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Saverio Mercadante and France (1823-1836)

Saverio Mercadante and France (1823-1836)
Saverio Mercadante and France (1823-1836)
This thesis explores the impact of Mercadante’s operas in France during the 1820s and 1830s. The study covers a period from the French premiere of Elisa e Claudio in Paris (1823) up to the period immediately preceding the worldpremiere of Il giuramento (Milan, La Scala, 11 March 1837), which is traditionally regarded as the first of Mercadante’s ‘reform’ operas and the watershed of his mature style. Modern music historians and early biographers have suggested that Mercadante’s encounter with French operatic conventions was the trigger for his ‘reform’ impulse, which the composer himself acknowledged in one of his most famous letters. As a contribution to discussion of Mercadante’s stylistic developments, I examine a number of case studies which probe the French reception of his early output. Chapter 1 provides a historical survey of French critical assessments of Mercadante in the nineteenth century, revealed in the ongoing discourse of the time regarding Italian opera in France. Chapter 2 explores the critical reception of Elisa e Claudio, staged at the Théâtre Italien in 1823. Chapter 3 studies the process of transfer that brought about the transformation of Elisa e Claudio into the pasticcio Les Noces de Gamache, produced for the Théâtre de l’Odéon by the composer Luc Guénée in 1825. Chapter 4 reconstructs Mercadante’s sojourn in Paris and the genesis of I briganti during the 1835-36 season at the Théâtre Italien. Chapter 5 frames the Italian performances of I briganti and the related revision process in the context of Mercadante’s French experience. In focusing on the intertwined responses of Franco-Italian music criticism, this study of Mercadante’s early operas shows the value of the study of pan-European criticism and of cultural transfer as a larger framework within which to locate studies of Mercadante’s developments in style and aesthetics.
Placanica, Francesca
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Placanica, Francesca
2711c13c-6bbc-46c4-b221-65d76dccaa43
Quince, Eleanor
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Gadd, Trixie
c4ce7ca5-ef34-4e1f-aa11-4555057f1484
Gossett, Philip
cf7e6bc3-08b5-4400-8830-ec24d2b6b611
Wittmann, Michael
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Everist, Mark
54ab6966-73b4-4c0e-b218-80b2927eaeb0
Izzo, Francesco
8d27b5eb-b239-4606-b86f-b6de2fcd8cdc

Placanica, Francesca (2013) Saverio Mercadante and France (1823-1836). University of Southampton, Faculty of Humanities, Doctoral Thesis, 331pp.

Record type: Thesis (Doctoral)

Abstract

This thesis explores the impact of Mercadante’s operas in France during the 1820s and 1830s. The study covers a period from the French premiere of Elisa e Claudio in Paris (1823) up to the period immediately preceding the worldpremiere of Il giuramento (Milan, La Scala, 11 March 1837), which is traditionally regarded as the first of Mercadante’s ‘reform’ operas and the watershed of his mature style. Modern music historians and early biographers have suggested that Mercadante’s encounter with French operatic conventions was the trigger for his ‘reform’ impulse, which the composer himself acknowledged in one of his most famous letters. As a contribution to discussion of Mercadante’s stylistic developments, I examine a number of case studies which probe the French reception of his early output. Chapter 1 provides a historical survey of French critical assessments of Mercadante in the nineteenth century, revealed in the ongoing discourse of the time regarding Italian opera in France. Chapter 2 explores the critical reception of Elisa e Claudio, staged at the Théâtre Italien in 1823. Chapter 3 studies the process of transfer that brought about the transformation of Elisa e Claudio into the pasticcio Les Noces de Gamache, produced for the Théâtre de l’Odéon by the composer Luc Guénée in 1825. Chapter 4 reconstructs Mercadante’s sojourn in Paris and the genesis of I briganti during the 1835-36 season at the Théâtre Italien. Chapter 5 frames the Italian performances of I briganti and the related revision process in the context of Mercadante’s French experience. In focusing on the intertwined responses of Franco-Italian music criticism, this study of Mercadante’s early operas shows the value of the study of pan-European criticism and of cultural transfer as a larger framework within which to locate studies of Mercadante’s developments in style and aesthetics.

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More information

Published date: 1 July 2013
Organisations: University of Southampton, Music

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 366622
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/366622
PURE UUID: 3dd20767-1207-4dc0-8a04-2d2cbea4aadf

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Date deposited: 16 Oct 2014 13:07
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 17:12

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Contributors

Author: Francesca Placanica
Thesis advisor: Eleanor Quince
Thesis advisor: Trixie Gadd
Thesis advisor: Philip Gossett
Thesis advisor: Michael Wittmann
Thesis advisor: Mark Everist
Thesis advisor: Francesco Izzo

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