Learning outcomes

the course aims to introduce students to the advanced study of music theatre and its relationship with culture and society through the history and analysis of the operatic fortune of a literary subject.

Program

Tasso, Lully, Rossini: Armida at the opera. The story of the sorcerer Armida and her unhappy love for the crusader Rinaldo constitutes one of the foremost narratives of Torquato Tasso’s "Jerusalem Delivered". The musical reception of this subject was exceptionally wide, especially in opera: Armida quickly met with a long-lasting musical fortune, well above any other narrative from sixteenth-century epic literature. The course will begin with an analysis of Tasso’s text, and will then focus on two among its most important operatic stagings: "Armide" by Jean-Baptiste Lully (1686) and "Armida" by Gioachino Rossini (1817). These two opera will function as case studies through which we will analyze the aesthetic, dramaturgical and ideological transformations of the story of Armida as it moved between different genres and media. They will also help us investigate the main features of two crucial moments in the history of opera: tragédie en musique in Louis XIV’s France and early-nineteenth-century Italian opera.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Torquato Tasso, "Gerusalemme liberata" (free downloadable text: http://www.liberliber.it/mediateca/libri/t/tasso/gerusalemme_liberata/pdf/gerusa_p.pdf)

- lecture notes;
- MARIO ARMELLINI, “Le due ‘Armide’. Metamorfosi estetiche e drammaturgiche da Lully a Gluck”, Firenze, Passigli 1993, pp. 9-86;
- CHARLES S. BRAUNER, “Da Tasso a Rossini: le metamorfosi di Armida”, in “Armida”, a cura di C. S. Brauner, Pesaro, Fondazione Rossini 2000 (I libretti di Rossini, 7), pp. XI-CXXIV;
*- BRUNO CAGLI, “Dolci inganni, soavi catene”, in Gioachino Rossini, “Armida”, progamma di sala del Rossini Opera Festival 2014, pp. 13-21;
*- PATRICIA B. e CHARLES S. BRAUNER, “’Armida’: l’edizione critica e l’opera”, in Gioachino Rossini, “Armida”, progamma di sala del Rossini Opera Festival 2014, pp. 35-42.
All books are available in the University library. The symbol * marks books available in the E-learning platform.


Libretti:

*- PHILIPPE QUINAULT, “Armide”, Paris 1686;
*- GIOVANNI SCHMIDT, “Armida”, Napoli 1817.
l’asterisco (*) contrassegna il materiale disponibile sulla piattaforma E-Learning di Ateneo.
The symbol * marks books available in the E-learning platform.


I video delle due opere analizzate:
- JEAN-BAPTISTE LULLY, “Armide”, dir. Robert Carsen, cond. William Christie, 2 DVD FRA Musica 2011 (available in the University library, Reference desk);
- GIOACHINO ROSSINI, “Armida”, dir. Mary Zimmermann, cond. Riccardo Frizza, 2 DVD Decca 2010 (available in the University library, Reference desk);
- GIOACHINO ROSSINI, “Armida” dir. Luca Ronconi, cond. Carlo Rizzi, Rossini Opera Festivan 2014 (available online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4LOTYpiL9o)

Examination Methods

written test