Tra «incivilimento» e «riordino»: le ambizioni di un grande teatro d’opera per Roma capitale (1789-1960)

During the nineteenth century the theatre building - and in particular the opera house - imposed itself as tangible proof of the civic progress of Western societies. As Mazzini theorised the “civilization of the multitudes” through the arts, the theatre became the place where this yearning could be pursued. The momentum of Italian theatre construction was impressive during the nineteenth century, both in the major centres and in the small provincial towns. Rome, from this point of view, represents a significant exception. Until the end of the 19th century, the city, although equipped with important venues of the old regime, did not have an opera house conceived in contemporary terms. To fill the gap, for about a century and a half, designers from different backgrounds will work to equip the capital with an opera house worthy of its aspirations. Drawing on rare or little-known sources, produced among others by architects Pietro Sangiorgi, Antonio Lovatti, and Marcello Piacentini, the contribution reflects on the positioning of a large opera house in the urban layout of the capital. From the papal Rome and the liberal age, to the fascist period, the longed opera house tries to give new, contemporary meanings to a building that will come to stand out for its fascinating outdatedness.During the nineteenth century the theatre building - and in particular the opera house - imposed itself as tangible proof of the civic progress of Western societies. As Mazzini theorised the “civilization of the multitudes” through the arts, the theatre became the place where this yearning could be pursued. The momentum of Italian theatre construction was impressive during the nineteenth century, both in the major centres and in the small provincial towns. Rome, from this point of view, represents a significant exception. Until the end of the 19th century, the city, although equipped with important venues of the old regime, did not have an opera house conceived in contemporary terms. To fill the gap, for about a century and a half, designers from different backgrounds will work to equip the capital with an opera house worthy of its aspirations. Drawing on rare or little-known sources, produced among others by architects Pietro Sangiorgi, Antonio Lovatti, and Marcello Piacentini, the contribution reflects on the positioning of a large opera house in the urban layout of the capital. From the papal Rome and the liberal age, to the fascist period, the longed opera house tries to give new, contemporary meanings to a building that will come to stand out for its fascinating outdatedness

Giorgio Strehler and the opera. Organizational and cultural policy problems

Ricostruzione dell'attività lirica di Giorgio Strehler, a partire da documentazione inedita conservata presso il Museo Carlo Schmidl di Trieste e l'Archivio musicale del Teatro alla Scal

Theatre on a Line di Cuocolo/Bosetti. Il teatro al telefono al tempo della pandemia: una conversazione con Renato Cuocolo

L’articolo si concentra sulle modalità con cui alcune istituzioni teatrali italiane hanno fronteggiato la pandemia da coronavirus e la chiusura forzata delle sale nella prima fase dell’emergenza sanitaria. La prospettiva adottata è quella di Theatre on a Line di Cuocolo/Bosetti, spettacolo del 2011 ripreso nella primavera-estate del 2020 da una pluralità di soggetti produttori. Interamente costruito intorno a una telefonata tra l’attrice Roberta Bosetti e uno spettatore a casa, il lavoro indaga le paure attraverso l’intimità del mezzo telefonico. A quasi dieci anni dal debutto, una produzione tra le più estreme - e meno riprese - della compagnia italo-australiana acquista nuovi significati, diventando uno strumento disponibile per continuare a produrre teatro in un momento di crisi. L’articolo ricostruisce in prospettiva storica il rapporto tra telefono e teatro, sviluppandosi in una conversazione con il drammaturgo Renato Cuocolo e con il direttore del Teatro della Tosse Amedeo Romeo, tra i primi a riprendere lo spettacolo.The article focuses on how several Italian theatrical institutions reacted to the covid-19 pandemic and the consequent lockdown in the early stage of the health crisis. The perspective is the production of Theatre on a Line, a 2011 performance by Cuocolo/Bosetti that was widely reprised in the springsummer 2020. Entirely built on a conversation between the actress Roberta Bosetti and a single spectator, the performance delves into fears through the intimacy of the telephone. Ten years after its debut, one of the most extreme and less reprised productions of the Italo-Australian company takes on a new meaning and becomes a ready-to-use tool for facing a season of crisis. The article reconstructs the relationship between theatre and telephone from an historical perspective and then focuses on a conversation with the playwright Renato Cuocolo and the director of Teatro della Tosse, Amedeo Romeo

Tra «incivilimento» e «riordino»: le ambizioni di un grande teatro d’opera per Roma capitale (1789-1960)

During the nineteenth century the theatre building - and in particular the opera house - imposed itself as tangible proof of the civic progress of Western societies. As Mazzini theorised the “civilization of the multitudes” through the arts, the theatre became the place where this yearning could be pursued. The momentum of Italian theatre construction was impressive during the nineteenth century, both in the major centres and in the small provincial towns. Rome, from this point of view, represents a significant exception. Until the end of the 19th century, the city, although equipped with important venues of the old regime, did not have an opera house conceived in contemporary terms. To fill the gap, for about a century and a half, designers from different backgrounds will work to equip the capital with an opera house worthy of its aspirations. Drawing on rare or little-known sources, produced among others by architects Pietro Sangiorgi, Antonio Lovatti, and Marcello Piacentini, the contribution reflects on the positioning of a large opera house in the urban layout of the capital. From the papal Rome and the liberal age, to the fascist period, the longed opera house tries to give new, contemporary meanings to a building that will come to stand out for its fascinating outdatedness

