Search results for "Calzabigi"
showing 7 items of 7 documents
'Opera e declamazione teatrale in Italia nel Diciottesimo secolo. Convergenze e problemi'
2014
The fulfilment of the operatic reform, managed by Christoph Willibald Gluck and his librettist Ranieri Calzabigi in 1760s’ Vienna, is a well-known topic. This event, whose seeds date back to the 1740s, has been examined according to theatrical and literary experiences in France and Italy. However, the question of acting influence on opera can be reconsidered at the light of the latest discovery of symbols collected and labelled as drammatica – metodo italiano. Engraved in some writings, this set of signs is often connected to music and offers the matter for a new critical survey about the discourse on music declamation before and after Calzabigi. From the 1830s onwards the theory of acting …
Sulle tracce di Oranzebe. «L’opera seria» di Calzabigi e Gassmann (Vienna, 1769)
2016
“L’opera seria” by Ranieri Calzabigi and Florian Leopold Gassmann, performed for the first time in Vienna in 1769, is one of the most fascinating and complex meta-operas of the eighteenth century. As many similar works, it satirizes the eccentric figures involved in any theatrical production (poet, composer, impresario, singers, dancers and so on). The dramaturgical construction meticolously planned by Calzabigi includes two different layers: the comic action actually staged, and the serious opera “L’Oranzebe”, which is imagined to be reharsed and later performed by the characters of the comedy. The continuous exchange between these two dimensions is the main object of the article. By colle…
The Eighteenth-century Opera and the Search for a Meeting Point between Music and Declamation
2019
The article is the result of some researches about the ideas on the operatic reform appeared in Italy and France from 1740s onwards. On the basis of acting, some treatises written by actors, philosophers and musicographers claim the dramatic superiority of recitativo secco or obbligato, and the beauty of aria parlante. (e.g., L. Riccoboni, Dell’arte rappresentativa, 1728, G. Manfredi, L’attore in scena, 1734, G. R. Carli, L’indole del teatro tragico, 1746, and Osservazioni sulla musica antica e moderna, 1744-1786, G. Tartini, Trattato di musica secondo la vera scienza dell’armonia, 1754, F. Algarotti, Saggio sopra l’opera in musica, 1755). Owing to its particular speaking tone linked to dec…
La 'riforma' a Napoli: materiali per un capitolo di storia della ricezione
2009
From 1774 to 1785, Naples hosted six different productions of Gluck's 'reform' operas: two of "Orfeo ed Euridice" (both in 1774, but in two different versions and venues), two of "Alceste" (in 1779 and 1785) and two of "Paride ed Elena" (in 1777 and 1779). In the first part, the article collects and discusses all the extant documents about these performances. The second part is a detailed study of the ideas of the Neapolitan theorists about Calzabigi and Gluck. The article demostrates that, even if some authors appreciated specific features of the 'reform', the Neapolitan musical culture was dominated by a more traditional operatic taste.
Calzabigi e Metastasio: Napoli, Parigi, Vienna e ritorno
2020
The relationship between Ranieri Calzabigi and Pietro Metastasio has been examined several times by historians of music and literature. According to some scholars, Calzabigi’s judgment on his older colleague remained consistent over time, while others have highlighted the profound difference between the ideas expressed in the "Dissertazione [...] su le poesie drammatiche del signor abate Pietro Metastasio" (1755) and those contained in the "Risposta di Santigliano" (1790). This essay retraces the stages of the complex bond between the two authors and, with the help of new observations as well as sources hitherto neglected, demonstrates that Calzabigi was influenced by Metastasio's verses in…
Madrid 1744: Calzabigi, Leo e i festeggiamenti per le nozze dell’Infanta di Spagna con il Delfino di Francia
2019
Sumptuous ceremonies were organized in Madrid in December 1744 to celebrate the marriage of the Infanta of Spain Maria Teresa, daughter of Philippe v and Isabella Farnese, with the Dauphin of France Louis, son of Louis xv and Maria Leszczyńska. Their union was of great political importance, as it reinforced the alliance between the two Bourbon kingdoms during the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748). Refined musical works were specially composed to solemnize the event: Corselli’s "Achille in Sciro" and Astorga’s "Le deità superate" were offered by the court at the Buen Retiro palace; moreover, two different allegorical serenatas, one by Mele and the other by Leo, were commissioned by …
I viaggi di Orfeo. Musiche e musicisti intorno a Ranieri Calzabigi
2012
Il volume raccoglie (e largamente rielabora) sei saggi dedicati ad altrettanti momenti della vita e dell'attività di Ranieri Calzabigi (1714-1795), figura centralissima della storia operistica settecentesca. In particolare vengono ricostruiti in dettaglio il primo e il secondo soggiorno napoletano (capitoli I e IV), che si collocano agli estremi della parabola esistenziale e professionale del librettista di Gluck. Il secondo capitolo lumeggia il suo coinvolgimento nella genesi e nella metamorfosi dell'«Ifigenia in Tauride» di Coltellini e Traetta per Vienna (1763). Il terzo e il quinto sono invece dedicati a due creazioni specifiche, il componimento drammatico «Comala», intonato da Pietro M…