|Seventeenth Century Venetian Opera |
|Cultural and Economic Factors |
| |
|Lauren A Rader |
|12/3/2010 |
Lauren Rader
Music History I
November 19, 2010
17th Century Opera in Venice Between 1637 and 1678, in nine different theaters, Venetian audiences saw more than 150 operas. The creation of public opera houses sparked the interest of the people of the time because of social and philosophical changes that were happening in the Republican state of Venice. Opera was not only interesting to the elite. It had now made its way to a public audience. The primary audience was the crowd of Venetians and tourists that came for the carnival season in Venice. Opera succeeded as a public art form for many reasons: because of its exquisite musicality, it was highly successful and it became a way to produce revenue. Ellen Rosand says that three conditions existed for opera to be a permanent establishment in the Venetian culture: there was regular demand during the carnival season, dependable financial backing, and a broad predictable audience. An important group involved with the financial backing and librettos written for the opera houses were the Accademia degli Incogniti, translating to “The Academy of Unknowns”.
Cited: Heller, Wendy Beth. Chastity, heroism, and allure: Women in opera of seventeenth-century Venice. Diss. Brandeis University, 1995. 66-126. Muir, Edward. “Why Venice? Venetian Society and the Success of Early Opera.” Journal of Interdisciplinary History.36.3 (2006): 331-353 Purciello, Maria Anne Romano, Dennis. “Commentary: Why Opera? The Politics of an Emerging Genre.” Journal of Interdisciplinary History. 36.3 (2006): 401-409 Rosand, Ellen “theatre design.” The Cambridge Guide to Theatre. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Credo Reference. Web. 17 November 2010. Thorburn, Hugh A. (Sandy) Robert. Seventeenth-century Venetian opera: The collaborative context of a commercial, synaesthesic art form. Diss. University of Toronto (Canada), 2006. Dissertations & Theses: 134-182.