A cultural history of La Scala in the Risorgimento (1814-1848) / Raffaella Bianchi.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bianchi, Raffaella, author.

Series:

Studies on Italian music history ; v. 16.

Studies on Italian music history ; volume 16

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Teatro alla Scala--History.

Teatro alla Scala.

Theater and society--Italy--Milan--19th century.

Theater and society.

Music and state--Italy--Milan--19th century.

Music and state.

Theaters--Italy--Milan--History--19th century.

Theaters.

Opera--Italy--Milan--History--19th century.

Opera.

Milan (Italy)--Buildings, structures, etc--History--19th century.

Milan (Italy).

Italy--History--1815-1870.

Italy.

Genre:

History

Physical Description:

xxix, 320 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits, facsimiles ; 27 cm.

Place of Publication:

Turnhout : Brepols, 2022.

Summary:

This study of the La Scala opera house uses the approaches of cultural history to explore the world of Milan’s historic opera house at a crucial point in Italian History. It sheds new life on La Scala’s public, its rules of attendance, management, as well as its central role in the Italian national movement (the «Risorgimento»). Based on unpublished archival sources, the book explores a world of secret gatherings, revolutionary conspiracies hatched in opera boxes, displays of power, the architectures of surveillance, and the symbolic and gendered politics of operatic performances; in this world even the central lamp of the opera house took on political significance. In the early nineteenth century, while Giuditta Pasta and Maria Malibran performed "Norma," box curtains were used for public demonstrations, keys of lateral doors were contested between the impresario and the police, and a monumental gas lamp was built and installed assembled in order to spy on the public. The central claim of the book is that a multifaceted cultural struggle was fought at La Scala. The argument is constructed through a rigorous approach to original sources and an extensive analysis of archivalmaterial. Thanks to these sources, the book makes an important, original contribution to the study of Italian history.

Contents:

Italian Unification

The Risorgimento Movement in Milan

The Idea of Italy: Opera and Gendered Roles for the Risorgimento Movement

La Scala: A Civic Hegemonic Space

The Struggle of the Risorgimento at La Scala

Concluding Reflections on the Role of La Scala during the Risorgimento

Notes:

Originally published as the author's thesis (Ph.D.--Loughborough) under the title: The political role of La Scala in the Risorgimento: hegemony and subversion (1814-1848).

Includes bibliographical references (pages 285-311) and index.

ISBN:

9782503602448

2503602444

OCLC:

1351360412

Publisher Number:

9782503602448