Dreaming with Open Eyes: Opera, Aesthetics, and Perception in Arcadian RomeDreaming with Open Eyes examines visual symbolism in late seventeenth-century Italian opera, contextualizing the genre amid the broad ocularcentric debates emerging at the crossroads of the early modern period and the Enlightenment. Ayana O. Smith reevaluates significant aspects of the Arcadian reform aesthetic and establishes a historically informed method of opera criticism for modern scholars and interpreters. Unfolding in a narrative fashion, the text explores facets of the philosophical and literary background and concludes with close readings of text and music, using visual symbolism to create readings of gender and character in two operas: Alessandro Scarlatti's La Statira (Rome, 1690), and Carlo Francesco Pollarolo's La forza della virtù (Venice, 1693). Smith’s interdisciplinary approach enhances our modern perception of this rich and underexplored repertory, and will appeal to students and scholars not only of opera, but also of literature, philosophy, and visual and intellectual cultures. |
Contents
1 | 17 |
Intellectual and Cultural Resonances in Gravinas | 75 |
The Role of Images in LEndimione | 103 |
Visual Modes in Alessandro Scarlattis La Statira | 126 |
Mirror Statue and Stone in Carlo Francesco | 173 |
Notes | 225 |
Bibliography | 242 |
173 | 252 |
225 | 267 |
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Common terms and phrases
Accademia Reale aesthetic Alessandro Guidi Alessandro Scarlatti Alexander Alexander’s allegory Anagilda ancient Antonio Apelles Arcadian Academy Arcadian audience Arcadian reform aria Aristotelian artistic Baroque beauty bellezza Cambridge University Press Campaspe century chapter character Christina of Sweden classical Clotilde create Cristina di Svezia criticism culture Cynthia depiction Descartes discussion drama early modern edited ekphrasis emotional Endymion Farnese Fernando fiction forza della virtù Francesco gender genre Gian Vincenzo Gravina Gianvincenzo Giovanni Mario Crescimbeni Gravina Gravina's Discorso Guidi's Guidi's L'Endimione heroic History Ibid iconographic images imagination imagistic immagine del vero intellectual interpretation Italian Komarek letteratura libretto literary literature mirror mythology narrative Neoplatonic opera Oronte Ottoboni Oxford painting Palazzo pastoral landscape patronage performance philosophical Pietro Pietro Ottoboni poet poetic poetry portrait Queen Christina recitative Renaissance representation ritornello Roma Roman Rome Scarlatti scene seventeenth-century Statira Studies style symbolism Teatro theater theory tion tradition truth Venice Venus verisimilitude visual volgar poesia