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, thus situating it in the specific historical reality, and to reflect critically on the processes of creation as well as on the role of its agents: composer, librettist, impresario, publisher, 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.

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 rise of opera to the present day, while the second will deal with significant cases studies between the 19th and 20th centuries: the organizational, financial and artistic complexity behind the composition and staging of an opera but also heterogeneous cases that intersect the public sphere and the private one – such as, for example, productions financed by influential patrons. There will be an opening to contemporaneity that will highlight the peculiar changes compared to previous centuries.

Fabrizio Della Seta, Italia e Francia nell’Ottocento, Torino, EDT, 1993.
Fiamma Nicolodi, Il sistema produttivo dall’Unità a oggi, in Storia dell’Opera italiana, a cura di Lorenzo Bianconi e Giorgio Pestelli, vol. 4: Il sistema produttivo e le sue competenze, Torino, EDT/Musica, 1987, pp. 167-229.
John Rosselli, L’impresario d’opera. Arte e affari nel teatro musicale italiano dell'Ottocento, Torino: EDT, 1985 (ristampa: marzo 2018).

Oral presentation of a personal elaboration of the proposed contents.

The first part includes lectures. The second part will be in seminar form with short individual or group presentations and collective discussion. There will be interventions and testimonies from experts and artists.

English

oral