Tell us about yourself: where do you come from, what do you teach at Ca' Foscari, what are your interests and areas of research?
I come from Venice, and I deal with modern and contemporary Western classical music – from Monteverdi to the present day, to be precise (and especially with musical theatre from the 19th century to the present day) –, which I teach in several degree courses, both Bachelor’s and Master's at Ca' Foscari University, as part of the Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage. Internationally, I am best known for a critical monograph on Giacomo Puccini (Venice, Marsilio, 1995) translated into English (Puccini. His International Art) and published by the prestigious University of Chicago Press (2000, and subsequent reprints). According to the critics, this book has changed the way the composer is perceived, both at an academic level and enthusiasts, musicians, and so on. The updated, and much expanded, re-edition is planned for 2024, on the occasion of the centenary of the composer's death.
What is your academic background?
I was not weaned within academia; in fact, I have always enjoyed music – among other things, I am a melomaniac and gifted with perfect pitch. I started at the age of five, studying piano privately and then at the Conservatory, but my research path started at Ca' Foscari University, where I graduated in 1980. Teachers such as Giovanni Morelli and Francesco Orlando trained me, directing me from the beginning towards an international dimension, mainly in the hermeneutic field. Further teachers and friends of mine were Bill Ashbrook (Indiana University), Harold 'Harry' Powers (Princeton), David Rosen and Arthur Groos (Cornell), as well as a great legend of Anglo-Saxon musical culture such as Julian Budden (the author of the most authoritative monograph on Verdi). Although I am a xenophile, albeit not completely, I did not want to leave Italy. Therefore, I began teaching History of Music in the Conservatories, moving on to university after winning the last national competition for associate professor, which ended in 1999. From the Faculty of Musicology in Pavia (in Cremona), I came to Venice in 2017 via a competition. In the meantime, I had obtained the national scientific qualification as professor in the first round (2012), which was confirmed in 2018.
What are your professional reference points?
In addition to the colleagues mentioned so far, I became friends with the great musicologists of Pavia, with whom I was delighted to collaborate. I was also inspired by my friend Pierluigi Petrobelli. I learnt a lot from specialists in other disciplines, such as Guido Paduano and Mercedes Viale Ferrero. I now work at the University with modern historian Gerardo Tocchini (we set up a study group on Melodrama and History), and I gladly participate in the initiatives of Fondazione Cini's Institute for Theatre and Melodrama, which is directed by my lifelong friend Ida Biggi. Among other things, we promoted the National Committee for the celebrations of the centenary of Arrigo Boito's death, which was established in 2018. I also collaborate actively with Fondazione Levi. I also work with Giulio Pojana, who is an expert in restoration, including digital restoration. Together, we have launched a research project dedicated to the manuscripts and musical prints of the 'Benedetto Marcello' Conservatory; on this basis, we would like to try to build a bridge between musical institutions in Venice that has always been talked about, but never really pursued.
What have been your greatest professional satisfactions?
Knowing that my work has served to create many music lovers and to develop young researchers. I have received at least two major awards: the first, named after Massimo Mila (Turin Book Fair, 1996), was for my monograph Puccini. His International Art, published the previous year. In the same year, I founded, together with other colleagues, the Giacomo Puccini Study Centre in Lucca, to which I collaborate in all sorts of ways, enabling it to become an essential point of reference for scholars from all over the world, many of them young. The second award is recent: I was awarded the Puccini Prize, promoted by the Municipality of Viareggio and the Puccini Festival Foundation, on 23 July 2021. I take pride in it, because this is the second time the award, which is normally given to outstanding musicians, has gone to a scholar: the father of modern research on Puccini, Mosco Carner, preceded me in 1984. My path culminated with my nomination by three joint ministries (Culture and Entertainment, University, Education) among 'the four distinguished exponents of Italian and European culture and musical art who are experts on the life and works of Giacomo Puccini', in view of the centenary celebrations of his death (2024).
What is an area that you have always wanted to deal with but have not yet had the opportunity to explore?Seventeenth-century musical theatre in Venice, which I love very much, both for the quality and variety of the scores, and for the world behind the scenes, which is nonchalant, elegant, passionate and libertine.
What is the aspect you are most passionate about in your field of research?
Beauty and complexity, especially when it comes to opera, a semiological monstrum that compels us musicologists to exercise interdisciplinarity at every step, since we have to deal with literature, dramaturgy and staging in relation to orchestral scores. I especially love collecting the intertextual cross-references between one masterpiece and another, and I hope to write a book on this, sooner or later.
Did you always think this was your path?When I first set foot in La Fenice Theatre – I was still in secondary school – I realised that music, and opera in particular, would be my path. I was fascinated by the performance (it was Mozart's The Abduction from the Seraglio, for the record), and by the atmosphere of this splendid hall, which I assiduously frequented not only as a spectator and as a specialist, but also as an extra, archivist, director of publications, and even ended up writing a book about it. La Scala came after…
What does teach and research mean to you?
It is the best part of my life: I enjoy teaching, I have been doing research as long as I can remember, and I have transitioned seamlessly from the Conservatory to academia. I think it is important to disseminate the outcome of my research into scores and performances, and I have not changed the language I use in scientific publications, always trying to make myself understood by everyone, as far as possible.
What do you say to young people approaching research today?
Approach technological tools consciously: just like analysis, they are the means, not the end. Know that behind every score there is a story to be told, which always has to do with society, but also with the personal vicissitudes of an artist-creator. And if you have a vocation (you should), hang in there: know that the world will always need it.