Learning objectives
At the end of the course the students - who do not require a previous disciplinary competence - will have acquired knowledge in the history and evolution of musical theatre in its various forms (from ‘intermedio apparente’ to musical drama, from opera to operetta, from musical to opera-rock) and derivatives (movie, videoclip, etc.).
Knowledge and understanding:
students will develop knowledge and understanding skills through the constant use of different sources (sound and multimedia materials, books and articles of scientific, educational and informative nature, archival documents, conferences, seminars, guided tours, etc.).
Applying knowledge and understanding:
students will be able to apply their knowledge and understanding skills to the critical analysis of their personal experience in music, theatre and entertainment in general, going back to the complex evolution of the relationship between different languages (word, music, image, movement) which is at the origin of musical theatre in its various forms and national peculiarities.
Making judgment:
students will develop the ability to collect and interpret data useful for determining independent judgments, establishing relationships and connections between genres of entertainment and different artistic expressions and interpreting them in the light of their relationship with historical, social and economic reality.
They will be able to critically consider their experience, assess the reliability of sources and information, and integrate the acquired knowledge.
Communication skills:
the student will put to good use the critical approach to the subject and the interrelation with the teacher and the other students during the lesson to develop the ability to communicate in a clear and well-founded way his personal experience and his reflections both during the lessons and during the exam and in non-educational context towards specialist and non-specialist interlocutors.
Learning skills:
thanks to the approach to the subject, which tends to problematic reflection and aims at the development of the critical sense, the students will develop the stimuli and skills necessary to increase their knowledge through further non-occasional studies and also conducted autonomously.
Prerequisites
No
Course unit content
The course is dedicated to the following aspects of the musical theatre of European and North-American traditions from the seventeenth to the twenty-first century:
- forms and history of musical dramaturgy
- relationships with other artistic expressions
- national traditions: Italian, German, French, Slavic area
- economy and society: production and representativeness
- places: theatre and hall, outdoor place, virtual place
- technology: instruments, stagecraft, reproducers and speakers
- communication: shows, oral and press release, reproduction, mass media
- protagonists: authors, interpreters, implementers, managers, governors, communicators, public
- analysis of the model represented by the history of musical theatre in Parma.
Full programme
See 'Contents'
Bibliography
Bibliography contains general reference texts. The final list for the preparation of the exam is provided at the beginning of the lessons on paper and on the Elly online teaching portal.
A)
- AA. VV., “Storia della musica”, voll. 5-10, cur. SIdM, Torino, Edt, 1982 sgg.
- AA. VV., “Storia dell'opera italiana”, voll. 4-6, cur. G. Pestelli e L. Bianconi, Torino, Edt, 1987 sgg.
- L. Bianconi, “Il teatro d'opera in Italia”, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1993
- AA.VV., “Musica in scena”, cur. A. Basso, Torino, Utet, 1995 sgg.
- “The New Grove Dictionary of Opera”, ed. S. Sadie, London, Macmillan, 1996
B)
- M. Capra, “La musica e il tempo libero. Domande e riflessioni sulla fruizione musicale nell’Ottocento”, in “Il tempo libero nell’Italia unita”, cur. F. Tarozzi e A. Varni, Bologna, Clueb, 1992, pp. 45-57
- Id., “Cronologie teatrali dal 1989 a oggi. Considerazioni sul metodo”, in “Rivista italiana di musicologia”, XXIX/2, 1994, pp. 210-224.
- AA. VV., “Giuseppe Verdi und seine Zeit”, hg. M. Engelhardt, Laaber, Laaber Verlag, 2001, pp. 117-142
- M. Capra, “Il teatro d’opera a Parma. Quattrocento anni, dal Farnese al Regio”, Cinisello B., Silvana Ed., 2007
- AA. VV., “Storia di Parma. X: Musica e teatro”, cur. F. Luisi e L. Allegri, Parma, MUP, 2013
- AA. VV., “La musica sulla scena. Lo spettacolo musicale e il pubblico”, cur. A. Rigolli, Torino, Edt, 2006
- AA. VV., “Verdi e Wagner nel cinema e nei media”, cur. S. Miceli e M. Capra, Venezia, Marsilio, 2014
- “Nerone e dintorni: Arrigo Boito e il culto dell’antichità romana tra XIX e XX secolo”, cur. M. Capra, Parma, Mup, 2021
Teaching methods
Educational activities take place IN PRESENCE.
Lectures (with constant use of slides, audio and audiovisual aids); listening sessions; meetings with sector operators; guided tours; participation in seminars and conferences.
The exam preparation program (in the versions for attending and non-attending students) is available on paper and on the Elly portal at the beginning of the lessons.
The program for non-attending students provides additional bibliography that make up for the lack of attendance to the lessons.
All the texts indicated for the preparation of the exam can be consulted at the Library of the Musicology section.
The teaching materials used during the lessons (diagrams, lists and slides in particular) or support for guided tours, seminars and conferences are available on the Elly portal after their use in class or during the aforementioned events.
Assessment methods and criteria
Oral exam.
The exam takes place IN PRESENCE (if the limitations to its execution have been removed) or REMOTE through the Microsoft Teams platform (if these limitations persist).
The exam consists of several questions aimed at verifying the degree of knowledge and awareness achieved by the student. For attending students 50% of the test focuses on the content of the lessons (including slides, multimedia aids, guided tours), the rest on the content of the texts (including the images contained in them) and on the listening musical pieces indicated in the exam program. For non-attending students the exam focuses on the content of the texts and on the listening musical pieces indicated in the program.
In particular, the following are evaluated:
- basic methodological awareness through the analysis of the different sources for research
- the knowledge of the presuppositions, of the characteristics, of the evolution of musical theatre in its various forms
- the awareness and the critical sense in relation to the actual daily reality and to the historical roots
- the ability to relate the musical experience in the theatre with other forms and artistic and cultural expressions
- the capacity for rationalization on specific topics and the correct presentation of the related results
- finally, but of primary importance, the ability to connect concepts and notions acquired during lectures and in the study of texts with specific listening experiences.
An insufficient evaluation is determined by the ignorance of the minimum contents of the teaching; the inability to formulate judgments in an autonomous and founded way, and to relate concepts and events between them and with the experience of listening to music; from the inability to express themselves adequately. A sufficient assessment (18-23 / 30) is determined by an acceptable level with respect to the aforementioned evaluation indicators; an average rating (24-27 / 30) reflects a level that is more than sufficient to good; a high rating (28-30 / 30 ‘e lode’) attests a very good to excellent level.
Other information
The place is the Musicology headquarters at the Casa della Musica (p.le San Francesco 1).
2030 agenda goals for sustainable development
This teaching contributes to the realisation of the UN objectives of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
