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“Melodramma,” Market and Modernity: Opera in Late “Melodramma,” Market and Modernity: Opera in Late Nineteenth-Century Italy By Michela Ronzani B.A., Università degli Studi di Ferrara, 2006 Thesis Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Italian Studies at Brown University PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND MAY 2015 © Copyright 2015 by Michela Ronzani II This dissertation by Michela Ronzani is accepted in its present form by the Department of Italian Studies as satisfying the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Date ___________ ______________________________________ Suzanne Stewart-Steinberg, Advisor Recommended to the Graduate Council Date ____________ ______________________________________ Alessandra Campana, Reader Date ____________ ______________________________________ Caroline Castiglione, Reader Date ____________ ______________________________________ Massimo Riva, Reader Approved by the Graduate Council Date ____________ ______________________________________ Peter Weber, Dean of the Graduate School III CURRICULUM VITAE Michela Ronzani was born in Milan (Italy) on August 19, 1983. She is a sixth year doctoral candidate in Italian Studies at Brown University. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in History of Visual and Performing Arts from the University of Ferrara (Italy) and a Masters in Arts Administration from SDA - Bocconi School of Management and La Scala Academy (Milan, Italy). IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation is the outcome of a constant discussion and collaboration with the members of my committee who encouraged me, helped me improve my work and provided invaluable insights. For these reasons, I am very grateful to my readers, in particular to Alessandra Campana for her enthusiasm and knowledge of the material, Caroline Castiglione for her encouragement and detailed feedback, and Massimo Riva for his vision and creativity. And I am most grateful to my adviser Suzanne Stewart- Steinberg for believing in me and pushing me in the right direction since the beginning and for guiding me to discover my interests and my role in the field. This work is also the outcome of the intellectual and personal growth achieved in six years at the Department of Italian Studies at Brown, for which I thank all the faculty who taught me how to be a scholar and a teacher in Italian Studies, all my colleagues for making our department such a pleasant, exciting and stimulating learning environment, and Mona Delgado for making it all work out and keeping everybody together. In particular, I thank my colleagues Anna Aresi, Alessandra Franco and Nicole Gercke for sharing their time, their experience and their advice in this last year of dissertation writing. Their support and our study dates made this process more bearable, more productive and (almost) fun, also thanks to the help and company of other friends in Providence: Matteo Riondato, Cristina Serverius and Marco Donato were always there to encourage me, help me and accompany me through the long years of graduate school making them fun, memorable, special and meaningful. Former colleagues also helped from a distance, in particular V Erica Moretti, always happy to share her knowledge, expertise and passion. A particular, special, huge ‘thank you’ goes to Cristina Abbona-Sneider who taught me how to teach, how to make the most of my personal skills, how to navigate graduate school and how to face successfully the job search process. After six years, I am happy to call her mentor and friend and I will continue to be inspired by her work and seek her invaluable advice. I am also very grateful to my parents, Marta Fanciulli and Claudio Ronzani, who always believed in me, supported my endeavors even when it meant to be so far away from me, and showed me in so many ways how much they love me and how proud they are of me, especially during moments of difficulty. I probably would not have had the courage and the strength to start and finish this PhD program without having such inspiring models. My dad even contributed concretely to this work with many hours of his time spent in Milanese archives helping me taking photos and notes. He has been a wonderful research assistant! Finally, I want to thank my partner Osman Ulusoy for finally getting me to work on this dissertation after a long period of doubt and hopelessness. His enthusiasm for and dedication to his own work were inspirational. His love and care sustained me for the past two years and allowed me to work productively, happily and with perspective. This thesis is dedicated to him. VI TABLE OF CONTENTS Curriculum Vitae IV Acknowledgements V List of Illustrations VIII Introduction 1 Chapter 1: “La Scala Case” (1897-1901). Politics, Class and the Opera Theater 33 1 Closing La Scala: Opera