Art History

EMANUELE GIUSEPPE SENICI
EMANUELE GIUSEPPE SENICI

At the end of the course, which focuses on several case studies each year, students will have acquired the conceptual, methodological and cultural framework for analyzing the aesthetic and dramaturgical transformations of opera when it meets the stage and its media; for understanding the material and technological features of the various media of music theatre; and for mastering some crucial moments in the recent history of opera.

First module:
At the end of the module, the students will have acquired the conceptual, methodological and cultural framework for: a) understanding the specific features of opera, which differentiate it from other theatrical forms and genres, with or without music; b) analyzing the constitutive components of opera, in turn verbal, musical and visual, as well as their interaction.

Second module:
At the end of the module, students will have acquired the methods and tools necessary for studying music theatre as part of history, understanding how it contributes to the ideology, society and culture of any given period, and analyzing and interpreting the functions and meanings of music theatre as a means for constructing social and cultural identity.

No prerequisites

The module (12CFU total) is divided into two separate and independent but related modules of 6CFU each. Students who need only 6CFU can choose either module: the reading list for those students sitting an exam for only 6CF will be published at the beginning of the lecture course.

First module:
This module aims to introduce students to the methods and tools necessary for studying of opera as the foremost manifestation of music theatre in the so-called West over the past four centuries. Each year the module focuses on one opera as a case study, and seeks to build the conceptual, methodological and cultural framework for: a) understanding the specific features of opera, which differentiate it from other theatrical forms and genres, with or without music; b) analyzing the constitutive components of opera, in turn verbal, musical and visual, as well as their interaction.

Secondo module:
This module aims to introduce students to the methods and tools necessary for studying music theatre as part of history, understanding how it contributes to the ideology, society and culture of any given period. Each year the module focuses on one opera as a case study, and seeks to build the conceptual and methodological framework for analyzing and interpreting the functions and meanings of music theatre as a means for constructing social and cultural identity.

The reading list will be published at the beginning of the lecture course on the professor's page on the "Corsidilaurea" website:
https://corsidilaurea.uniroma1.it/it/users/emanueleseniciuniroma1it

Lectures with extensive use of audiovisual recordings.

Attending lectures is not strictly compulsory but it is warmly encouraged

Written exam with a few open-ended questions that require answers in the form of short essays.

Per ciascuna opera è proposto un estratto dal libretto. Ciascuna risposta deve contenere una parte a) e una parte b), come segue:

a) Si chiede di analizzare il testo, la musica e una messa in scena a scelta dell’estratto in questione. Il modello di analisi è quello seguito durante le lezioni e presentato nella bibliografia (ovviamente non si richiede quel livello di dettaglio, soprattutto per la musica: si ricorda che non è necessario saper leggere la musica).

b) Si chiede inoltre di discutere un aspetto dell’opera da cui proviene l’estratto e una questione della teoria della drammaturgia musicale che, a giudizio del/la candidato/a, emergono in modo particolarmente chiaro, o interessante, o controverso dall’estratto proposto. Tra le questioni possibili si considerino: la relazione tra l’opera e le sue fonti letterarie, e/o tra questa e il contesto culturale, sociale, politico, ideologico in cui essa nasce o in cui essa viene successivamente eseguita o discussa; la questione dell’autorialità multipla e delle modalità di creazione dell’opera; l’importanza dei generi nella concezione e nella ricezione di un’opera; l’interazione tra testo verbale, testo musicale e apparato visivo; l’importanza della regia nell’opera, etc. Questi sono solo alcuni esempi: il/la candidato/a può concentrarsi su altri aspetti e questioni a sua scelta, che ha incontrato a lezione e/o nella bibliografia per il modulo.