Catalogo dei Corsi di studio

"Opera, Globalisation and Identities" offre un’introduzione alla storia dell’opera e al campo degli opera studies. Durante le prime due settimane agli studenti saranno forniti gli strumenti analitici di base per comprendere il funzionamento dell’opera. Esempi tratti da Mozart ("Don Giovanni") e Verdi ("La traviata") aiuteranno a illustrare l’intreccio fra testo, musica e scena, e a definire il concetto di “drammaturgia musicale”. Il resto del corso prenderà in esame alcuni case studies – da “Rinaldo” di Handel a “Peter Grimes” di Britten – ed esplorerà le connessioni fra opera e questioni di genere, orientalismo ed esotismo, emarginazione, potere, nazionalismo e internazionalismo, mobilità e globalizzazione.

Parte 1: Cos'è l'Opera? Cosa significa "Drammaturgia musicale"? (Mozart, "Don Giovanni"; Verdi, "La Traviata")
Parte 2: Opera e Gender (Strauss, "Salome")
Parte 3: Opera, Esotismo, Gender (Puccini, "Madama Butterfly")
Parte 4: Opera ed Esclusione (Britten, "Peter Grimes")
Parte 5: Opera, Nazionalismo, Potere (Musorgsky, "Boris Godunov")
Parte 6: Opera e Mobilità (Handel, "Rinaldo")

Il corso inizierà giovedì 29 febbraio 2024. Le lezioni si terranno il giovedì dalle 8 alle 10, e il venerdì dalle 8 alle 12 (Aula ex CISADU, CU003)
Gli studenti sono pregati di iscriversi alla pagina Classroom, su cui verranno postate comunicazioni, informazioni e materiali del corso: https://classroom.google.com/c/NjY0MDQxMTM0NTM4?cjc=jwsdvog

Module description: Opera, Globalisation and Identities aims to offer an introduction to the history of opera and to the field of opera studies. Over the first three weeks, students will be provided with the basic analytical tools for listening to and understanding the functioning of opera. Examples from Mozart, Verdi and Wagner will help explore the interplay of text, music and stage in opera, and define the meaning of “musical dramaturgy”. The reminder of the course will focus on several case studies that illustrate how opera can serve as a useful entry point for discussing issues of gender, exclusion, nationalism and internationalism, (internal) orientalism and exoticism, globalisation, physical and social mobility, remediation. Students will familiarise with a variety of different research methods, interpretative approaches and recent scholarly debates, as well as with a number of popular and lesser-known operas, from George Frideric Handel’s Rinaldo to Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes.

Part 1 (Weeks 1-4) What is Opera? What is Musical Dramaturgy? (Mozart, Don Giovanni; Verdi, La Traviata; Wagner, Das Rheingold)

Part 2 (week 5) Opera and Gender throughout the history of opera (Strauss R., Salome)

Part 3 (week 6) Opera and Exclusion (Britten, Peter Grimes)

Part 4 (week 7) Opera and Mobility (Handel, Rinaldo)

Part 5 (week 8) Opera and Nationalism (Musorgsky, Boris Godunov)

Part 6 (week 9) Opera and Orientalism (Puccini, Madama Butterfly)

EXTRA Activities: Tour of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma + Production Workshops (Via dei Cerchi) / Attending operatic performances: dress rehearsal of Il tabarro by Giacomo Puccini and Il castello del Principe Barbablù by Béla Bartók (4 April); dress rehearsal of From the House of the Dead  by Leoš Janáček (21 May).

Classes: The course begins on Monday 27 March. Classes will be held on Monday 1–3 pm (Room: Aula A SARAS “Manlio Simonetti”, CU003) and Friday 5–8 pm (Aula II, CU003). Due to the problems and delays faced by many international students because of war-related issues, the Sapienza Governance has recently ruled that, exceptionally and only for those students, classes will also be held online. Please email giuliano.danieli@uniroma1.it to get the link to the virtual room.

Prerequisites: None

Module delivery: In person (online in exceptional circumstances)

Attendance: Attendance at all lectures (and extra activities, e.g., guided tour of the Opera House) is strongly recommended. In some cases, you will be assigned a specific reading to prepare, or a task to complete before the class. Although these tasks are not usually assessed in themselves, they form an essential part of your preparation for the final examination and are vital for your learning. Students who cannot attend the classes (neither in person nor remotely) should email giuliano.danieli@uniroma1.it

Classroom link: https://classroom.google.com/c/NjAwNjk3NDc2MTI4?cjc=nudpq64

Exam: Written 2-hour exam (4 questions) – For detailed information about the exam, see the Classroom announcements and the uploaded files on the module convenors' page.

