UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Prima La Musica O Prima
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Prima La Musica o Prima La Parola? Textual and Musical Intermedialities in Italian Literature and Film A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Italian by Erika Marina Nadir 2017 © Copyright by Erika Marina Nadir 2017 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Prima La Musica o Prima La Parola? Textual and Musical Intermedialities in Italian Literature and Film by Erika Marina Nadir Doctor of Philosophy in Italian University of California, Los Angeles, 2017 Professor Luigi Ballerini, Chair This dissertation is a comparative study of Italian opera, literature, and film, and traces the textual and musical intermedialities among the art forms. Using the analytical prisms of Elio Vittorini’s linguaggio unitario del musicista and Giuseppe Verdi’s notion of verità, I examine the myriad ways that literature, film, and music interact and the effects on the respective arts. Chapter 1 focuses on literature that is written in such a way as to evoke music. I analyze three texts and their musical components: Vittorini’s Italian Resistance novel, Uomini e no; the postmodern novel Passavamo sulla terra leggeri by Sergio Atzeni—a soundscape of text that mimics contemporary opera structure; and Manzoni’s I promessi sposi, which was the inspiration for Giuseppe Verdi’s notion of verità in art. Chapter 2 focuses on literature that becomes the text for opera. I examine Verga’s metamorphosis of Cavalleria rusticana from novella and play, and ii then subsequent libretto for Pietro Mascagni’s opera. I contrast this with Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities, which is the text for the 21st-century eponymous opera composed by Christopher Cerrone. Chapter 3 analyses four Italian films that use the same opera—Verdi’s La traviata (1853)—in varying degrees for effects ranging from the tragic to the ludic. As traditional structures of text, film, and opera change and evolve, there is more opportunity for the art forms to coalesce, thus forming a deeper and richer experience. The study of the symbiosis of word and music has only recently received scholarly attention. This dissertation focuses on the literary and filmic aspects of the musical and textual intermedialities and researches the commingling of the arts to address and examine how texts and films are affected by their musical components. iii The dissertation of Erika Marina Nadir is approved. Jean-Claude Carron Massimo Ciavolella Edward F. Tuttle Luigi Ballerini, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2017 iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... vii Curriculum Vitae ........................................................................................................................... ix Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Elio Vittorini and Il linguaggio unitario del musicista ..............................................................................6 Verdi and verità .........................................................................................................................................7 Leo Spitzer ................................................................................................................................................8 La traviata .................................................................................................................................................9 Chapter Summaries .................................................................................................................................10 Chapter 1: Literature and Music ..........................................................................................................................10 Chapter 2: Italian Literature that Serves as the Libretto for Italian Opera ..........................................................12 Chapter 3: Opera Used Intermedially in Italian Cinema .....................................................................................12 Chapter 1: Literature and Music ................................................................................................... 14 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................14 Prefazione to Il garofano rosso ...............................................................................................................18 Uomini e no .............................................................................................................................................21 Passavamo sulla terra leggeri .................................................................................................................36 I promessi sposi .......................................................................................................................................72 I promessi sposi: Text and Music ........................................................................................................................75 I promessi sposi: Manzoni and Verdi ..................................................................................................................84 I promessi sposi: Manzoni ..................................................................................................................................86 Chapter 2: Italian Literature that Serves as the Libretto for Italian Opera ................................... 93 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................93 Cavalleria rusticana, The Background ...................................................................................................95 Cavalleria rusticana, The Novella: Textual Analysis .............................................................................96 Cavalleria rusticana, The Play .............................................................................................................108 Cavalleria rusticana, The Play: Textual Analysis ................................................................................122 Cavalleria rusticana, The Opera ...........................................................................................................130 Prima la parola ...................................................................................................................................................132 Poi la musica .....................................................................................................................................................144 Conclusion .........................................................................................................................................................158 Invisible Cities .......................................................................................................................................159 Prima la parola ...................................................................................................................................................168 v Poi la musica .....................................................................................................................................................178 Conclusion .........................................................................................................................................................192 Chapter 3: Opera Used Intermedially in Italian Cinema ............................................................ 194 Introduction ...........................................................................................................................................194 Opera in Film .........................................................................................................................................200 La traviata (1853) .................................................................................................................................206 Mimì metallurgico ferito nell’onore (1972) ..........................................................................................208 Mimì metallurgico—Plot ...................................................................................................................................209 Il trovatore .........................................................................................................................................................213 Cavalleria rusticana ..........................................................................................................................................214 La bohème .........................................................................................................................................................215 La traviata .........................................................................................................................................................216 I pugni in tasca (1965) ..........................................................................................................................223 I pugni in tasca—Plot ........................................................................................................................................224 Rigoletto ............................................................................................................................................................227