages. For the substitution of seven arias and the extension of the final chorus – a typical feature of Gassmann’s style – with a long section in form of a vaudeville, several reasons may be considered, not least aesthetic ones. Finally, some remarks are spent on Gassmann’s musical style, resulting from a comparison with the contemporary scoring of the same libretto by Joseph Haydn.
Il contributo si incentra sulla messa in musica da parte di Florian Leopold Gassmann del dramma giocoso goldoniano in tre atti “Le pescatrici”, eseguito per la prima volta a Vienna nel 1771. Dopo una breve illustrazione del contesto storico-operistico viennese del Settecento e alcune note biografiche su Florian Leopold Gassmann, all’epoca Kapellmeister der italienischen Oper nei teatri "privilegiati" di Vienna, segue un’analisi degli adattamenti del libretto goldoniano del 1751 per la messa in musica in vista della rappresentazione nei teatri viennesi. Per la sostituzione di sette arie e l’ampliamento del coro finale – procedimento tipicamente gassmanniano – con una lunga sezione in forma di vaudeville si possono riscontrare molteplici motivi, non da ultimo quelli estetici. In conclusione sono riportate alcune considerazioni sullo stile musicale di Gassmann risultanti da un confronto con la coeva messa in musica dello stesso libretto da parte di Joseph Haydn.
Fest in der Orangerie zu Schönbrunn vom 7. Februar 1786 Mit 35 Abbildungen V&R unipress Open-Acce... more Fest in der Orangerie zu Schönbrunn vom 7. Februar 1786 Mit 35 Abbildungen V&R unipress Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY-NC-ND Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.des abrufbar.
Talks by Ingrid Schraffl
In meinem Buch „Opera buffa und Spielkultur“ habe ich den Versuch unternommen, den Spielbegriff a... more In meinem Buch „Opera buffa und Spielkultur“ habe ich den Versuch unternommen, den Spielbegriff als universellen Interpretationsschlüssel für die Opera buffa, eine heitere Gattung der italienischen Oper des 18. Jahrhunderts, anzuwenden. Die Grundidee war, das Spiel bzw. das Spielerische sei für diese Gattung, für die damals die Bezeichnung dramma giocoso, wörtlich „spielerisches Drama“, gebräuchlich war, eine zentrale poetische und rezeptionsästhetische Kategorie.
Exemplarisch wurde hierfür das venezianische Opera-buffa-Repertoire im Zeitraum von 1770 bis 1790 herangezogen, wobei nicht nur die Werke selbst, sondern auch ihr Aufführungskontext nach Spielelementen bzw. Analogien mit dem Phänomen des Spiels durchleuchtet wurde. Diese Ermittlung basierte auf einem möglichst umfassenden und facettenreichen Spielbegriff, der aus verschiedenen nicht-mathematischen Theorien des Spiels unterschiedlicher Disziplinen (vor allem aus Kulturanthropologie, Verhaltensforschung, Psychologie, Pädagogik und Philosophie) herausgefiltert wurde. Die Vielschichtigkeit dieses Spielbegriffs ermöglichte es, unterschiedlichste Ebenen der Gattung und ihrer Aufführungspraktiken gewissermaßen unter einen Nenner zu bringen und miteinander in Verbindung zu setzen. Den spezifischen Untersuchungen der Buffa-Werke wurden mehrere Kapitel zu allgemeinen Themen wie das Opernhaus des 18. Jahrhunderts als Ort verschiedener Spielarten, das Theater, die Musik und ihre Aufführung als Formen von Spiel, die für die Teilnehmer des Symposiums von Interesse sein könnten und im Mittelpunkt des Vortrags stehen werden.
Die Präsentation meiner Arbeit und meiner Anwendung des Spielbegriffs auf das Kulturphänomen der Opera buffa soll als Ausgangspunkt für eine Diskussion der Vorteile, aber auch der Probleme dienen, die ein solcher Ansatz mit sich bringt.
