Humanities, University of Southampton

This module introduces you to operatic and musical-theatrical entertainments produced in Italy, France, Spain and England between 1600 and 1750 and investigates the ways in which their multimedia nature functioned in these diverse milieux.

Module Co-ordinator: Dr Valeria de Lucca

 The aims of this module are to:

• Make you familiar with the multimedia nature of opera and musical theatre in Europe during the period 1600-1750
• Develop the necessary skills to analyse musical forms (recitative, aria, arioso, etc.), word-music relation, and the ways in which poetry and visual aspects contributed to the construction of musical-theatrical entertainment
• Explore the role of opera and musical theatre in early modern European society and its relation to other art forms
• Examine the ways in which spectacles of opera and musical theatre were produced, consumed and used as vehicles of social and political messages

             Having successfully completed the module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of: 

• The main musical, textual, dramatic, and visual components of early modern European opera and musical theatre and the ways in which their socio-political contexts contributed to shaping them
• The trajectory that brought opera and musical theatre from the court to commercial theatres and the main characteristics of the systems of patronage and of the open market
• The ways in which opera was produced, the economic and social underpinnings behind its production, and its political function

This module introduces you to operatic and musical-theatrical entertainments produced in Italy, France, Spain and England between 1600 and 1750 and investigates the ways in which their multimedia nature functioned in these diverse milieux. Beginning with an overview of the main musical-theatrical genres of the period, you will go on to explore the social contexts in which they emerged, developed, and flourished, as well as the impact these environments had on their musical, textual, dramatic and visual components. You will follow the trajectories that brought private court entertainments to be exported and made available to larger audiences through the emergence of commercial theatres and the star system. Case studies tracing the transformations and consolidations of operatic and musical-theatrical conventions across Europe will include: from commedia dell'arte to opera in Italy; patronage, opera and musical theatre in the courts of Italy, France, Spain and England; the emergence of commercial theatres and the consolidation of conventions. Particular attention will be devoted to Handel's activity in London, the public theatres, and the rising importance of the singer in the operatic marketplace.

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 Teaching methods include

• Lectures
• Class discussion
• Sharing of ideas and materials via Blackboard and other electronic resources

 Learning activities include

• A wide range of reading (certain books and articles will be required reading)
• Study of selected librettos and musical scores
• Study of selected video recordings
• Individual research
• Use of online resources to find newspaper articles and other material relating to the subjects being studied.

 Blackboard

Video recordings

Reading List

Anthony, James R. French Baroque Music from Beaujoyeulx to Rameau. London, Batsford, 1973.

Burrows, Donald. Handel. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994.

Carter, Tim and John Butt. The Cambridge History of Seventeenth-Century Music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.

Harris, Ellen T. ed. The Librettos of Handel's Operas: A Collection of Seventy-One Librettos Documenting Handel's Operatic Career. 13 vols. New York: Garland Press, 1989.

LaRue, C. Steven. Handel and His Singers: The Creation of the Royal Academy Operas, 1720-1728. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.

Rosand, Ellen. Opera in Seventeenth-Century Venice: The Creation of a Genre. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991.

Stein, Louise. Songs of Mortals, Dialogues of the Gods: Music and Theatre in Seventeenth-Century Spain. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993.

 Assessments designed to provide informal, on-module feedback

• Class discussion
• Tutorial assistance in tutor's open hours

 Formal assessments