Theater and Politics 41 2 Closing La Scala: Opera Theater and Class 55 3 Reopening La Scala: “High Art” and “Accessibility” 71 Chapter 2: Ricordi’s “publicity strings.” Popularization, Distinction, and the Power of Advertisement 88 1 Spectacle and Consumption 95 2 Opera, Iconography, and Advertisement 105 3 Ricordi’s “Industry of Imagery” 113 3.1 Urban Visual Communication: The Posters 117 3.2 Collectible Memories: The Postcards 127 3.3 Drama, Elegance, and Repetition: The Campaigns 132 4 Markets, Music, Media: Creating Myths and Memories 138 Chapter 3: Chronicles of Success The Musical Press between “cronaca” and “critica” 147 1 Milan and the Theatrical Press: A Booming Business 152 2 “Allettare per farsi leggere:” Appealing Formats for the General Public 159 3 Chronicles of Success: Reviews in the Popular Press 168 4 Questions of Readership and the Birth of Rigorous Criticism 175 Chapter 4: The Conflict of Art and Market Artists, Audiences, and Conductors 189 1 Opera in the Commercial World 194 2 Artists and Audiences in a Commercial World 202 2.1 Boito’s struggles: audience and critics 209 3 Arturo Toscanini: Art and Authority 218 Conclusions 230 Appendix 235 Bibliography 244 VII LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1: Page of Migone calendar (1900). Civica Raccolta delle Stampe Achille Bertarelli, Castello Sforzesco, Milano. 235 Figure 2: Cover of Venus calendar (1905). Civica Raccolta delle Stampe Achille Bertarelli, Castello Sforzesco, Milano. 236 Figure 3: Venus calendar. Central page. Civica Raccolta delle Stampe Achille Bertarelli, Castello Sforzesco, Milano. 236 Figure 4: Poster for Puccini’s Bohème. Adolf Hohenstein, 1896. Ricordi. Collezione Salce (MiBACT). Treviso. 237 Figure 5: Poster for Mascagni’s Iris. Adolf Hohenstein, 1898. Ricordi. Civica Raccolta delle Stampe Achille Bertarelli, Castello Sforzesco, Milano. 238 Figure 6: Poster for Puccini’s Tosca. Adolf Hohenstein, 1900. Ricordi. Civica Raccolta delle Stampe Achille Bertarelli, Castello Sforzesco, Milano. 239 Figure 7 and 8: Poster for Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. Adolf Hohenstein, 1904. Ricordi. Civica Raccolta delle Stampe Achille Bertarelli, Castello Sforzesco, Milano. 240 Figure 9: Alterocca postcard for La Bohème. Civica Raccolta delle Stampe Achille Bertarelli, Castello Sforzesco, Milano. 241 Figure 10: Front page of Gazzetta Musicale di Milano, February 13, 1896. Ricordi. Hohenstein’s Act I costume design. 241 Figure 11: one of the postcards for La Bohème. Adolf Hohenstein in 1896. Ricordi. Civica Raccolta delle Stampe Achille Bertarelli, Castello Sforzesco, Milano. 242 Figure 12: Envelope seal for Bohème with Mimì costume design by Adolf Hohenstein. Ricordi. Sergio Coradeschi, Collezionismo Italiano. Milano: 1979. 242 Figure 13: Cover for La Bohème di G. Puccini - Impressioni di C. Graziani Walter, op. 250” for two mandolins, mandola and guitar, pl. no. 100026, Milan: G. Ricordi & Co., 1911. Civica Raccolta delle Stampe Achille Bertarelli, Castello Sforzesco, Milan. 243 Figure 14: Cover of the libretto for Iris. Civica Raccolta delle Stampe Achille Bertarelli, Castello Sforzesco, Milano. 243 VIII INTRODUCTION This work stems from a desire to understand critically some general stereotypical ideas and perceptions regarding opera today. Despite outreach and educational projects that most opera companies and opera houses organize nowadays, opera maintains an inaccessible, intellectually forbidding and socially exclusive aura. Opera is stereotypically expensive (to produce and to attend) and is seen as long, boring and anachronistic. That every action and gesture is sung makes it a subject of ridicule and too bizarre to engage the spectator. According to the 2013 National Endowment for the Arts report, 18% of American adults have attended at least one musical or play in the year prior to the report’s publication, 17% have attended a classical music or jazz concert, and only 2% have attended an opera performance. In 2012, 4.9 million adults attended at least one opera nationwide, while in 2013 8.5 million adults attended a musical or a play only in the Broadway theater district in New York. 1 Some very simple questions and curiosities arise from these considerations. If, as people generally assume, the aesthetics, length and cost of opera play a role in the lack of opera’s attractiveness, why then are musicals so popular? Rent is only ten minutes shorter than Bohème and while prices vary by location and show, the ticket price for a musical is comparable to one for an opera. In 1 Source: “The Demographics of the Broadway Audience 2013-2014” http://www.broadwayleague.com/index.php?url_identifier=the-demographics-of-the-broadway-audience (accessed March 23rd, 2015); Brian Wise “Report: Opera Attendance Drops, Digital Engagement Rises.” WQXR Blog September
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