Venezia Arti Journal of the Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice

Journal | Venezia Arti
Journal issue | 25 | 2016
Research Article | Opera Overture and Directorial Commentary: An (un)Happy Abuse?

Opera Overture and Directorial Commentary: An (un)Happy Abuse?

Notes in the Margin of a Question by Osthoff

Abstract

The seventh and last question proposed by Wolfgang Osthoff in his essay on the art work and its performing process can be reformulated in this way: is it right to comment on stage instrumental opera pieces like the ouverture which originally did not involve a stage direction? Osthoff reasserted the clear distinction among sections that were entirely musical and sections that were dramatic-musical, being the opera proportions at risk. Nowadays, pondering about the whole opera theoretical structure, Osthoff seems to adopt a generalization that may be hard to support. Examining a few performances as a pattern of a reviewed interpretation on the basis of Alberto Bentivoglio’s devoted studies upon Giorgio Strehler’s work as a director, this paper suggests four kinds of solutions. For example, it shows that a priori prohibition to create either a stage commentary related to the mere musical sections such as the ouverture or for the others considered as not strictly musical parts does not actually exist.


Open access | Peer reviewed

Submitted: July 8, 2016 | Accepted: Aug. 19, 2016 | Published Dec. 20, 2016 | Language: it

Keywords OperaOuvertureOsthoffProduction


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