MUSIC PRODUCTION I

The course is part of the Master’s Degree Program in Economics and Management of Arts and Cultural Activities and aims to provide a general framework for music production by focusing on opera and music theatre from a historical perspective.

Students will be able to contextualize the phenomenon of the operatic production system at a sociological level, situating it in specific historical and cultural contexts, and to reflect critically on the processes of creation as well as on the role of its agents: composers, librettists, impresarios, publishers, singers, directors, patrons, etc. Students will also acquire specific terminology related to opera production and organization and develop good knowledge of critical texts and reference bibliography; they will be able to formulate research hypotheses through individual and / or group presentations, as well as interact with the teacher and experts in the field. Particular attention will be paid to opera and music theater in Venice.

No prerequisites or basic knowledge in music are required. Interest in the subject matter and motivation in learning are the fundamental prerequisite to attend the course.

The course will provide a solid introduction to music production focusing on opera and music theatre. The first part will present a general historical overview from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century, while the second will deal with significant case studies in the productive systems of opera within important Italian institutions, from the Teatro La Fenice in Venice to the Festival Verdi Parma, exploring the organizational, financial and artistic complexity behind the creation and staging of opera.

Evan Baker, From the Score to the Stage: An Illustrated History of Continental Opera Production and Staging. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013, pp. 1-10, 161-190.
Beth L. Glixon, Jonathan E. Glixon, Inventing the business of opera: the impresario and his world in seventeenth-century Venice. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2006.
Fiamma Nicolodi, "Opera production from Italian Unification to the present," in Opera Production and Its Resources, ed. Lorenzo Bianconi and Giorgio Pestelli. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998, pp. 165–228.
Hilary Poriss, "Divas and Divos," in Oxford Handbook of Opera, ed. Helen M. Greenwald. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014, pp. 373–394.
John Rosselli, "From Princely Service to the Open Market: Singers of Italian Opera and Their Patrons, 1600-1850," Cambridge Opera Journal 1 (1989), 1-32.
John Rosselli, The Opera Industry in Italy from Cimarosa to Verdi: The Role of the Impresario. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984, 1-37.

Further bibliography will be given during the course.

Assessment of the course preparation will be conducted by means of an oral examination. Three questions will be asked, relating to the materials and contents included in the programme.

Grading and assessment criteria:

The grading criteria will take into consideration the correctness and propriety in the use of theoretical lexicon (30%), the accuracy and extent of knowledge of the topics explored in depth in class and learned through the study of the exam bibliography (30%); the ability to elaborate critically on the knowledge acquired (30%); the care of oral exposition (10%).

Grades in the 18-22 range will be awarded where the aforementioned points reach a sufficient level; grades in the 23-26 range will be awarded where the aforementioned points reach a fair level; grades in the 27-30 range will be awarded where the aforementioned points reach an excellent level; honours will be awarded where the aforementioned points reach an excellent level.

The course consists of lectures with audiovisual support and music examples. Some lectures will be in interactive (seminar) form and may involve the participation of experts and protagonists of the opera world.

English

oral