La presente relazione, che riprende il tema centrale del mio libro “Opera buffa und Spielkultur”,... more La presente relazione, che riprende il tema centrale del mio libro “Opera buffa und Spielkultur”, ha per oggetto un’indagine approfondita dell'elemento ludico dell’opera buffa in base alle teorie antropologiche, filosofiche e psicologiche del gioco. Il repertorio preso in esame è quello del “ventennio d’oro dell’opera comica a Venezia”, secondo la definizione che Mario Armellini ha dato degli anni ’70 e ’80 del Settecento. La scelta di Venezia come città campione è motivata dal fatto che allora era non solo una città particolarmente dedita al divertimento, al carnevale e al gioco, ma anche un centro operistico della massima importanza e punto di origine per la diffusione dell’opera buffa in tutta Europa, per cui offre un terreno ideale per una ricerca di questo tipo.
La ludicità del dramma giocoso è un elemento generalmente dato per scontato. Ad eccezione di qualche breve accenno poco approfondito, le teorie del gioco non sono mai state applicate al genere dell’opera buffa. Un’idea vagamente simile si trova nel saggio di Mary Hunter che sviluppa una “poetics of entertainment”, una poetica dell’intrattenimento, riguardo al repertorio buffo viennese dello stesso periodo. Il divertimento del pubblico – un principio portante del sistema produttivo operistico dell’epoca – è comunque, come dimostrano le mie analisi, strettamente legato al concetto di gioco, che in questa relazione funge da chiave interpretativa del popolarissimo genere dell’opera buffa.
Dopo un’introduzione sul concetto di gioco e sulle relative teorie, il contributo s’incentra sulla trama tipica del dramma giocoso, sul topos della burla e sul comportamento “giocoso” dei personaggi di carattere buffo, analizzati in base alle teorie del gioco in una prospettiva performativa.
La presente relazione si basa sui risultati del progetto di ricerca “L’opera buffa a Vienna (1763... more La presente relazione si basa sui risultati del progetto di ricerca “L’opera buffa a Vienna (1763-1782)”, a cui collaboro all’Istituto di Musicologia dell’Università di Vienna, incentrato sugli adattamenti e rimaneggiamenti delle opere buffe importate dall’Italia per le rappresentazioni nei teatri viennesi. Un caso particolare è quello della Frascatana di Giovanni Paisiello e Filippo Livigni: scritta per il Teatro San Samuele di Venezia nell’autunno 1774 e portata sulle scene di Vienna già nella primavera del 1775 l’opera ebbe un tale successo da essere replicata oltre 60 volte in 4 cicli di esecuzione nell’arco di 20 anni nei due teatri privilegiati di Vienna, e questo in un’epoca in cui nei teatri europei i programmi erano basati sul criterio della novità, e non su quello del repertorio, venuto in auge successivamente. Nonostante questo successo straordinario, le fonti viennesi, libretti e partiture, che documentano i rimaneggiamenti finalizzati all’adattamento dell’opera al gusto viennese e alle condizioni locali della compagnia, prima d’ora non sono state studiate in modo approfondito.
La relazione s’incentra dunque, dopo una breve illustrazione del contesto storico-operistico viennese del Settecento, sulla ricostruzione della prima versione viennese della Frascatana, sulle ragioni e conseguenze drammaturgiche degli adattamenti, sul ruolo dei cantanti nel processo “materiale” di importazione e in quello “immateriale” di modificazione della drammaturgia dell’opera, sulla ricezione da parte del pubblico viennese, sui “viaggi” della versione viennese verso Praga e Dresda (entrambi nel 1776) e sul tentativo di ricostruzione delle varie versioni viennesi successive.
L’obiettivo è quello di contribuire, attraverso l’analisi del caso modello di una delle opere buffe più eseguite in tutta Europa, allo studio più ampio e approfondito dell’irradiazione dell’opera buffa nello spazio culturale europeo.
In Vienna, opera buffa was so successful during the second half of the 18th century that it suppl... more In Vienna, opera buffa was so successful during the second half of the 18th century that it supplanted to a large extent even the very popular opera seria. The main place of origin of such operas was Venice, one among the most important Italian opera centres, from which opera buffa spread out all over Europe.
