Yes, Virginia, Another Ballo Tragico: the National Library of Portugal’S Ballet D’Action Libretti from the First Half of the Nineteenth Century
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YES, VIRGINIA, ANOTHER BALLO TRAGICO: THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF PORTUGAL’S BALLET D’ACTION LIBRETTI FROM THE FIRST HALF OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Ligia Ravenna Pinheiro, M.F.A., M.A., B.F.A. Graduate Program in Dance Studies The Ohio State University 2015 Dissertation Committee: Karen Eliot, Adviser Nena Couch Susan Petry Angelika Gerbes Copyright by Ligia Ravenna Pinheiro 2015 ABSTRACT The Real Theatro de São Carlos de Lisboa employed Italian choreographers from its inauguration in 1793 to the middle of the nineteenth century. Many libretti for the ballets produced for the S. Carlos Theater have survived and are now housed in the National Library of Portugal. This dissertation focuses on the narratives of the libretti in this collection, and their importance as documentation of ballets of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, from the inauguration of the S. Carlos Theater in 1793 to 1850. This period of dance history, which has not received much attention by dance scholars, links the earlier baroque dance era of the eighteenth century with the style of ballet of the 1830s to the 1850s. Portugal had been associated with Italian art and artists since the beginning of the eighteenth century. This artistic relationship continued through the final decades of the eighteenth and the first half of the nineteenth century. The majority of the choreographers working in Lisbon were Italian, and the works they created for the S. Carlos Theater followed the Italian style of ballet d’action. Libretti are documented accounts of choreography of this period and contain important information regarding the style of the ballets produced in Lisbon. The narratives of the ballets in these libretti reveal the style of works produced in Lisbon from the late eighteenth to the middle of the nineteenth ii centuries: the ballet d’action that relied on the use of pantomime and gestures to tell stories. The importance of pantomime in ballets of the period covered in this investigation becomes evident in the analysis of several scenarios of ballets produced in Lisbon. This salient characteristic of ballets of the period emerges through the plot developments of the ballets d’action produced in Portugal. iii Dedicated to Ary de Souza Pinheiro in memoriam and Gianni F. LaManna with appreciation and gratitude iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS In the many years that I spent researching, preparing, and writing this dissertation, many individuals offered their continued assistance, support, and encouragement. While it may not be possible to thank each and every one of them individually, I offer to all my deepest and sincerest appreciation. I wish to express my gratitude to my adviser Karen Eliot for her patience and guidance through the development of this project. I also want to thank my committee for the support and flexibility in the long process of completing this dissertation. I was fortunate to have the financial assistance, in the form of grants, from various institutions. A Faculty Growth Project Grant from Wittenberg University in 2006 allowed me to spend two weeks in Portugal conducting research at the National Library of Portugal and the National Archives at Torre do Tombo. In 2009, I was the recipient of a grant by the Luso-American Foundation for Development and the National Library of Portugal for a three-month residency in the National Library of Portugal in Lisbon. It was during those three months that I first encountered the collection of ballet libretti that inspired me to investigate them in depth, and that lead to this dissertation. In that institution, and in connection with that grant, I thank Dr. Luis Farinha Franco and Ana Isabel Libano Monteiro for their support and assistance. Also from the National Library of Portugal, I am grateful to Catarina Latino, director of the Music Library, for assisting v me in locating important sources, and to Maria Clementina Gomes, who tirelessly and patiently worked with me in locating and photocopying essential materials for this work. A Harvard Fellowship Grant in 2013-2014 allowed me to spend a month in the Houghton Library at Harvard University, enabling me to finalize the research on the Italian libretti in the Harvard Theatre Collection; coupled with the Portuguese collection, it formed the body of my investigation. I also thank the staff at the Houghton Library for their invaluable assistance and patience with my numerous requests. While in Lisbon I was able to consult