Lorenzo Bianconi

Production, consumption and political function of seventeenth-century opera

This article was first planned in 1976. It owes its existence to Pierluigi Petrobelli who, charged with organising a round table on seventeenth-century music drama for the Twelfth Congress of the International Musicological Society, Berkeley 1977, invited the authors to prepare a paper as a focus for discussion and offered them constant encouragement throughout its preparatory stages. It is our pleasant duty to mention that during the time of preparation of the paper Lorenzo Bianconi held scholarships from the Centro Tedesco di Studi Veneziani and the Istituto Storico Germanico of Rome.

Opera production and its resources

This study investigates the entire Italian operatic tradition, approaching opera not only as a distinctive musical genre but also as a form of extravagant theatre and as a complex social phenomenon. The text traces the social, economic and artistic history of the production of opera from its origins around 1600 to contemporary stagings. Although it has always been a deficit-producing enterprise, opera has maintained unchallenged pre-eminence in the culture of all Italians for centuries. The first half of the book explores the central role of theatre impresarios in putting on these complex productions and in increasing the output of librettos and scores. The second half considers the roles of the three key figures in the creation of any opera: the librettist, the composer and the singer.

ISME and the Twilight of History

In addition to the International Musicological Society there exists an International Society for Music Education, an association (affiliated with UNESCO) that gathers music educators from over 80 countries. Between the end of the last century and the beginning of the present one, the ISME issued three main policy papers: “Declaration of Beliefs for Worldwide Promotion of Music Education” (1994-96); “Policy on Music Education” (2002); and “Vision and Mission: Leading and Supporting Music Education Worldwide” (2006). A comparative analysis of the three ‘manifestos’ reveals that, while in 1994-96 the ISME explicitly included the triad ‘history – culture – aesthetics’ in its conception, and regarded the ‘listening’ of music as an educationally significant activity, after just a few years the first and third notions (‘history,’ ‘aesthetics’) have all but vanished, and music listening has also disappeared from the agenda. The fact that the notion of ‘history’ and the aesthetic approach to musical art have disappeared from the perspective of music educators worldwide may have to do with scruples about political correctness, motivated by the “Mexico City Declaration on Cultural Policies” of UNESCO (1982), where the notion of ‘culture’ had already replaced that of ‘history’. To be sure, this ignorance, or suspicion, about the historical aspects of music production does not in any way facilitate the task of musicologists (or of ethnomusicologists), nor that of music education teachers.

The intellectual task of musicologists in the building of a European citizenship

This paper, which has been proposed as keynote speech at the study session “Transmission of musical knowledge: constructing a European citizenship” (Rome, XIX IMS conference, July 6, 2012), suggests that it is important, and useful (in terms of both education and politics) for all citizens of the European Union, and for the foreigners who access the EU, to highlight the art music ( Kunstmusik , musica d’arte ) heritage, which constitutes one of the peculiar, distinctive features of European culture, and whose importance cannot certainly be reduced to the sphere of entertainment. The art music heritage raises specific issues, first of all its composite nature. We have a material heritage, made of objects that require preservation (instruments, scores, treatises, documents, buildings designed for music performance); and we have an immaterial heritage – whose value can be aesthetic (works and events, i.e. music pieces to be performed or listened to) or intellectual (music texts, writings on music, theoretical and practical knowledge, performance techniques). The latter can only survive if it is taken care of and transmitted. Knowledge of the European music heritage can be a powerful tool for integration in the building of a European citizenship, since it makes us aware that we have one common musical tradition, open and manifold. This provides a shared reference framework to the many local musical traditions scattered over the continent, and, at the same time, offers a reading key (by analogy and/or contrast) to groups of non-European citizens who come from different music cultures and aim at integrating into the Union. In this process, musicologists can play a crucial role, if only they understand that one of the missions of their discipline is to educate and transmit musical culture. Music pedagogy and didactics are not separate fields - on the contrary, we must again look at them as a supporting branch, vigorous and thriving, attached to the trunk of musicology. Restoring this status should be primarily the task of musicologists.