Italian Librettto Course - THREE WEEKS ONLY
NOTE: This course is 3 weeks (July 8 to 26) and MUST be taken with the Petrarch course (July 29 to August 16)
The course will illustrate the fundamental characteristics and general outlines of Italian librettos from the origins of melodrama to the first half of the twentieth century, also providing a brief overview of the history of opera and the fundamentals of musical dramaturgy.
The following topics will be examined: the function of the libretto and the metrical forms used in melodrama; the content of the drama, analyzing the selection of subjects and the relationship with the literary source; the relationship between the libretto text and the verbal text of the opera in music; an in-depth look at the most eminent figures among Italian librettists and their contribution to the genre of librettos.
Some complete works, exemplifying the history of opera, will be presented, listened to, and analyzed with the aim of highlighting the integrated system of text, music, and stage.