Based on results of the research project “Opera buffa in Vienna“ carried out at the University of Vienna, which deals with the adaptation practice applied to the operas imported from Italy, the example of Baldassarre Galuppi’s and Pietro Chiari’s “Il marchese villano” is used here to thoroughly analyse not only the manifold relationships existing between Venice and Vienna, but above all the conditions and mechanisms of the reworking of such imported operas for the Viennese stages as a form of cultural transfer.
The opera “Il marchese villano”, written for the Venetian Teatro di San Moisè, underwent a particularly extensive treatment, entailing a great number of changes, in view of its adaptation to the Viennese performance context. For this reason, it represents a significant example of the music transfer current at that time from Italy to Vienna.
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Books by Ingrid Schraffl
Papers by Ingrid Schraffl
The second objective consists in creating, on the basis of the information and data collected on the organization of the theater season, a more suitable and differentiated tool with respect to the conventional methods used for the success assessment of operas staged in Vienna. A systematic processing of the collected performance data, daily ticket sales—for lack of sources not available for the whole period—and contemporary commentary will thus enable statistically based statements that better reflect the reality of the reception and the success of individual Italian operas performed in Vienna and of the Italian opera branch in general than was previously possible.
The reconstructed calendar, including the aforementioned information supplements, and the aggregated statistical data are annexed as Excel tables, allowing individual readers to retrieve, sort, and filter data for further research according to different criteria—date, day of week, title, theater, premiere type (absolute premiere, Viennese premiere, or revival), composer, librettist, and statistical keys.
Alban Berg, inspired by the flourishing cultural environment of his home town Vienna, started autonomously experimenting with musical composition since the age of 16. The lied genre, as a musical means to express moods and emotions, with its typical fusion of lyric poetry and music, suited him particularly well and was, furthermore, especially apt to make music together with friends and siblings. Thus, between 1901 and 1904, when Berg would begin taking lessons from Schönberg, approximately 40 lieder were created on an autodidactic basis. The first ones are examined in this contribution within the framework of their genesis and subsequently compared with a more “advanced“ lied of 1903, to get to the bottom of the creative development process the young self-taught composer went through before his encounter with Schönberg.
The changes essentially consist in rather specific substitutions of four arias for secondary female roles (Donna Stella and Lisetta) that modify the original dramaturgy of La frascatana towards a more contrasting role setting and a less buffo style. This seems to be of considerable importance for the further dissemination of this specific version and its staging in different performing contexts, as in Dresden (1776) or Prague (1784).
During the XVIIIth century the Italian opera spread all over Europe thanks to a dense network of opera houses, between which not only singers but also impresarios, composers and librettists moved, and with them opera texts too. As a consequence, libretti and scores kept on “moving”, and not only because they travelled throughout Europe, but also because – as sources reveal – for each town, season and sometimes even performance, texts underwent an adaptation to the specific needs of companies and theatres, so as to assure effectiveness and success of performances. As our accurate reconstruction of Viennese versions of operas imported from Italy demonstrates, modifications usually varied from minimal adjustments to radical interventions of substitution, shifting, insertion and cut. In the strict sense, during the XVIIIth century texts used for the première did not have a higher status at all with respect to subsequent variants.
Texts fully mirror habits of the time. In fact, for each town and season a new libretto was printed and used as a programme for spectators, while scores were usually left as manuscripts. Both, though having a high validity status for single performances, however lack it in absolute terms as “definitive versions“ because of their “volatility”.
A re-dimensioning of the text status reflecting the XVIIIth-century opera practice by using the new opportunities of philology-assisted electronic editing, in compliance with the whole genetic complex of a work, including its possible courses and variants, would confer more historicity onto the performance practice and offer further liberty of rearrangement and choice in view of an effective representation.
Il contributo si incentra sulla messa in musica da parte di Florian Leopold Gassmann del dramma giocoso goldoniano in tre atti “Le pescatrici”, eseguito per la prima volta a Vienna nel 1771. Dopo una breve illustrazione del contesto storico-operistico viennese del Settecento e alcune note biografiche su Florian Leopold Gassmann, all’epoca Kapellmeister der italienischen Oper nei teatri "privilegiati" di Vienna, segue un’analisi degli adattamenti del libretto goldoniano del 1751 per la messa in musica in vista della rappresentazione nei teatri viennesi. Per la sostituzione di sette arie e l’ampliamento del coro finale – procedimento tipicamente gassmanniano – con una lunga sezione in forma di vaudeville si possono riscontrare molteplici motivi, non da ultimo quelli estetici. In conclusione sono riportate alcune considerazioni sullo stile musicale di Gassmann risultanti da un confronto con la coeva messa in musica dello stesso libretto da parte di Joseph Haydn.
