Gods of Opera. Castrati on Operatic Stages in Europe

General data

Course ID:	3106-KASTR-OG
Erasmus code / ISCED:	03.2 Kod klasyfikacyjny przedmiotu składa się z trzech do pięciu cyfr, przy czym trzy pierwsze oznaczają klasyfikację dziedziny wg. Listy kodów dziedzin obowiązującej w programie Socrates/Erasmus, czwarta (dotąd na ogół 0) – ewentualne uszczegółowienie informacji o dyscyplinie, piąta – stopień zaawansowania przedmiotu ustalony na podstawie roku studiów, dla którego przedmiot jest przeznaczony. / (0215) Music and performing arts The ISCED (International Standard Classification of Education) code has been designed by UNESCO.
Course title:	Gods of Opera. Castrati on Operatic Stages in Europe
Name in Polish:	Bogowie opery. Kastraci na scenach operowych Europy
Organizational unit:	Institute of Musicology
Course groups:	(in Polish) Fakultety, Pracownie, OG General university courses General university courses General university courses in the humanities
ECTS credit allocation (and other scores):	(not available) Basic information on ECTS credits allocation principles: the annual hourly workload of the student’s work required to achieve the expected learning outcomes for a given stage is 1500-1800h, corresponding to 60 ECTS; the student’s weekly hourly workload is 45 h; 1 ECTS point corresponds to 25-30 hours of student work needed to achieve the assumed learning outcomes; weekly student workload necessary to achieve the assumed learning outcomes allows to obtain 1.5 ECTS; work required to pass the course, which has been assigned 3 ECTS, constitutes 10% of the semester student load. view allocation of credits
Language:	Polish
Type of course:	general courses
Short description:	Classes dealing with the most famous castratos performing on the opera stages of Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. Such figures as Atto Melani, Pier Francesco Tosi, Giovanni Grossi, Nicola Grimaldi, Gaetano Berenstadt, Francesco Bernardi, Carlo Broschi, Gaetano Maiorano, Giaocchino Gizzi, Felice Salimbeni, Carlo Scalzi, Giovanni Carestini, Giovanni Battista Mancini, Gaetano Guadagni, Giusto Fernando Tenduzzi, Giovanni Battista Velluti are to be discussed.
Full description:	Despite the fact that castration has been known for centuries, in the 17th and 18th centuries the castrati dominated the operatic life of Europe, becoming the most educated and most desirable group of musicians on the continent's opera stages. We will follow this process in class. They were mainly Italians, coming from Neapolitan conservatories but not only. During the course, students learn about selected singers, such as: Giovanni Gualberto Magli, Loreto Vittori, Baldassare Ferri, Atto Melani, Pier Francesco Tosi, Giovanni Grossi, Nicola Grimaldi, Gaetano Berenstadt, Francesco Bernardi, Carlo Broschi, Gaetano Maiorano, Giaocchino Gizzi, Carlo Scalzi, Giovanni Carestini, Giovanni Battista Mancini, Gaetano Guadagni, Giusto Fernando Tenduzzi, Giovanni Battista Velluti. Most of them were better known by various nicknames, such as the most famous castrat in this group, Carlo Broschi, better known as Farinelli. It is similar in the case of the above-mentioned castratos. During the classes, we will get to know their profiles and the repertoire written for their voices. We will also look at the process of declining popularity of castratos at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Bibliography:	Barbier P., Farinelli. Prawdziwa historia genialnego kastrata, Warszawa 1998. Bergeron K., The Castrato as History, Cambridge Opera Journal, 8 (1996), s. 167–84. Berry H., The Castrato and His Wife, Oxford 2011. Burney Ch., Obecny stan muzyki we Francji i Italii albo Dziennik podróży przez owe kraje podjętej celem zebrania materiałów dla „Powszechnej historii muzyki”, tłum. J. Chachulski, Warszawa 2017. Celletti R., Storia del belcanto, Firenze 1983. Desler A., Singing to the heart of the 21 st-century audience, Early Music, 46, 2018, s. 538-541. Feldman M. The Castrato, Reflections on Natures and Kinds, 2016. Haböck F.,: Die Kastraten und ihre Gesangskunst, Stuttgart 1927. Howard P., The Modern Castrato. Gaetano Gaudagni and the coming of a new operatic age, Oxford, 2014. Il Farinelli ritrovato, red. L. Verdi, Lucca 2014. Mancini G. F., Riflessioni pratiche sopra il canto figurato (Practical reflections on figured singing), Milan 1777. Rosselli J., Singers of Italian Opera, Cambridge, 1992. Somerset-Ward R., Angels & Monsters. Male and Female Sopranos in The Story of Opera, New Haven and London 2004. Tosi P., Osservazioni sul canto figurato, Bologna 1723.
Learning outcomes:	student understands the phenomenon of castration and its influence on the performed music; knows the figures of the most important castratos of the 17th and 18th centuries; learns the repertoire performed by castratos; understands what types of vocal requirements were demanded from castratos
Assessment methods and assessment criteria:	attendance; reading selected texts; active participation

This course is not currently offered.

Course descriptions are protected by copyright.
Copyright by University of Warsaw.