Italian Opera in the Age of the American RevolutionHow did revolutionary America appear to European audiences through their opera glasses? The operas studied in this volume are populated by gun-toting and slave-holding Quakers, handsome Native Americans, female middle-class political leaders, rebellious British soldiers and generous businessmen. Most of them display an unprecedented configuration of social and gender roles, which led leading composers of the time, including Mozart, Haydn, Anfossi, Piccinni and Paisiello, to introduce far-reaching innovations in the musical and dramatic fabric of Italian opera. Polzonetti presents a fresh perspective on the European cultural reception of American social and political identity. Through detailed but accessible analysis of music examples, including previously unpublished musical sources, the book documents and explains important transformations of opera at the time of Mozart's masterpieces, and its long-term consequences up to Puccini. Shedding new light on familiar and less-familiar operatic works, the study represents groundbreaking research in music, cultural and political history. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
1 The changing world of the moon | 29 |
2 Worlds up and upsidedown | 77 |
3 Montezuma and the exotic Europeans | 107 |
4 Cecchina goes to America | 133 |
5 A Californian goes to Europe | 170 |
6 Americans in the storm | 202 |
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Common terms and phrases
A-Wn Algarotti American Revolution Amiti e Ontario Anfossi aria audience Beaumarchais Benjamin Franklin Bentley Buonafede Calzabigi Cambridge University Press Carlo Goldoni Cerlone characters comedy comic commedia Cortés culture Don Giovanni drama dramma giocoso Dull Ecclitico edition eighteenth eighteenth-century opera Enlightenment Eszterháza Europe European Example exoticism father final Flaminia Francesco Frederick French gare generose Gazzetta Gelinda genre Giacomina Giovanni Paisiello Giuseppe Goldoni Haydn intermezzo Italian opera L'americano L'orfanella americana Le huron librettist libretto London Lorenzo Da Ponte Marcone melody mondo della luna Montezuma moon Mozart's musica da rappresentarsi myth Naimur Naples napoletani in America Native American Neapolitan Niccolò Piccinni nozze di Figaro opera buffa Opera Seria Paisiello pasticcio performed Piccinni political Polzonetti Quaker quakera spiritosa Ragion nell'alma siede rappresentarsi nel teatro representation represented revolutionary role savage scene seria Silvia sings slavery slaves social theater Tognino Venice Vertunna Vienna Viennese Villotto women Zalmiro Zeda