Talks by Ingrid Schraffl
Exemplarisch wurde hierfür das venezianische Opera-buffa-Repertoire im Zeitraum von 1770 bis 1790 herangezogen, wobei nicht nur die Werke selbst, sondern auch ihr Aufführungskontext nach Spielelementen bzw. Analogien mit dem Phänomen des Spiels durchleuchtet wurde. Diese Ermittlung basierte auf einem möglichst umfassenden und facettenreichen Spielbegriff, der aus verschiedenen nicht-mathematischen Theorien des Spiels unterschiedlicher Disziplinen (vor allem aus Kulturanthropologie, Verhaltensforschung, Psychologie, Pädagogik und Philosophie) herausgefiltert wurde. Die Vielschichtigkeit dieses Spielbegriffs ermöglichte es, unterschiedlichste Ebenen der Gattung und ihrer Aufführungspraktiken gewissermaßen unter einen Nenner zu bringen und miteinander in Verbindung zu setzen. Den spezifischen Untersuchungen der Buffa-Werke wurden mehrere Kapitel zu allgemeinen Themen wie das Opernhaus des 18. Jahrhunderts als Ort verschiedener Spielarten, das Theater, die Musik und ihre Aufführung als Formen von Spiel, die für die Teilnehmer des Symposiums von Interesse sein könnten und im Mittelpunkt des Vortrags stehen werden.
Die Präsentation meiner Arbeit und meiner Anwendung des Spielbegriffs auf das Kulturphänomen der Opera buffa soll als Ausgangspunkt für eine Diskussion der Vorteile, aber auch der Probleme dienen, die ein solcher Ansatz mit sich bringt.
La ludicità del dramma giocoso è un elemento generalmente dato per scontato. Ad eccezione di qualche breve accenno poco approfondito, le teorie del gioco non sono mai state applicate al genere dell’opera buffa. Un’idea vagamente simile si trova nel saggio di Mary Hunter che sviluppa una “poetics of entertainment”, una poetica dell’intrattenimento, riguardo al repertorio buffo viennese dello stesso periodo. Il divertimento del pubblico – un principio portante del sistema produttivo operistico dell’epoca – è comunque, come dimostrano le mie analisi, strettamente legato al concetto di gioco, che in questa relazione funge da chiave interpretativa del popolarissimo genere dell’opera buffa.
Dopo un’introduzione sul concetto di gioco e sulle relative teorie, il contributo s’incentra sulla trama tipica del dramma giocoso, sul topos della burla e sul comportamento “giocoso” dei personaggi di carattere buffo, analizzati in base alle teorie del gioco in una prospettiva performativa.
La relazione s’incentra dunque, dopo una breve illustrazione del contesto storico-operistico viennese del Settecento, sulla ricostruzione della prima versione viennese della Frascatana, sulle ragioni e conseguenze drammaturgiche degli adattamenti, sul ruolo dei cantanti nel processo “materiale” di importazione e in quello “immateriale” di modificazione della drammaturgia dell’opera, sulla ricezione da parte del pubblico viennese, sui “viaggi” della versione viennese verso Praga e Dresda (entrambi nel 1776) e sul tentativo di ricostruzione delle varie versioni viennesi successive.
L’obiettivo è quello di contribuire, attraverso l’analisi del caso modello di una delle opere buffe più eseguite in tutta Europa, allo studio più ampio e approfondito dell’irradiazione dell’opera buffa nello spazio culturale europeo.
Based on results of the research project “Opera buffa in Vienna“ carried out at the University of Vienna, which deals with the adaptation practice applied to the operas imported from Italy, the example of Baldassarre Galuppi’s and Pietro Chiari’s “Il marchese villano” is used here to thoroughly analyse not only the manifold relationships existing between Venice and Vienna, but above all the conditions and mechanisms of the reworking of such imported operas for the Viennese stages as a form of cultural transfer.