Arte e potere. Emma Carelli tra affari e politica teatrale

A soprano and an impresario of international renown, Emma Carelli (1877-1928) is a notorious and mystified case of woman of power. She was an outstanding figure both as an artist and a businesswoman with a fascinating and rich biography. Therefore, it is no surprise that her life has fostered in the last century myths and sometimes-unreliable reconstructions. Drawing upon uncharted documents preserved at the Historical Diplomatic Archive of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and at the Central State Archive of Rome, the paper adjusts Carelli in a more reliable perspective, as a key but problematic figure in the development of the international theatrical commerce, and as one of the most important female impresarios in Italian theatre history

Mascagni, Mocchi, Sonzogno. La Società Teatrale Internazionale (1908-1931) e i suoi protagonisti

Fondata nel 1908, la Società Teatrale Internazionale (STIn) nasce con lo scopo di superare la crisi del teatro lirico attraverso una rivoluzione secondo criteri “industriali” dei modelli ottocenteschi di produzione, riunendo intorno a un capitale imponente, organizzato in una società anonima per azioni, i principali protagonisti della scena teatrale dell'Italia liberale (in primis Pietro Mascagni, gli editori Edoardo e Renzo Sonzogno, l'agente Walter Mocchi, il soprano Emma Carelli). Attiva fino al 1931, la società verrà liquidata dal Governatorato fascista di Roma, che diventato azionista nel 1926 troverà nella STIn – e nel teatro di sua proprietà, il Costanzi – un banco di prova privilegiato per sperimentare le riforme del mondo teatrale teorizzate dal regime. La Società Teatrale Internazionale riveste un'importanza notevole per la storia del teatro musicale sia per la rinomanza dei direttori, degli organizzatori e degli artisti coinvolti nel progetto, sia per l'importanza dei teatri a essa collegati. Caso assai raro nella storia del teatro italiano, le vicende della STIn possono essere ricostruite attraverso l'archivio societario, conservato presso l'Archivio Storico Capitolino di Roma e il cui ordinamento ha preso avvio in seguito alla presente ricerca. Lo studio dei documenti societari, integrati da ricerche presso gli archivi dei teatri in cui la STIn svolse la propria attività, consentono di ricostruire dall'interno, attraverso un caso di studio particolare ma significativo, un periodo cruciale per la storia del teatro italiano, toccando anche vari snodi di interesse internazionale. Tra gli episodi più rilevanti - qui ricostruiti attraverso numerosi autografi inediti - l'esperienza di Pietro Mascagni come organizzatore e direttore di teatro e le vicende distributive di Isabeau e del Piccolo Marat. The Società Teatrale Internazionale (STIn) was founded in 1908 by key protagonists of the operatic scene, including Pietro Mascagni, Emma Carelli, Walter Mocchi and the publishers Sonzogno. The Società aimed to tackle the crisis consuming the operatic world by renewing the system of production, taking inspiration the financial and managerial methods of the new American industry. STIn was founded as a limited company and an examination of its organisation reveals a lot about the idea of "industrial theatre”. In its first season STIn purchased the Teatro Costanzi, the greatest opera house in Rome, and therefore had control of one of the most important opera houses in Italy. However, the operation was unsuccessful and the company was involved in a crisis which will lasted until the 1920s. In 1926 the fascist government of Rome became STIn’s majority shareholder and it used the Teatro Constanzi to experiment with its theatrical politics. This book reconstructs the entire activity of the Società Teatrale Internazionale using a significant amount of hitherto unexplored sources. These include the company archive held in the Archivio Storico Capitolino in Rome and the theatre archives of the cities where the company developed its business. The key discovery of this research is that these documents allow us to reconstruct the activity of Pietro Mascagni as a theatre manager and trace the productions of Isabeau and Piccolo Marat by using many unpublished documents written by the composer himself

Antonella Valoroso, Adelaide Ristori e lo specchio della scrittura. Messinscena delle memorie di una diva

Recensione del volume omonimo di Antonella Valoros

Miti, interpretazioni e fraintendimenti: l'"autenticità" nella Convenzione UNESCO del 2003 e nella normativa italiana

The article focuses on one of the most critical issues when it comes to cultural heritage, namely the authenticity of a specific cultural practice and its role in the definition of a community identity. A fundamental characteristic for many UNESCO programs, authenticity is formally excluded from the text of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage and from the Operational Directives; yet, in the application of these tools, it is one of the most problematic issues both for the communities of practitioners and for the bodies responsible for the protection of the registered elements, with clear implications of anthropological, political, and economic nature. The contribution reflects on the myth of authenticity and its declinations in terms of “ownership” and “exclusivity” of different cultural practices, approaching the analysis from a dual perspective: the regulatory developments at an international level and the most recent determinations of UNESCO are placed in dialogue with the legal and doctrinal interpretations in the Italian context, restoring the complexity of a subject in which demo-ethno-anthropological skills prove essential for the understanding of the law and its application to the concrete cases of human communities