Communication with the lecturers: We will use Google Classroom to inform students of last-minute changes to the weekly module arrangements, as well as to distribute important information and make other announcements. It is essential to have a working Sapienza (@uniroma1.it) email, to join our class on Google Classroom and check it frequently. You are welcome to email giuliano.danieli@uniroma1.it with your questions. Lecturers will also be available immediately after class, or by appointment. 

Bibliography and filmography

(available on Drive, link on Classroom: https://classroom.google.com/c/NjAwNjk3NDc2MTI4?cjc=nudpq64 )

Lecture notes

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General readings: 

00. Howard Mayer Brown, Ellen Rosand et al., ‘Opera’, Grove Music Online. 

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Required readings:

01. Tim Carter, ‘What is Opera?’, in The Oxford Handbook of Opera, edited by Helen M. Greenwald (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 15-32.

02. Tim Carter, Understanding Italian Opera (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015), pp. 1-25.

03. Laurel E. Zeiss, ‘The dramaturgy of opera’, in The Cambridge Companion to Opera Studies (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), pp. 248-279.

04. Heather Hadlock, ‘Opera and gender studies’, in The Cambridge Companion to Opera Studies, edited by Nicholas Till (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), pp. 352-378.

05. Joseph Kerman, ‘Verdi and the Undoing of Women’, Cambridge Opera Journal, 18/1, 2006, pp. 21–31.

06. Alexandra Wilson, ‘Puccini and Women’, in Calibano: l’opera e il mondo, 1, 2023.

07. Kate Bailey, ‘Dresden: Salome’, in Opera: Passion, Power and Politics (London: Victoria & Albert Pubns, 2017), pp. 206–219.

08. Linda Hutcheon and Michael Hutcheon, ‘Staging the Female Body: Richard Strauss’s Salome’, in Siren Songs: Representations of Gender and Sexuality in Opera, ed. by Mary Ann Smart (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000), pp. 204-221.

09. Benjamin Britten, ‘Introduction’; Peter Pears, ‘Neither a Hero Nor a Villain’, in Benjamin Britten: Peter Grimes, edited by Philip Brett (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), pp. 148-152.

10. Alex Ross, The Rest is Noise (New York: Picador, 2007), chapter on Peter Grimes, pp. 317-328 (ebook version).

11. Philip Brett, ‘"Grimes Is at His Exercise": Sex, Politics, and Violence in the Librettos of Peter Grimes’, in Siren Songs. Representations of Gender and Sexuality in Opera, edited by Mary Ann Smart (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2000), pp. 237-250.

12. Louise K. Stein, ‘How Opera Traveled’, in The Oxford Handbook of Opera, edited by Helen M. Greenwald (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 843-862.

13. Winton Dean, Handel’s Operas. 1704-1726 (Oxford: Claredon Press, 1995), pp. 168-205. 

14. Giovanni Andrea Sechi, ‘The Neapolitan Version of Rinaldo: The Stages of its Rediscovery’, from the CD booklet of Rinaldo, music by Handel and Leo, Dynamic CDS7831.03, pp. 18-25.

15. Marina Frolova-Walker, ‘The Language of National Style’, in The Oxford Handbook of Opera, edited by Helen M. Greenwald (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 156-176.

16. Richard Taruskin, ‘Musorgsky versus Musorgsky: The Versions of Boris Godunov’, in Musorgsky. Eight Essays and an Epilogue (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993), pp. 201-299.

17. W. Anthony Sheppard, ‘Exoticism’, in Oxford Handbook of Opera, edited by Helen M. Greenwald (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 795–816.

18. Nicholas Till, ‘‘An exotic and irrational entertainment’: opera and our others; opera as other’, in The Cambridge Companion to Opera Studies, edited by Nicholas Till (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), pp. 409-446.

19. Ping-hui Liao, ‘“Of Writing Words for Music Which Is Already Made”: Madama Butterfly, Turandot, an Orientalism’, Cultural Critique, 16 (1990), pp 31-59. 

