in Bologna, musicians in Bologna.
Giuseppe Verdi’s operas in Bologna (1843-1901), including an appendix about
Bologna and Giuseppe Verdi’s death, Lucca, Lim 2001, LX, 471 pp.
Rassegna musicale italiana, VII, 21, 2001-2002, p.45 (Piero
Slovenski muzikolosko drustvo, 16, 2001, p.55, (Primož Kuret).
The project of collecting
all publications of the Bolognese press on Verdi’s operas performed at
the Teatro Comunale in Bologna until 1901 is dedicated to the great composer on
the centenary of his death and on the occasion of the events for Bologna 2000 as
a European capital of culture.
The anthology gathers about 500 articles which appeared on Bolognese daily
papers and periodical publications from the first representation of one of
Verdi’s operas on the scenes of the Teatro Comunale of Bologna (1843)
to the composer’s death (1901). It had been a time span involving
relevant political changes, the most important of which was the indipendence of
Italy, nevertheless being sufficiently homogeneous as regards the history of melodrama.
At that time several newspapers were active and, even in the different style
and opinions of the various newspapers and magazines all over 60 years
approximately, there emerges quite a uniform picture. In those years the
Bolognese cultural ferment is documented by the almost contemporary presence of
as many as six Bolognese prestigious daily papers, namely
Monitore di Bologna, Gazzetta dell’Emilia, L’Ancora, La Stella
d’Italia, L’Unione and La Patria. Towards the end of the 19th century, then, there proliferated
satirical magazines, often including Bolognese dialect sections, among which
“Ehi! Ch’al scusa, E’ permesso?… and La Striglia.
Apart from the Teatro
Comunale, another two important theatres were active in those years: the Teatro
del Corso and the Teatro Contavalli, which are both lost today, the former owing
to wartime-events, the latter owing to negligence; even the Teatro Brunetti (today’s
Teatro Duse), the Nosadella Theatre and other minor theatres often used to put
on opera performances. These theatres used to stage many of Verdi’s operas ,
but today it is extremely difficult to go back to their chronology; besides,
these performances used to be considered as definitely less important than the
ones stages at the Teatro Comunale. Therefore, I have considered as relevant the
reviews about the works staged at the Teatro Comunale, excepting the years 1853
54, 1866 67 and 1874 75 during which the Comunale, which was being closed during
restorations, moved all activities to the Teatro del Corso, the Contavalli and
the Brunetti. As to the list of Verdi’s works staged at the Teatro Comunale, I
have followed the critical Repertory of performances and musical executions from
1763 to 1966, edited by Sergio Paganelli in vol. II of “Due secoli di
vita musicale. Storia del Teatro Comunale di Bologna”, edited by L. Trezzini,
Bologna 1987, to which the reader is referred as far as general information is
concerned. The stagings of
Verdi’s operas at the Teatro Comunale from 1843 to 1901 (including the ones at
the Corso, the Contavalli and the Brunetti during the period of closing of the
Comunale and the Messa da Requiem) were about 70, with 23 titles staged.
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