documents on births and deaths’ registries of Italian citizens in Portugal; these are housed in the Loretto Church, and I would like to thank Father Francesco Temporim for allowing me access to these records. I would like to thank my mentor Angelika Gerbes for her support and encouragement. I am indebted to Maureen Fry for her assistance in the process of completing this document; her encouragement, patience, and nurturing comments were invaluable. I thank Bruno, Aline, and Ana Carolina for believing in my work and for showing their interest. I will always owe much gratitude to Dilma de Lima, who taught me the first ballet steps and gestures, and who has continually demonstrated a genuine interest in my professional endeavors. I want to thank Caterina for her companionship and for reminding me that, regardless of my academic commitments, life goes on. Finally, I would like to thank my husband Gianni for his assistance with the Italian translations and the music scores, for the interesting conversations about music history, and for his unswerving support, patience, and constant encouragement throughout the lengthy months of my research and writing. vi VITA December 1995 ..............................................…….………B.F.A. University of Cincinnati September 1997-June 1998……………….Teaching Assistant, The Ohio State University June 1998 .......................................................……M.A. Dance, The Ohio State University March 2001 ....................................................….M.F.A. Dance, The Ohio State University 1998 to 2012……………Faculty, Theatre and Dance Department, Wittenberg University 2014 to present…………………………………………..Adjunct Faculty, SUNY-Oswego Publications Review of The Grotesque Dancer on the Eighteenth-Century Stage: Gennaro Magri and His World by Harris-Warrick, Rebecca and Bruce Alan Brown, eds., The Eighteenth Century Current Bibliography, No. 35. Edited by Kevin L. Cope. New York: AMS Press, Inc., 2013. 324-6. The Person Behind the Symbol: What a Labanotation Score Can Reveal. Proceedings of “Dance in the City: The Urban and Urbane,” Society of Dance History Scholars conference, Philadelphia, June 20-23, 2002. Portuguese Court Celebrations in the New World: Considerations on the Origins of Brazilian Carnival (A Preliminary Study). Proceedings of “Continents in Movement, The Meeting of Cultures in Dance History,” Oct. 1998, Faculdade de Motricidade Humana. Oeiras, Portugal: FMH Edições, 1999. Fields of Study Major Field: Dance Studies vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Dedication………………………………………………………………………………...iii Acknowledgments............................................................................................................... v Vita .................................................................................................................................... vii Table of contents………………………………………………………………………..viii List of illustrations………………………………………………………………………..xi Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: Lisbon at the turn of the nineteenth century………………………………….13 1.1: The social-political-historical scene in Portugal…………………….13 1.1.1:Dom João V and Dom José I………………………………16 1.1.2:The Final decades of the eighteenth century………………22 1.1.3:The long reign of Dom João VI……………………………25 1.1.4:Dona Maria II………………………………………………29 1.2: Theaters in Lisbon………………………………………………..…31 1.3: The Real Theatro de São Carlos…………………………………….35 1.4: The Inaugural Ballet………………………………………………...41 Notes to chapter 1………………………………………………………..46 viii Chapter 2: The Choreographers………………………………………………………….50 2.1: Gaetano Gioia……………………………………………………….52 2.2: Augusto Hus………………………………………………………...54 2.3: Luigi Montani……………………………………………………….57 2.4: Luigi Astolfi…………………………………………………………62 2.5: The Vestris Brothers………………………………………………...65 2.6: Antonio Cortesi……………………………………………………...69 2.7: Emanuele Viotti……………………………………………………..72 2.8: Urbano Garzia……………………………………………………….75 2.9: Giovanni Casati……………………………………………………...77 Notes to chapter 2………………………………………………………..81 Chapter 3: The Libretti at the National Library of Lisbon……………………………….84 3.1: The ballet d'action libretti as systems of dance notation……………86 3.2: Where is the action in the ballet d'action?..........................................92 Notes to chapter 3………………………………………………………105 Chapter 4: The Ballet d'Action Scenarios………………………………………………107 4.1: Ballets of Political message………………………………………..109 4.2: Ballets of ancient myths and legends………………………………116 4.3: Ballets on Portuguese history…………………………………...…125 4.4: Serious, dramatic, and tragic ballets……………………………….129 4.5: Comic ballets………………………………………………………137 4.6: Sylphs in disguise………………………………………………….143 ix 4.7: When ballets repeat………………………………………………...154