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Students who cannot attend the classes (neither in person nor remotely) should contact me by email to receive additional materials: giuliano.danieli@uniroma1.it

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Filmography (all these operas should be watched attentively in preparation for the exam):

VERDI, La traviata, 1853 (dir. Carsen – Teatro la Fenice, 2004)

STRAUSS R, Salome, 1905 (dir. Michieletto – Teatro alla Scala, 2021)

BRITTEN, Peter Grimes, 1945 (dir. Jones – Teatro alla Scala, 2012)

HANDEL, Rinaldo, 1711 (dir. Carsen – Glyndebourne Festival, 2011)

MUSORGSKY, Boris Godunov, 1869 (dir. Bieito – Bayerische Staatsoper 2016)

PUCCINI, Madama Butterfly, 1904 (dir. Leiser, Caurier – Royal Opera House 2017)

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Syllabus

Part 1 (weeks 1-4): Musical Dramaturgy

Topics: Introduction to the course: what is opera, and why does it matter? What is opera today, and what was opera in the past? A very short history and geography. How does opera work? Words, music, performance, reception and space. Introduction to musical dramaturgy, with a few, significant examples from: 

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Don Giovanni (1787) [excerpts from Peter Brook’s production, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, 2002]

• Giuseppe Verdi, La Traviata (1853) [excerpts from Robert Carsen’s production, Teatro la Fenice, Venice, 2004]

• Richard Wagner, Das Rheingold (1851-4) [excerpts from Harry Kupfer’s production, Bayreuth Festival, 

Readings:

Howard Mayer Brown, Ellen Rosand et al., ‘Opera’, Grove Music Online.

Tim Carter, ‘What is Opera?’, in The Oxford Handbook of Opera, edited by Helen M. Greenwald (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 15-32.

Tim Carter, Understanding Italian Opera (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015), pp. 1-25.

Laurel E. Zeiss, ‘The dramaturgy of opera’, in The Cambridge Companion to Opera Studies (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), pp. 248-279.

Further readings: 

Librettos of Don Giovanni and La traviata

Excerpts from the operas:[1]

Mozart, Don Giovanni. Act 1, Scene 5, Recitativo and Leporello’s Aria: ‘Madamina, il catalogo è questo’ (22:00-30:35)

Mozart, Don Giovanni. Act 1, no. 7, Duet Don Giovanni-Zerlina: ‘Là ci darem la mano’ (38:14-40:57) 

Verdi, La traviata. No. 1, orchestral prelude[2]

Verdi, La traviata. Act 1, no. 2, ‘Introduzione’

Verdi, La traviata. Act 1, no. 3, ‘Aria di Violetta’

Verdi, La traviata. Act 2, no. 6, ‘Scena’ (Violetta: ‘Amami Alfredo’)

Wagner, Das Rheingold. Scene 1 (Bottom of the Rhine - beginning)

Additional activity in week 2 (not compulsory): attendance of an operatic performance at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma (Puccini, Il tabarro + Bartók, Bluebeard’s Castle).

Part 2 (week 5): Opera and Gender

• Richard Strauss, Salome (1905) [excerpts from Damiano Michieletto’s production, Teatro alla Scala, 2021]

Readings:

Heather Hadlock, ‘Opera and Gender Studies’, in The Cambridge Companion to Opera Studies, edited by Nicholas Till (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), pp. 352-378.

Joseph Kerman, ‘Verdi and the Undoing of Women’, Cambridge Opera Journal, 18/1, 2006, pp. 21–31.

Alexandra Wilson, ‘Puccini and Women’, in Calibano: l’opera e il mondo, 1, 2023.

Kate Bailey, ‘Dresden: Salome’, in Opera: Passion, Power and Politics (London: Victoria & Albert Pubns, 2017), pp. 206–219.

Linda Hutcheon and Michael Hutcheon, ‘Staging the Female Body: Richard Strauss’s Salome’, in Siren Songs: Representations of Gender and Sexuality in Opera, ed. by Mary Ann Smart (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000), pp. 204-221.

