Carlo Goldoni As Musical Reformer
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CARLO GOLDONI AS MUSICAL REFORMER IN SEARCH OF REALISM IN THE DRAMMA GIOCOSO La vraisemblance doit toujours être la principale règle, et sans laquelle toutes les autres deviennent déréglées. -l’Abbé d’Aubignac, La Pratique du Théâtre by Pervinca Rista Dissertation submitted to the Johns Hopkins University in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Baltimore, Maryland March 18, 2015 © Pervinca Rista All Rights Reserved Abstract Venetian playwright Carlo Goldoni (1707-1793), who is best remembered in literary history for his realist ‘reform’ of comic theatre, was also a prolific librettist. In particular, his texts for music written from 1748 onwards remain understudied but warrant significant reappraisal, for Goldoni was one of the first to give shape to the dramma giocoso, an innovative and realistic new genre of opera that went on to have a lasting legacy all the way to W. A. Mozart and Lorenzo da Ponte. Through an interdisciplinary, historical approach and intertextual analysis, the present study reevaluates Goldoni’s drammi giocosi, largely overlooked by scholarship, to uncover the lasting innovations in form and content introduced by the Venetian playwright. Analysis of these texts also reveals clear affinity between Goldoni's contributions to the dramma giocoso and his reform of prose theatre. Most importantly, unlike other types of comic opera, the dramma giocoso has the particularity of combining buffo with serio, a dynamic that, through Goldoni's mature output, continually evolves to bring new realism and social relevance to opera theatre. Goldoni’s influence on this type of musical representation has not been fully considered, but the realism in music that he achieves through the dramma giocoso must be acknowledged as a lasting contribution to modern literature, and to operatic history. ii Acknowledgments My sincere thanks go to all those who have supported this project, and especially to my advisors, prof.s Eugenio Refini and Anna Celenza. I also wish to thank Università Ca’ Foscari and Casa Goldoni for their hospitality and invaluable resources. iii To prof. Pier Massimo Forni, with gratitude for his lessons in literature, and in humanity. iv Table of Contents CHAPTER I. SETTING THE STAGE FOR GOLDONI LIBRETTIST Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 1 Contributions of scholarly researcH ........................................................................................... 6 Thesis: tHe dramma giocoso as stylistic and ideological reform in music ................... 13 Critical approach and method .................................................................................................... 14 CHAPTER II. TOWARDS THE FIRST DRAMMI GIOCOSI Tracing tHe genre: Neapolitan origins and arrival in Venice ........................................... 19 i. The limits of opera seria ......................................................................................................................... 19 ii. Older antecedents of comic opera .................................................................................................... 25 iii. Naples and the commedia pe’ mmusica ......................................................................................... 27 iv. The commedia per musica towards a universal stage ............................................................. 37 v. The commedia per musica in Venice ............................................................................................... 41 Goldoni’s apprenticesHip in tHe intermezzi ........................................................................... 46 i. The intermezzo and its inverse itinerary: from Venice to Naples ........................................ 46 ii. Goldoni and his first musical texts ................................................................................................... 48 iii. A time of transitions: from intermezzo to comic opera ......................................................... 61 iv. The 1740s. Theatrical reform. From dramma comico to dramma giocoso .................... 65 La Scuola Moderna: materia buffa colla seria ........................................................................ 76 CHAPTER III. NEW PERSPECTIVES ON THE REFORM IN MUSIC Defining dramma giocoso ............................................................................................................. 84 Drammi giocosi 1748-1760: stages of production and elements of reform ................ 88 i. Realism or fantasy? .................................................................................................................................. 89 ii. The rule and the exception .................................................................................................................. 94 iii. Buffo and serio in ‘reformed’ prose theatre .............................................................................. 100 iv. The dramma giocoso takes shape .................................................................................................. 106 v. La Buona Figliuola (prelude) ............................................................................................................ 124 vi. Goldoni after La Buona Figliuola ................................................................................................... 124 From speech to song ................................................................................................................... 142 i. Common themes ...................................................................................................................................... 143 ii. Common dramatic techniques: the ensemble ........................................................................... 145 iii. Common dramatic techniques: buffo and serio ....................................................................... 153 Direct translation ......................................................................................................................... 160 Thematic ritornelli and ideological reform ........................................................................ 183 Buffo, serio, and melodramatic reform ................................................................................. 186 CHAPTER IV. TOWARDS THE EUROPEAN STAGE International drammi giocosi and tHe diffusion of a new genre .................................. 190 Goldoni on opera tHeatre: realism and critique ................................................................ 193 Expectations and reality in Paris ............................................................................................ 196 CHAPTER V. GOLDONI’S MUSICAL LEGACY From Goldoni to Da Ponte: the dramma giocoso fully formed ...................................... 207 i. Mozart and Goldoni ................................................................................................................................ 211 ii. The darkest dramma giocoso ............................................................................................................ 213 v Conclusions .................................................................................................................................... 214 BibliograpHy ......................................................................................................................... 216 About the Author ................................................................................................................. 223 vi CHAPTER I. Setting tHe Stage for Goldoni Librettist Introduction Carlo Goldoni is highly regarded for his innovative contributions to the evolution of comic theatre, in particular for the Enlightenment ideology and realism that have made his works emblematic of a turning point in history. In light of his enduring legacy as theatrical reformer (from the canovacci of the Commedia dell’Arte Goldoni was the first to steer actors and audiences towards developed, realistic, and socially relevant comedy), it is less often remembered that Goldoni, alongside his works for the spoken theatre, composed opera libretti during the entire course of his life. This production is as varied as it is vast, and includes short comic intermezzi, melodrammi seri in the style of Zeno and Metastasio, drammi eroicomici, divertimenti per musica, drammi comici per musica, and nearly 50 drammi giocosi. His first texts for music (Il buon padre (The Good Father) and La Cantatrice (The Singer), 1730) were written at the age of 23, his last (Vittorina, 1779) at 72. During his lifetime and beyond, Goldoni’s texts were set to music by numerous celebrated composers, including Antonio Vivaldi, Baldassarre Galuppi, Niccolò Piccinni, Gaetano Latilla, Giuseppe Scarlatti, Giovanni Paisiello, and outside of Italy Franz Joseph Haydn among others. Operas created from his libretti were performed throughout Italy and Europe, from Modena to Moscow, London and Prague. 1 Thematically, the libretti present a wide range of social situations and character types largely drawn from contemporary society. While humorous realism most often predominates, some texts re-elaborate older popular works (Bertoldo, Bertoldino, e Cacasenno), whereas others explore fantastical settings (Arcifanfano Re dei Matti (Arcifanfano King of Madmen), Il Paese della Cuccagna (The Land of Plenty)). Among Goldoni’s texts for music we can also find meta-theatrical libretti