Le 30 juin 2017
de 12h00 à 12h30
Le Patio (université de Strasbourg)
22 rue René Descartes, 67000 Strasbourg
amphithéâtre 6
Séance - The Bel-Canto Era: Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini
Pré-acte / Acte
Auteur : Marco Pollaci
Increasing interest in the study of music analysis of different forms has resulted in recent extensive research into the music repertoires and issues relating to its analysis. A controversial but essential question has arisen over whether opera can and should be analysed in the same framework as all other music genres, despite the widespread, vastly complex and nuanced links between dramaturgical context on the one hand and compositional practice on the other. Despite opera having a broad set of approaches that might be deemed its language, it can be argued that its eighteenth- and nineteenth-century roots have a solid basis which enabled most composers to advance and professionalise. Understanding what underpins such compositional practice helps break down the historical barriers that have been established through time. It lays the foundations for an accessible analytical approach for this music form. It enables insight into the history of music theory, and the role of the analytical approach itself in elucidating.
This paper will explore the notion that analysis focused on real compositional and pedagogic legacies such as the art of partimento and traditional compositional practice can reveal how these centuries-old traditions were essential parts of the drama. The study will examine examples of composer Vincenzo Bellini’s music analysis, and the relationship between his compositional practice and the tonal music language of the nineteenth century. The analytical work is based upon voice-leading of Bellini’s contrapuntal patterns and voice-leading from Norma and I Puritani, suggesting several correlations between the analytical results and the dramaturgical context. The paper will argue that scrutinising the tonal language of Vincenzo Bellini’s masterpieces could make for analysis that clarifies the legacy of compositional theory and practice in nineteenth-century opera.