Further readings:

Libretto of Salome

Excerpts from the operas: 

Strauss R., Salome. Scene 2, Salome’s entrance (7.30-10.00)

Strauss R., Salome. Scene 2, Jochanaan’s entrance and exchange with Salome (15.15-43.00)

Strauss R., Salome. Scene 4, Dance of the 7 veils (1.03.10-1.12.45)

Strauss R., Salome. Scene 4, Finale (1.41.20-end)

Part 3 (week 6): Opera and Exclusion

• Benjamin Britten, Peter Grimes (1945) [excerpts from Richard Jones’ production, Teatro alla Scala, 2012]

Readings:

Benjamin Britten, ‘Introduction’; Peter Pears, ‘Neither a Hero Nor a Villain’, in Benjamin Britten: Peter Grimes, edited by Philip Brett (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), pp. 148-152.

Philip Brett, ‘"Grimes Is at His Exercise": Sex, Politics, and Violence in the Librettos of Peter Grimes’, in Siren Songs. Representations of Gender and Sexuality in Opera, edited by Mary Ann Smart (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2000), pp. 237-250.

Alex Ross, The Rest is Noise (New York: Picador, 2007), chapter on Peter Grimes, pp. 317-328.

Further readings: 

Libretto of Peter Grimes

Excerpts from the opera: 

Britten, Peter Grimes. Prelude: The Trial (3.00-10.00)

Britten, Peter Grimes. Prelude: Duet Peter-Ellen (10.20-12.33)

Britten, Peter Grimes. Interlude 1: ‘Dawn’ + Act 1, Scene 1: The Borough’s choral hymn (12.33-22.00)

Britten, Peter Grimes. Act 1, Scene 1: Ellen’s Aria, ‘Let her among you without fault’ (25.57-28.20)

Britten, Peter Grimes. Act 1, Scene 1: Peter’s monologue, ‘They listen to money’ (35.46-38.29)

Britten, Peter Grimes. Interlude 2: ‘The Storm’ (38.30-43.00)

Britten, Peter Grimes. Act 1, Scene 2: Peter’s Aria, ‘Now the great Bear and Pleiades’ (50’32-54’10)

Britten, Peter Grimes. Act 1, Scene 2, ‘Old Joe has gone fishing’ (55.01-57.23)

Britten, Peter Grimes. Act 2, Scene 1: Ellen and Peter’s quarrel + choir: ‘Grimes is at his exercise’ (1.09.11-1.20.13)

Britten, Peter Grimes. Interlude 4: ‘Passacaglia’ (1.30.13-1.35.19)

Britten, Peter Grimes. Interlude 6 + Act 3, Scene 2 (02.10.00-02.25.58)

Additional activity in weeks 5-6 (not compulsory): guided tours of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma and Production Workshops.

Part 4 (week 7): Opera and Mobility

• George Frideric Handel, Rinaldo (London, 1711) [excerpts from Robert Carsen’s production, Glyndebourne Festival, 2011].

• George Frideric Handel, Leonardo Leo et al., Rinaldo (Naples, 1718) [excerpts from Giorgio Sangati’s production, Festival della Valle d’Itria, Martina Franca, 2018].

Readings:

Louise K. Stein, ‘How Opera Traveled’, in The Oxford Handbook of Opera, edited by Helen M. Greenwald (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 843-862.

Winton Dean, Handel’s Operas. 1704-1726 (Oxford: Claredon Press, 1995), pp. 168-205.

Giovanni Andrea Sechi, ‘The Neapolitan Version of Rinaldo: The Stages of its Rediscovery’, from the CD booklet of Rinaldo, music by Handel and Leo, Dynamic CDS7831.03, pp. 18-25.

Further readings:

Libretto of Rinaldo (London 1711)

Libretto of Rinaldo (Naples 1718)

Excerpts from the opera: 

Handel, Rinaldo (London 1711). Act 1, Scene 9, Rinaldo: ‘ Venti, turbini, prestate’ (1.06.00-1.09.55)

Handel, Rinaldo (London 1711). Act 2, Scene 3, Goffredo: ‘Mio cor, che mi sai dir’ (1.22.28-1.25.17)

Handel, Rinaldo (London 1711). Act 2, Scene 3, Sirens: ‘Il vostro Maggio’ (1.16.50-1.19.00)

Handel, Rinaldo (London 1711). Act 2, Scene 4: Almirena, ‘Lascia ch’io pianga’ (1.27.47-1.31.54)

Handel, Rinaldo (London 1711). Act 3, Scene 11: Battle (2.32.57-2.35.55)

Handel-Leo, Rinaldo (Naples 1718). Act 1, Scene 8, Rinaldo: ‘Mio cor, che mi sai dir’

Handel-Leo, Rinaldo (Naples 1718). Act 2, Scene 6, Argante: ‘Nave son, che fra due venti’

Handel-Leo, Rinaldo (Naples 1718). Act 3, Scene 7, Rinaldo: ‘Lascia ch’io resti’

Additional activity in week 2 (not compulsory): attendance of an operatic performance at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma (Janáček, From the House of the Dead).

