Dating Venetian Operas - Revision history

Esfield: /* Why is dating Venetian operas a problem? */

2025-04-24T22:43:09Z

Why is dating Venetian operas a problem?

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:43, 24 April 2025
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	The great virtue of weekly news-sheets in historical research is that they provide incontrovertible dates for events. These can be deduced from named weekdays (as in "Last Sunday the bones of Julius Caesar were resurrected in the Theater X"). Why are dates from these humble writings incontrovertible? In each locale from which they were issued, the dispatch was consistently made on a same day of the week. In Venice it was Saturday. The same date could not fall on Saturday in two consecutive years. In other venues, the dispatch date could be another day of the week. In the mid-eighteenth century dispatches became more frequent, but delivery remained slow. In a printed "news from all over" or "<i>notizie universali</i>" containing combined dispatches from many locales, the individual items quoted could have been written over as long as two weeks.		The great virtue of weekly news-sheets in historical research is that they provide incontrovertible dates for events. These can be deduced from named weekdays (as in "Last Sunday the bones of Julius Caesar were resurrected in the Theater X"). Why are dates from these humble writings incontrovertible? In each locale from which they were issued, the dispatch was consistently made on a same day of the week. In Venice it was Saturday. The same date could not fall on Saturday in two consecutive years. In other venues, the dispatch date could be another day of the week. In the mid-eighteenth century dispatches became more frequent, but delivery remained slow. In a printed "news from all over" or "<i>notizie universali</i>" containing combined dispatches from many locales, the individual items quoted could have been written over as long as two weeks.

	==In a field such as opera history, otherwise served by multiple loose chronologies depending on carelessly edited period prints and modern interpretations, conflicts between the supposed implications derived from concentrating on years and seasons arise often.		===A solution for exact dating===

	Two discoveries emerged from the fact that opera openings are mentioned ubiquitously in weekly news-sheets. One was that the idea of establishing a secure chronology was entirely feasible. The other was that while there are many series of weekly news-sheets from Venice (and several dozen other cities), not one of them is complete. The pursuit of a fixed timeline thus came to depend on tracking down more and more dispatched assembled, patchwork style, in collections of <i>Notizie</i>, </i>Diari</i>, and other forerunners of modern newspapers. Full source citations are given in the <i>New Chronology</i>. In all, I consulted sixteen weekly series for any part of the century at hand I could find.		Two discoveries emerged from the fact that opera openings are mentioned ubiquitously in weekly news-sheets. One was that the idea of establishing a secure chronology was entirely feasible. The other was that while there are many series of weekly news-sheets from Venice (and several dozen other cities), not one of them is complete. The pursuit of a fixed timeline thus came to depend on tracking down more and more dispatched assembled, patchwork style, in collections of <i>Notizie</i>, </i>Diari</i>, and other forerunners of modern newspapers. Full source citations are given in the <i>New Chronology</i>. In all, I consulted sixteen weekly series for any part of the century at hand I could find.

Esfield at 00:53, 18 April 2025

2025-04-18T00:53:58Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:53, 18 April 2025
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	*a date provided by the censors who certified the text to be free of blasphemy		*a date provided by the censors who certified the text to be free of blasphemy
	*a date provided by a librettist of impresario		*a date provided by a librettist of impresario
	Among these three contradictions may occur. The single most popular day ~~from~~ an opera to open was 26 December. Most productions that started then ran into the new year. This was rarely a problem for the civic calendar, because Lent predominately began before the end of February.		Among these three contradictions may occur. The single most popular day for an opera to open was 26 December. Most productions that started then ran into the new year. This was rarely a problem for the civic calendar, because Lent predominately began before the end of February.


	===Seasons===		===Seasons===
	~~Part of this ambiguity was imposed by a general practice of stating the~~ theatrical ~~season~~ in ~~which~~ the ~~production would occur. Here a third source~~ of ~~ambiguity arises: <i>~~theatrical~~</i> and astronomical~~ seasons did not ~~necessarily~~ coincide. Carnival is the ~~chief obstacle~~ to ~~clarity~~. Carnival was ~~permitted~~ by ~~license--from~~ the ~~Republic and~~, by ~~default,~~ from the ~~Church~~. ~~Its boundaries were sinnificantly different after~~ 1720 ~~than they had been before~~.		The terms for theatrical seasons--Autumn, Winter, Spring--as used in libretti contribute add to the list of ambiguities, because theatrical seasons did not exactly coincide with astronomical ones. Venetians did not think of Carnival as winter, which more cleanly incorated the timespan, so they did not often use the term Inverno. As a theatrical season Carnival usually started on 26 (or 27 or 28) December. The productions were likely to run for about three weeks, meaning that in modern terms they overlapped two calendar years. Modern interpreterers construe these year-dates in inconsistent ways.

			Carnival started on a different date every year, but its termination was imposed by the start of Lent. This resulted in the final performance of late Carnival operas occurring on the afternoon of the Monday before Ash Wednesday. (This could be interpreted as the Eve of Shrove Tuesday, which began at sundown of the preceding day.)

			The beginning of Carnival was governed by a license from the Venetian Republic's Council of Ten. It was issued at an arbitrary date that was roughly a month before the start of Lent until 1720. Thereafter it was often somewhat soon. By the 1740s it 4 January was the usually date.

