CFP-Ernani Conference

HERNANI / ERNANI

FOUR CENTURIES OF ITALIAN OPERA
Inspired by French Literature
International Conference
14-18 FEBRUARY 2007

CONFERENCE COMMITTEE
SCOTT L. BALTHAZAR - WEST CHESTER UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA DAMIEN COLAS - CNRS, IRPMF, PARIS FABRIZIO DELLA SETA - UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI PAVIA ALESSANDRO DI PROFIO - UNIVERSITÉ FRANÇOIS-RABELAIS, TOURS ANSELM GERHARD - UNIVERSITÄT BERN REINHARD STROHM - OXFORD UNIVERSITY

A CALL FOR PAPERS
From its early beginnings to the present time, Italian opera has continued to be enriched by its contact with literature from the different countries of Europe. Among these sources, French literature, in particular the literature of the theatre, has always held a privileged position. Italian composers, librettists and theoreticians have consistently looked to the other side of the Alps in search of models and subjects for inspiration. The genre of Italian opera had its own poetics, however, linked with the conditions of production, the mobility of the musicians, and the way in which the theatres of Italy functioned. To adapt a French source to the Italian stage, therefore, it was necessary to extract its subject matter and re- transcribe it in accordance with the typical conventions of representation on the Italian stage.

As a result, exchanges between the French theatre and the Italian opera are characterised by two-way interaction between the closeness and at the same time the distance that exists between the two genres.
In the light of recent developments in research in musical dramaturgy, and in intercultural and intermedial studies, the conference proposes to examine the many questions encountered by translators, adaptors, librettists and composers in their rewriting of French plays, novels and poems for the Italian lyric stage.

Half-days will be organised according to thematic sessions devoted to the principal questions in musical dramaturgy.
- theoretical aspects and studies of individual cases of intermediality and interculturality
- the geography of channels of distribution of the French sources
- the influence of French theoretical ideas, outside of the context of the Querelles
- the element of scenography – for or against Aristotle
- the temporal element, the closed form and the open form, tableaux and quadri
- the characters: modalities of the portraits and the characterisations - Mozart, his contemporaries, and the French theatre
- around Strauss’s Capriccio, manifestos in music on the opera and the theatre

This list is not exclusive: the Conference Committee also wishes to favour new approaches, as well as the participation of young researchers.

Proposals for contributions should be sent to the following address:
Alessandro Di Profio

before 18 August 2006.

They should include an abstract (maximum 350 words) and provide the coordinates of the researcher (postal and electronic address, telephone number,institution.

Papers may be presented in English, French or Italian.