Learning objectives
The course aims to delve into the main aspects of the history of Western music from the seventeenth century to the present day in terms of communication both as regards the linguistic and performative nature of musical expression as well as its promotional and informative strategies. The intention is to encourage the student to analyse critically musical experience and to reflect on the modality and means of communication adopted by the music industry for the purposes of promotion and marketing. The critical awareness developed during the course is applied to tasks dedicated to the analysis of printed and audiovisual products of communication strategies. The usefulness of the ensuing method is explored also in various sectors beyond those of strictly musical relevance.
Course unit content
The course examines three characteristic aspects of musical communication:
1) Performance a) the ritual and the feast (actors/spectators), b) the show (actors/spectators)
2) Technological reproduction a) the text (manuscript, printed, electronic), b) performance (recorded and televised)
3) The information a) promotion and dissemination; b) commentary and criticism (magazines, radio and television, internet, etc.)
Bibliography
A)
• Marco Capra, voce "Criticism - Italy: 1890-1945", in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd Edition, ed. by Stanley Sadie, London, Macmillan, 2001, vol. 6, pp. 685-686.
• Alessandro Rigolli (a cura di), La divulgazione musicale in Italia, Edt, Torino, 2005
• Alessandro Rigolli e Paolo Russo (a cura di), Il suono riprodotto. Storia, tecnica e cultura di una rivoluzione del Novecento, Edt, Torino, 2007
• Marco Capra e Fiamma Nicolodi (a cura di), La critica musicale in Italia nella prima metà del Novecento, Marsilio Editori, Venezia, 2012
B)
• Marco Capra, Il Répertoire International de la Presse Musicale (RIPM) e il Centre International de Recherche sur la Presse Musicale (CIRPM) di Parma, “Le fonti musicali in Italia. Studi e ricerche”, I, 1987, pp. 47-54.
• Id., Il Centro Internazionale di Ricerca sui Periodici Musicali e Centro di Studi sull’Ottocento Musicale, “Le fonti musicali in Italia. Studi e ricerche”, II, 1988, pp. 21-31.
• Id., La Casa editrice Sonzogno fra giornalismo e impresariato, in Casa Sonzogno, vol. I: Testimonianze e Saggi. Cronologie, a cura di Mario Morini - Nandi Ostali - Piero Ostali jr., Milano, Casa Musicale Sonzogno, 1995, pp. 243-290
• Id., Alla ricerca dei periodici musicali. In margine alla pubblicazione del catalogo dei periodici delle biblioteche della Campania, “Rivista italiana di musicologia”, XXXII, n. 2, 1997, pp. 367-382
• Id., I periodici musicali del Novecento, in Conservare il Novecento: la stampa periodica, Atti del Convegno nazionale (Ferrara, Salone internazionale dell’arte del restauro e della conservazione dei beni culturali e ambientali, 29-30 marzo 2001), a cura di Maurizio Messina e Giuliana Zagra, Roma, AIB-Associazione Italiana Biblioteche, 2002, pp. 30-44
• Id., La stampa ritrovata: duecento anni di periodici musicali, in La divulgazione musicale in Italia oggi, Atti della giornata di studi: Parma, 5-6/11/2004, a cura di Alessandro Rigolli, Parma–Torino, Istituzione Casa della Musica–EDT, 2005 (“Quaderni del Ladimus-Laboratorio per la divulgazione musicale”, 1), pp. 61-82
Teaching methods
Oral and practical lessons, seminars
Assessment methods and criteria
Oral exam. The particular criteria for evaluation include:
— Knowledge and critical awareness in relationship to current practices and their underlying historical roots
— The capacity to examine and discuss specific themes, and the appropriate exposition of the relative results
— The acquisition of an informed methodology that may then be extended beyond the narrow sphere of musical experience to the broader fields of communication and professional journalism.
