The Impact of Jules Massenet's Operas in Milan
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THE IMPACT OF JULES MASSENET’S OPERAS IN MILAN, 1893–1903 Matthew Martin Franke A dissertation submitted to the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Music. Chapel Hill 2014 Approved by: John L. Nádas Anne MacNeil Severine Neff David Garcia Bryan Gilliam © 2014 Matthew Martin Franke ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Matthew Martin Franke: The Impact of Jules Massenet’s Operas in Milan, 1893–1903 Under the direction of John L. Nádas The reception of French opera in Italy in the late nineteenth century has received little scholarly attention. This dissertation attempts to fill at least part of that gap through studying the reception of three operas by Jules Massenet (1842–1912), the most internationally successful French composer of the fin de siècle, in Milan, the capital of the Italian music publishing industry. Massenet’s Italian reception demonstrates that opera’s relationship to Italian identity politics in the late nineteenth century was far more complex than has been previously imagined. Massenet’s operas, performed in Italian translation, occupied an ambiguous middle ground in Italian identity politics. Italian critics described Massenet’s operas as purely French, as contributing to Italian musical culture, and as inherently cosmopolitan works. Critics thus translated Massenet’s operas into Italian culture, whether as role models for or foils to Italian musical developments. Massenet also participated directly in Italian musical culture, visiting Milan frequently to supervise productions of his operas and serving as a judge in an Italian competition for new operas. Music historians such as Jay Nicolaisen and Alexandra Wilson have long agreed that Italian opera suffered an identity crisis in the late nineteenth century. Studies by Michele Girardi, Julian Budden, and Alan Mallach have suggested that young Italian composers in this period struggled to find a balance between the rival legacies of Giuseppe Verdi (their Italian heritage) and Richard Wagner (imported German culture). iii Without denying the importance of the aesthetic opposition between Italian and German music, this dissertation seeks to broaden and complicate this discourse by acknowledging French opera’s equally influential presence on the Italian musical stage. To meet this goal, I examine the reception of the three operas which were produced most often in Italy—Manon, Werther, and Thaïs— through the lenses of translation theory, of contemporary international relations, and the competition between the Ricordi and Sonzogno publishing houses. Massenet’s example shows the ways in which lines between French and Italian opera could be redrawn as needed to make room for alternative, cosmopolitan constructions of Italian musical and cultural identity. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation has been shaped by my interactions with many people. I owe my greatest debt to my adviser, John Nádas, for his constant support, keen insight, and unfailing faith in this project. I owe the other members of my committee—Anne MacNeil, Severine Neff, David Garcia, and Bryan Gilliam—a great deal for their constructive feedback on this work. I have also benefitted greatly from discussions and correspondence with colleagues such as Linda Fairtile, Andreas Giger, Steven Huebner, Francesco Izzo, Katharine Ellis, Roger Parker, and Jann Pasler, all of whom have been generous with their time. My work has been made possible by teaching assistantships and travel funding from the Department of Music at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Pre-dissertation Research Fellowship from the Council for European Studies. Many librarians and archivists have provided me with invaluable assistance, particularly Diane Steinhaus, Carrie Monette, Shaw Lentz, and Philip Vandermeer of the Music Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Maria Pia Ferraris at the Archivio storico Ricordi in Milan; Daria Cantarelli at the Centro Internazionale di Ricerca sui Periodici Musicali in Parma; and Roberto Gollo at the Mediateca Santa Teresa in Milan. Finally, thanks are due to my friends, family, and colleagues who saw this work grow into being and assisted in its birth. Oren Vinogradov, Alessandra Jones, Samuel Brannon, and Patrice Franke have read drafts of this material and listened to me talk about it at tremendous length. My warmest thanks and deepest love go to Marina Franke and Alysa Trivett; their encouragement and unwavering faith in this project has made a world of difference. v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES……………………………………………………………………………......viii LIST OF CHARTS………………………………………………………………………………...ix LIST OF FIGURES………………………………………………………………………………..x LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES………………………………………………………………...xi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS…………………………………………………………………….xii INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………...1 Foreign opera in Italy after 1860……………………………………………………………1 Contexts for Massenet’s Italian reception…………………………………………………12 Methodology for analyzing Massenet’s Italian reception…………………………………..30 Conclusion............................................................................................................................................46 CHAPTER ONE: MANON AND THE CRITICS: LOCATING FRENCH OPERA WITHIN ITALIAN CULTURE………………………………………………...52 Before the premiere……………………………………………………………………….53 The Italian Manon................................................................................................................................68 A French opera in an Italian context……………………………………………………....80 Manon’s legacy in Italy……………………………………………………………………..91 Conclusion..........................................................................................................................................103 CHAPTER TWO: MASSENET, MAESTRO SOVRANNO: WERTHER AT THE TEATRO LIRICO INTERNAZIONALE, 1894………………………………………..106 Creating the venue: The Teatro Lirico Internazionale……………………………………108 vi Werther and translation…………………………………………………………………...122 The Milanese reception of Werther……………………………………………………......141 Conclusions........................................................................................................................................158 CHAPTER THREE: THAÏS AND THE DIPLOMATIC RECONCILIATION OF THE “LATIN RACES”……………………………………………………………..161 Origins of the opera and the Italian libretto……………………………………………...163 The initial Italian reception of Thaïs……………………………………………………...184 Sex, politics, and race…………………………………………………………………….201 Conclusions........................................................................................................................................230 CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………………233 APPENDIX 1: PRODUCTIONS OF MASSENET’S OPERAS IN MILAN, 1878–1912……...244 APPENDIX 2: PRODUCTIONS OF MANON IN ITALY, 1893–1925………………………245 APPENDIX 3: PRODUCTIONS OF WERTHER IN ITALY, 1894–1925……………………251 APPENDIX 4: PRODUCTIONS OF THAÏS IN ITALY, 1903–1925…………………………255 APPENDIX 5: PRODUCTIONS OF MASSENET’S OTHER OPERAS IN ITALY, 1878–1925………………………………………………………………………………257 BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………………………261 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Early performances of Massenet’s operas in Europe and the Americas………………....….6 Table 2: Italian premieres of Massenet’s operas...........................................................................................10 Table 3: A selective list of operas premiered in Paris by Italian composers, 1791–1867......................17 Table 4: Foreign world premieres by Italian composers following the unification of Italy..................19 Table 5: Italian premieres of select foreign operas promoted by the Casa Sonzogno, 1875–1912............................................................................................................................................24 Table 6: The French and Italian sequence of scenes in Manon..................................................................70 Table 7: Performances of Manon in Milan, October to November 1893.................................................77 Table 8: The cast of Manon, Teatro Carcano, 19 October 1893................................................................78 Table 9: Productions of Manon in Milan, 1893–1903..................................................................................94 Table 10: The two Manons in select Italian cities, 1893–1925..................................................................101 Table 11: Operas performed at the Teatro alla Scala from 1890–94......................................................109 Table 12: The Fall 1894 season at the Teatro Lirico Internazionale......................................................122 Table 13: Italian operas based on Die Leiden des jungen Werthers...............................................................130 Table 14: Werther’s International Progress..................................................................................................131 Table 15: A comparison of the French and Italian texts of Werther’s entrance aria..........................135 Table 16: Instrumental music in Thaïs, 1894 version................................................................................169 Table 17: Comparison of the 1894 and 1898 versions of Thaïs...............................................................172 Table 18: Early productions of Thaïs throughout Europe and the Americas.......................................178 Table 19: The