Part 5 (week 8): Opera and Nationalism

• Modest Musorgsky, Boris Godunov (1869-72) [1869 version: excerpts from Calixto Bieito’s production, Bayerische Staatsoper, 2016; 1872 version: excerpts from Herbert Wernicke’s production, Salzburg Festival, 1998].

• Modest Musorgsky, The Marriage (1868, unfinished) [excerpts from the 1984 documentary].

Readings:

Marina Frolova-Walker, ‘The Language of National Style’, in The Oxford Handbook of Opera, edited by Helen M. Greenwald (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 156-176.

Richard Taruskin, ‘Musorgsky versus Musorgsky: The Versions of Boris Godunov’, in Musorgsky. Eight Essays and an Epilogue (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993), pp. 201-299.

Further readings:

Libretto of Boris Godunov

Excerpts from the opera: 

Musorgsky, The Marriage. Scene 1, Podkolyosin and Stephan

Musorgsky, Boris Godunov, 1869 version. Scene 1: Introduction and Choir of the Pilgrims (02.09–18.35)

Musorgsky, Boris Godunov, 1869 version. Scene 2: Coronation scene, Boris’ monologue and Slava! (18.35-27.00)

Musorgsky, Boris Godunov, 1869 version. Scene 4: The Inn at the Lithuanian border (47.42-1.03.12)

Musorgsky, Boris Godunov, 1869 version. Scene 5: Boris’ vision (1.26.50-1.29.48)

Musorgsky, Boris Godunov, 1872 version. Act 2, Scene 5: Boris’ vision 

Musorgsky, Boris Godunov, 1872 version. Scene 6: The Fool and Boris (1.39.22-1.42.30)

Musorgsky, Boris Godunov, 1872 version. Act 4, Finale: The Fool predicts the grim destiny of Russia 

Part 6 (week 9): Opera and Orientalism

• Giacomo Puccini, Madama Butterfly (1904) [excerpts from Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier’s production, Royal Opera House, 2017].

Readings:

Nicholas Till, ‘‘An exotic and irrational entertainment’: opera and our others; opera as other’, in The Cambridge Companion to Opera Studies, edited by Nicholas Till (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), pp. 409-446.

W. Anthony Sheppard, ‘Exoticism’, in Oxford Handbook of Opera, edited by Helen M. Greenwald (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 795–816.

Ping-hui Liao, ‘“Of Writing Words for Music Which Is Already Made”: Madama Butterfly, Turandot, an Orientalism’, Cultural Critique, 16 (1990), pp. 31-59.

Further readings:

Libretto of Madama Butterfly

Excerpts from the opera: 

Puccini, Madama Butterfly. Act 1, Ouverture and Scene 1 (01.00-07.25)

Puccini, Madama Butterfly. Act 1, Pinkerton: ‘Dovunque al mondo’ (07.25-10.35)

Puccini, Madama Butterfly. Act 1, Scenes 2-3, Cio-Cio-San’s entrance (14.32-22.16)

Puccini, Madama Butterfly. Act 2, Scene 1, Cio-Cio-San: ‘Un bel dì vedremo’ (57.54-1.02.04)

Puccini, Madama Butterfly. Act 2, Scene 6, Humming Choir (1.36.10-1.39.10)

Puccini, Madama Butterfly. Act 3, Double Finale (2.04.20-2.11.50)

[1] All videos are available on Google Drive, VIDEOS Folder. In some cases, I have uploaded excerpts from the operas examined during my lectures. In other cases, you can find the operas in their entirety (the time indications in brackets correspond to the excerpts I have discussed). 

[2] The entire video of Verdi’s La traviata (in the production by Robert Carsen, Teatro La Fenice, Venice, 2004) is available online: https://www.raiplay.it/programmi/latraviatateatrolafenice . The excerpts analysed in Week 2 are available on Drive (with the addition of English subtitles).