The opera “Il marchese villano”, written for the Venetian Teatro di San Moisè, underwent a particularly extensive treatment, entailing a great number of changes, in view of its adaptation to the Viennese performance context. For this reason, it represents a significant example of the music transfer current at that time from Italy to Vienna.
The second objective consists in creating, on the basis of the information and data collected on the organization of the theater season, a more suitable and differentiated tool with respect to the conventional methods used for the success assessment of operas staged in Vienna. A systematic processing of the collected performance data, daily ticket sales—for lack of sources not available for the whole period—and contemporary commentary will thus enable statistically based statements that better reflect the reality of the reception and the success of individual Italian operas performed in Vienna and of the Italian opera branch in general than was previously possible.
The reconstructed calendar, including the aforementioned information supplements, and the aggregated statistical data are annexed as Excel tables, allowing individual readers to retrieve, sort, and filter data for further research according to different criteria—date, day of week, title, theater, premiere type (absolute premiere, Viennese premiere, or revival), composer, librettist, and statistical keys.
Alban Berg, inspired by the flourishing cultural environment of his home town Vienna, started autonomously experimenting with musical composition since the age of 16. The lied genre, as a musical means to express moods and emotions, with its typical fusion of lyric poetry and music, suited him particularly well and was, furthermore, especially apt to make music together with friends and siblings. Thus, between 1901 and 1904, when Berg would begin taking lessons from Schönberg, approximately 40 lieder were created on an autodidactic basis. The first ones are examined in this contribution within the framework of their genesis and subsequently compared with a more “advanced“ lied of 1903, to get to the bottom of the creative development process the young self-taught composer went through before his encounter with Schönberg.
The changes essentially consist in rather specific substitutions of four arias for secondary female roles (Donna Stella and Lisetta) that modify the original dramaturgy of La frascatana towards a more contrasting role setting and a less buffo style. This seems to be of considerable importance for the further dissemination of this specific version and its staging in different performing contexts, as in Dresden (1776) or Prague (1784).
During the XVIIIth century the Italian opera spread all over Europe thanks to a dense network of opera houses, between which not only singers but also impresarios, composers and librettists moved, and with them opera texts too. As a consequence, libretti and scores kept on “moving”, and not only because they travelled throughout Europe, but also because – as sources reveal – for each town, season and sometimes even performance, texts underwent an adaptation to the specific needs of companies and theatres, so as to assure effectiveness and success of performances. As our accurate reconstruction of Viennese versions of operas imported from Italy demonstrates, modifications usually varied from minimal adjustments to radical interventions of substitution, shifting, insertion and cut. In the strict sense, during the XVIIIth century texts used for the première did not have a higher status at all with respect to subsequent variants.
Texts fully mirror habits of the time. In fact, for each town and season a new libretto was printed and used as a programme for spectators, while scores were usually left as manuscripts. Both, though having a high validity status for single performances, however lack it in absolute terms as “definitive versions“ because of their “volatility”.
A re-dimensioning of the text status reflecting the XVIIIth-century opera practice by using the new opportunities of philology-assisted electronic editing, in compliance with the whole genetic complex of a work, including its possible courses and variants, would confer more historicity onto the performance practice and offer further liberty of rearrangement and choice in view of an effective representation.
Il contributo si incentra sulla messa in musica da parte di Florian Leopold Gassmann del dramma giocoso goldoniano in tre atti “Le pescatrici”, eseguito per la prima volta a Vienna nel 1771. Dopo una breve illustrazione del contesto storico-operistico viennese del Settecento e alcune note biografiche su Florian Leopold Gassmann, all’epoca Kapellmeister der italienischen Oper nei teatri "privilegiati" di Vienna, segue un’analisi degli adattamenti del libretto goldoniano del 1751 per la messa in musica in vista della rappresentazione nei teatri viennesi. Per la sostituzione di sette arie e l’ampliamento del coro finale – procedimento tipicamente gassmanniano – con una lunga sezione in forma di vaudeville si possono riscontrare molteplici motivi, non da ultimo quelli estetici. In conclusione sono riportate alcune considerazioni sullo stile musicale di Gassmann risultanti da un confronto con la coeva messa in musica dello stesso libretto da parte di Joseph Haydn.
