Valore formativo del melodramma. Lectio magistralis di congedo dall’Università di Torino

Paolo Gallarati

doi:10.6092/issn.2039-9715/10193

Authors

Paolo Gallarati Torino

Formerly a Full Professor of Storia della musica [Music History] and Drammaturgia musicale [Musical Dramaturgy] at Turin University, Paolo Gallarati is a member of «Accademia delle Scienze di Torino». Since 1972 he has been a music critic, writing reviews for the national newspaper «La Stampa» and the «Amadeus» music magazine since its foundation in 1989. In 1996 he was awarded the «Premio internazionale Massimo Mila per la saggistica musicale» [Massimo Mila national prize for music essays]. He is a member of the Honour Committee of the critical edition of «Opere di Gioachino Rossini», published by Bärenreiter (Kassel-Basel-London-New York-Praha), as well as of the Commission responsible for the National edition of the Commedie per musica of Domenico Cimarosa, and of «Studi Verdiani», the official journal of Istituto nazionale di Studi Verdiani [National Institute of Verdi studies]. He directs the «UTET Grandi Opere» publishing project on the great opera composers of the 19th century, comprising 5 volumes, which is currently underway.
His research on music history and aesthetics, published in journals, conference proceedings and opera-themed publications in Italy, France, Germany, Austria and England, has addressed the production of Monteverdi, Gluck, Paisiello, Mozart, Salieri, Rossini, Weber, Verdi, and of librettists such as Zeno, Metastasio, Calzabigi, Da Ponte, Goldoni, and Piave. Among his published volumes are Gluck e Mozart (Einaudi, 1975), Musica e maschera. Il libretto italiano del Settecento (Music and mask. The Italian libretto in the 18th century, Edt/Musica, 1984), La forza delle parole. Mozart drammaturgo (The power of words. Mozart as a dramaturgist, Einaudi, 1993), L’Europa del melodramma. Da Calzabigi a Rossini (The Europe of opera. From Calzabigi to Rossini, Edizioni dell’Orso, 2000), Verdi ritrovato. Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, La Traviata (The return of Verdi. Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, La Traviata, il Saggiatore, 2016). His volume Trent’anni all’opera (30 years at the opera, Le Lettere, 2002) is a collection of over 200 music criticism articles published on «La Stampa» between 1978 and 2008.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2039-9715/10193

Keywords:

opera, cultural education, artistic appreciation, university teaching

Abstract

The lectio magistralis held by Paolo Gallarati as he took leave from Turin University explains why his teaching of Music History, to which he devoted himself for over four decades, concentrated on the history of opera and on the remarkable benefits students can derive from an in-depth knowledge of music theater in the development of their cultural education, their ability to think by forms and appreciate nuances, and the possibility to arrive at a vision of humanity, and of the world, informed by the unique interconnection of music, theater and stage life.