Music in the Present Tense: Rossini’s Italian Operas in Their Time

371 Pages·2019·2.95 MB·English

by  Emanuele Senici

Music in the Present Tense
Opera Lab: Explorations in History, Technology, and Performance
A series edited by David J. Levin and Mary Ann Smart
M U S I C
IN THE PRESENT TENSE
Rossini’s Italian Operas in Their Time
Emanuele Senici
The University of Chicago Press
Chicago and London
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2019 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner
whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations in critical
articles and reviews. For more information, contact the University of Chicago Press,
1427 E. 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637.
Published 2019
Printed in the United States of America
28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19  1 2 3 4 5
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 66354- 8 (cloth)
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 66368- 5 (e- book)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226663685.001.0001
This book has been supported by the Joseph Kerman Endowment of the American
Musicological Society, funded in part by the National Endowment for the
Humanities and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Senici, Emanuele, author.
Title: Music in the present tense : Rossini’s Italian operas in their time / Emanuele Senici.
Other titles: Opera lab.
Description: Chicago ; London : The University of Chicago Press, 2019. | Series: Opera lab :
explorations in history, technology, and performance | Introduction — Part I. Imitation ;
Repetition ; Borrowing ; Style ; Genre ; Dramaturgy ; Noise — Part II. Modernity ;
Theatricality ; Repertory ; “Di tanti palpiti” ; Memory ; Pleasure ; Movement ; Belief —
Epilogue. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019009192 | ISBN 9780226663548 (cloth : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9780226663685 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Rossini, Gioacchino, 1792–1868. Operas. | Opera—Italy—19th century. |
Rossini, Gioacchino, 1792–1868—Appreciation.
Classification: LCC ML410.R835 S24 2019 | DDC 782.1092—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019009192
♾ This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48- 1992 (Permanence of Paper).
E come il vento
odo stormir tra queste piante, io quello
infinito silenzio a questa voce
vo comparando: e mi sovvien l’eterno,
e le morte stagioni, e la presente
e viva, e il suon di lei.
And when I hear
the wind stir in these branches, I begin
comparing that endless stillness
with this voice:
and the eternal comes to mind,
and the dead seasons, and the present
living one, and how it sounds.
—Giacomo Leopardi, “L’infinito,” 1819 (my emphasis)
Io detestavo con tutte le mie forze, senza quasi saperlo, la cosiddetta
realtà: il meccanismo delle cose che sorgono nel tempo, e dal tempo
sono distrutte. Questa realtà era per me incomprensibile e alluci-
nante. . . . Aggiungo che l’esperienza personale della guerra (terrore
dovunque e fuga per quattro anni) aveva portato al colmo la mia
irritazione contro il reale.
Almost without noticing it, I hated so- called reality with all my
might: the mechanism of things that arise with time, and are de-
stroyed by time. This reality was unintelligible and awful to me. . . .
I add that my personal experience of the war (terror everywhere
and flight for four years) had pushed my vexation against the real
to breaking point.
—Anna Maria Ortese, Il mare non bagna Napoli, 1953/1994
(original emphasis)

Contents
List of Abbreviations ix
List of Musical Examples xi
Introduction 1
PART I
1 Imitation 23
2 Repetition 31
3 Borrowing 55
4 Style 71
5 Genre 83
6 Dramaturgy 103
7 Noise 117
PART II
8 Modernity 127
9 Theatricality 141
10 Repertory 161
vii
11 “Di tanti palpiti” 179
12 Memory 203
13 Pleasure 215
14 Movement 231
15 Belief 247
Epilogue 275
Acknowledgments 283
Notes 287
Works Cited 327
Index 345
Abbreviations
BCRS Bollettino del centro rossiniano di studi (Pesaro: Fondazione
Rossini, 1955– )
GREC Edizione critica delle opere di Gioachino Rossini, 26 vols. of
operas to date, plus 12 others of nonoperatic works (Pesaro:
Fondazione Rossini, 1979– )
GRL I libretti di Rossini, 21 vols. to date (Pesaro: Fondazione Rossini,
1994– )
GRLD Gioachino Rossini: Lettere e documenti, 5 vols. to date (1, 2, 3, 3bis,
and 4), all edited by Bruno Cagli and Sergio Ragni except vol. 4,
edited by Sergio Ragni (Pesaro: Fondazione Rossini, 1992– )
ix