Exemplarisch wurde hierfür das venezianische Opera-buffa-Repertoire im Zeitraum von 1770 bis 1790 herangezogen, wobei nicht nur die Werke selbst, sondern auch ihr Aufführungskontext nach Spielelementen bzw. Analogien mit dem Phänomen des Spiels durchleuchtet wurde. Diese Ermittlung basierte auf einem möglichst umfassenden und facettenreichen Spielbegriff, der aus verschiedenen nicht-mathematischen Theorien des Spiels unterschiedlicher Disziplinen (vor allem aus Kulturanthropologie, Verhaltensforschung, Psychologie, Pädagogik und Philosophie) herausgefiltert wurde. Die Vielschichtigkeit dieses Spielbegriffs ermöglichte es, unterschiedlichste Ebenen der Gattung und ihrer Aufführungspraktiken gewissermaßen unter einen Nenner zu bringen und miteinander in Verbindung zu setzen. Den spezifischen Untersuchungen der Buffa-Werke wurden mehrere Kapitel zu allgemeinen Themen wie das Opernhaus des 18. Jahrhunderts als Ort verschiedener Spielarten, das Theater, die Musik und ihre Aufführung als Formen von Spiel, die für die Teilnehmer des Symposiums von Interesse sein könnten und im Mittelpunkt des Vortrags stehen werden.
Die Präsentation meiner Arbeit und meiner Anwendung des Spielbegriffs auf das Kulturphänomen der Opera buffa soll als Ausgangspunkt für eine Diskussion der Vorteile, aber auch der Probleme dienen, die ein solcher Ansatz mit sich bringt.
La ludicità del dramma giocoso è un elemento generalmente dato per scontato. Ad eccezione di qualche breve accenno poco approfondito, le teorie del gioco non sono mai state applicate al genere dell’opera buffa. Un’idea vagamente simile si trova nel saggio di Mary Hunter che sviluppa una “poetics of entertainment”, una poetica dell’intrattenimento, riguardo al repertorio buffo viennese dello stesso periodo. Il divertimento del pubblico – un principio portante del sistema produttivo operistico dell’epoca – è comunque, come dimostrano le mie analisi, strettamente legato al concetto di gioco, che in questa relazione funge da chiave interpretativa del popolarissimo genere dell’opera buffa.
Dopo un’introduzione sul concetto di gioco e sulle relative teorie, il contributo s’incentra sulla trama tipica del dramma giocoso, sul topos della burla e sul comportamento “giocoso” dei personaggi di carattere buffo, analizzati in base alle teorie del gioco in una prospettiva performativa.
La relazione s’incentra dunque, dopo una breve illustrazione del contesto storico-operistico viennese del Settecento, sulla ricostruzione della prima versione viennese della Frascatana, sulle ragioni e conseguenze drammaturgiche degli adattamenti, sul ruolo dei cantanti nel processo “materiale” di importazione e in quello “immateriale” di modificazione della drammaturgia dell’opera, sulla ricezione da parte del pubblico viennese, sui “viaggi” della versione viennese verso Praga e Dresda (entrambi nel 1776) e sul tentativo di ricostruzione delle varie versioni viennesi successive.
L’obiettivo è quello di contribuire, attraverso l’analisi del caso modello di una delle opere buffe più eseguite in tutta Europa, allo studio più ampio e approfondito dell’irradiazione dell’opera buffa nello spazio culturale europeo.
Based on results of the research project “Opera buffa in Vienna“ carried out at the University of Vienna, which deals with the adaptation practice applied to the operas imported from Italy, the example of Baldassarre Galuppi’s and Pietro Chiari’s “Il marchese villano” is used here to thoroughly analyse not only the manifold relationships existing between Venice and Vienna, but above all the conditions and mechanisms of the reworking of such imported operas for the Viennese stages as a form of cultural transfer.
