The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Dressed to impress: the costumes for Antonio Cesti’s Orontea in Rome (1661)

Dressed to impress: the costumes for Antonio Cesti’s Orontea in Rome (1661)
Dressed to impress: the costumes for Antonio Cesti’s Orontea in Rome (1661)
Based on a cross-examination of records of payments concerning the preparation of the costumes for a production of Antonio Cesti’s Orontea in Rome in 1661 and of contemporary visual testimonies, this article investigates the fundamental role that costumes played in early modern opera. Relying on widely understood conventions and on the shared cultural and social background of patrons and audience, costume designers were expected to create artefacts that would convey a multiplicity of meanings and fulfil more than one function. Through the use of rare and precious fabrics, lace, real and fake jewels and precious stones, costumes aptly represented the wealth of the family sponsoring the event. Far from being mere decorative elements, however, they also served an important narrative function in the opera, helping the audience recognize the characters, their social status, their provenance and their age. Furthermore, by blurring the boundary between reality and fiction, they were also a fundamental vehicle of operatic verisimilitude, helping the audience navigate the fluid territory between life on and off the stage and generating a sense of ‘marvel’ that was central to Baroque aesthetics
1741-7260
461-475
De Lucca, Valeria
0c1cd12b-d61a-4b6c-b407-7c9752dfc9b5
De Lucca, Valeria
0c1cd12b-d61a-4b6c-b407-7c9752dfc9b5

De Lucca, Valeria (2013) Dressed to impress: the costumes for Antonio Cesti’s Orontea in Rome (1661). Early Music, 41 (3), 461-475. (doi:10.1093/em/cat077).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Based on a cross-examination of records of payments concerning the preparation of the costumes for a production of Antonio Cesti’s Orontea in Rome in 1661 and of contemporary visual testimonies, this article investigates the fundamental role that costumes played in early modern opera. Relying on widely understood conventions and on the shared cultural and social background of patrons and audience, costume designers were expected to create artefacts that would convey a multiplicity of meanings and fulfil more than one function. Through the use of rare and precious fabrics, lace, real and fake jewels and precious stones, costumes aptly represented the wealth of the family sponsoring the event. Far from being mere decorative elements, however, they also served an important narrative function in the opera, helping the audience recognize the characters, their social status, their provenance and their age. Furthermore, by blurring the boundary between reality and fiction, they were also a fundamental vehicle of operatic verisimilitude, helping the audience navigate the fluid territory between life on and off the stage and generating a sense of ‘marvel’ that was central to Baroque aesthetics

Text
461.full.pdf - Version of Record
Restricted to Repository staff only
Request a copy

More information

Published date: 2013
Organisations: Music

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 154265
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/154265
ISSN: 1741-7260
PURE UUID: 62e67e37-1660-4e87-9f9c-fb5ec30bff46

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 03 May 2011 12:43
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 01:34

Export record

Altmetrics

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×