The opera “Il marchese villano”, written for the Venetian Teatro di San Moisè, underwent a particularly extensive treatment, entailing a great number of changes, in view of its adaptation to the Viennese performance context. For this reason, it represents a significant example of the music transfer current at that time from Italy to Vienna.
Dieser Ansatz wurde in der Opernforschung bisher weitgehend vernachlässigt, eine systematische Anwendung des Spielbegriffs auf die Opera buffa ist jedenfalls noch nicht versucht worden. Am ehesten nähert sich dieser Idee Mary Hunters Studie, die am Beispiel der Opera buffa in Wien eine „poetics of entertainment“ entwickelt. Die Unterhaltung des Publikums, die als oberstes Prinzip im Opernproduktionssystem galt, hängt allerdings - wie sich aus meinen Untersuchungen ergibt - eng mit dem Aspekt des Spiels zusammen, der in diesem Vortrag als Interpretationsschlüssel dieser in der zweiten Hälfte des 18. Jahrhunderts außerordentlich beliebten Operngattung dient.
In this contribution that takes up several essential topics of my doctoral dissertation, an attempt is made to analyse game and entertainment as identity-building elements within the Venetian cultural and societal context in the second half of the 18th century. As one among the numerous entertainment options offered by the town, the – at that time particularly successful - Opera buffa genre, also called dramma giocoso, is singled out as an emblematic phenomenon. In particular, it is used, by adopting different theatre-sociological and anthropological play theories, to depict the role played by its ludic aspects at various levels. On the one hand, the whole context in which Opera-buffa performances were embedded, was strongly steeped in playful elements; On the other hand, the content of an Opera buffa presented manifold ludic moments, that make it possible to recognise a certain correspondence between the playful lightness of operas and the jocularity and exuberance of the Venetian game and carnival culture.
During the XVIIIth century the Italian opera spread all over Europe thanks to a dense network of opera houses, between which not only singers but also impresarios, composers and librettists moved, and with them opera texts too. As a consequence, libretti and scores kept on “moving”, and not only because they travelled throughout Europe, but also because – as sources reveal – for each town, season and sometimes even performance, texts underwent an adaptation to the specific needs of companies and theatres, so as to assure effectiveness and success of performances. As our accurate reconstruction of Viennese versions of operas imported from Italy demonstrates, modifications usually varied from minimal adjustments to radical interventions of substitution, shifting, insertion and cut. In the strict sense, during the XVIIIth century texts used for the première did not have a higher status at all with respect to subsequent variants.
Texts fully mirror habits of the time. In fact, for each town and season a new libretto was printed and used as a programme for spectators, while scores were usually left as manuscripts. Both, though having a high validity status for single performances, however lack it in absolute terms as “definitive versions“ because of their “volatility”.
A re-dimensioning of the text status reflecting the XVIIIth-century opera practice by using the new opportunities of philology-assisted electronic editing, in compliance with the whole genetic complex of a work, including its possible courses and variants, would confer more historicity onto the performance practice and offer further liberty of rearrangement and choice in view of an effective representation.
funded by the Austrian FWF, started (at first at the Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Wien and then since Spring 2010 at the Institute of Musicology at the Universität Wien).
The project consists of a thorough analysis of the Opere buffe imported from Italy to Vienna, aiming to enucleate and examine the changes made in Vienna, thus contributing to the study of the topic of treatment practices, that is so important for the opera especially in the XVIIIth century.
The Opera-buffa repertoire in Vienna during the period from 1763 to 1773 was made up by around 70% by Italian “importation produce”. In Vienna – as it was customary during the XVIIIth century – such operas coming from Italy were worked up in order to be adapted to the local performance conditions, especially to the respective singer casts. In the Opera-buffa repertoire in Vienna of the period examined, quite different treatment types can be met. After a general introduction of the project, an overview of the wide range of adaptation variants used is offered by means of selected examples.
Nach kurzen theoretischen bzw. methodologischen Überlegungen werden drei solcher Topoi vorgestellt, um dann zur näheren Betrachtung eines konkreten Beispiels überzugehen, in dem die vorher präsentierten Topoi ineinander verschachtelt erscheinen. Das „Spiel mit den Topoi“ soll als Ausgangsbasis für weitere analytische bzw. interpretatorische Überlegungen dienen.