	===Dating Easter===		===Dating Easter===

Esfield at 00:35, 18 April 2025

2025-04-18T00:35:57Z

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	<br>		<br>
	Why are finite dates so important in understanding the phenomenon of Venetian opera? The short answer is "because there were so many of them".		Why are finite dates so important in understanding the phenomenon of Venetian opera? The short answer is "because there were so many of them"--889 in this collection addressing the century 1660-1760.
	<br>		<br>
	Ordinary people did not have calendars or clocks. Information about the significance of particular occasions was entrusted to clergy and accountants, but they did not share a common vocabulary. Today, when fewer and fewer people observe Christian feasts, the ~~significance~~ of the penitential seasons of Advent (devotional anticipation of Christmas) and Lent (devotional preparation for Easter) is increasingly ~~lost~~.		Why is the dating of years so difficult? The short answer is that eight different methods of dating were in simultaneous use in the Venetian Republic. The two most relevant to schemes for marking new years were
			* the church year (from 1 January)
			* the civic year of the Venetian Republic (from 1 March)
			Theaters were secular enterprises, but many librettists and composers were priests. Years in bibliographical sources enshrine the years found in printed operas libretti, but they can incorporate up to three iterations of the year
			*the date given on a title-page (e.g. Carnavale 1708)
			*a date provided by the censors who certified the text to be free of blasphemy
			*a date provided by a librettist of impresario
			Among these three contradictions may occur. The single most popular day from an opera to open was 26 December. Most productions that started then ran into the new year. This was rarely a problem for the civic calendar, because Lent predominately began before the end of February.


			===Seasons===
			Part of this ambiguity was imposed by a general practice of stating the theatrical season in which the production would occur. Here a third source of ambiguity arises: <i>theatrical</i> and astronomical seasons did not necessarily coincide. Carnival is the chief obstacle to clarity. Carnival was permitted by license--from the Republic and, by default, from the Church. Its boundaries were sinnificantly different after 1720 than they had been before.

			===Dating Easter===



			Ordinary people did not have calendars or clocks. Information about the significance of particular occasions was entrusted to clergy and accountants, but they did not share a common vocabulary. Today, when fewer and fewer people observe Christian feasts, the purpose of the penitential seasons of Advent (intended for devotional anticipation of Christmas) and Lent (devotional preparation for Easter) are becoming increasingly elusive.
	<br>		<br>
	A central problem in interpreting dates in historical documents from Venice the conflict between a new year starting on 1 January (the Church) and on 1 March (the Venetian Republic). While church officials all over Italy considered the year to start on January 1, Venetian officials held it to start on March 1.		===Standard approaches to the dating problem===

	~~Theaters were secular enterprises, but many librettists and composers were priests. Printers had no fixed preferences. The result was rampant contradictions of the quoted year in printed libretti.~~
	===~~The~~ dating problem ~~and standard approaches to it~~===
	Traditionally, librarians and historians have relied on standard bibliographical studies to assign a year to a work. No opera of the time was published. Only the putative text for the work was available to attendees in a small-format print called a libretto. However venerable a bibliography may be, its designated year can be off by one because of implicit disagreements about when a new year began.		Traditionally, librarians and historians have relied on standard bibliographical studies to assign a year to a work. No opera of the time was published. Only the putative text for the work was available to attendees in a small-format print called a libretto. However venerable a bibliography may be, its designated year can be off by one because of implicit disagreements about when a new year began.
	<br>		<br>
	According to the Church, the new year began on 1 ~~January~~. According to the Venetian State (Republic) it began on 1 ~~March~~. Through the time of Napoleon, the majority of Venetian operas opened in January or February. Libretti can have as many as three sstatements of the year--one on the title page, one when the censor authorized the libretto for publciation, and one given by the printer at the time of publication. Bibliographers confront discrepancies between these, so that the "source" cannot be counted on to offer a year that will be uniform in the work of interpreters.		According to the Church, the new year began on January 1. According to the Venetian State (Republic) it began on March 1. Through the time of Napoleon, the majority of Venetian operas opened in January or February. Libretti can have as many as three sstatements of the year--one on the title page, one when the censor authorized the libretto for publciation, and one given by the printer at the time of publication. Bibliographers confront discrepancies between these, so that the "source" cannot be counted on to offer a year that will be uniform in the work of interpreters.
	<br>		<br>

Esfield at 00:08, 18 April 2025

2025-04-18T00:08:41Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:08, 18 April 2025
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	Why are finite dates so important in understanding the phenomenon of Venetian opera? The short answer is "because there were so many of them".		Why are finite dates so important in understanding the phenomenon of Venetian opera? The short answer is "because there were so many of them".
	<br>		<br>
	Ordinary people did not have calendars or clocks. Information about the significance of particular occasions was entrusted to clergy and accountants, but they did not share a common vocabulary. Today, when fewer and fewer people observe Christian feasts, the ~~purpose~~ of the penitential seasons of Advent (~~intended for~~ devotional anticipation of Christmas) and Lent (devotional preparation for Easter) ~~are becoming~~ increasingly ~~elusive~~.		Ordinary people did not have calendars or clocks. Information about the significance of particular occasions was entrusted to clergy and accountants, but they did not share a common vocabulary. Today, when fewer and fewer people observe Christian feasts, the significance of the penitential seasons of Advent (devotional anticipation of Christmas) and Lent (devotional preparation for Easter) is increasingly lost.
	<br>		<br>
	A ~~fundamental contribution to~~ the ~~problem of dating operas is that while~~ church officials all over ~~italy~~ considered the year to start on January 1, Venetian officials held it to start on March 1. Theaters were secular enterprises, but many librettists and composers were priests. Printers had no fixed preferences. The result was rampant contradictions of the quoted year in printed libretti.		A central problem in interpreting dates in historical documents from Venice the conflict between a new year starting on 1 January (the Church) and on 1 March (the Venetian Republic). While church officials all over Italy considered the year to start on January 1, Venetian officials held it to start on March 1.
	===~~Standard~~ approaches to ~~the dating problem~~===
			Theaters were secular enterprises, but many librettists and composers were priests. Printers had no fixed preferences. The result was rampant contradictions of the quoted year in printed libretti.
			===The dating problem and standard approaches to it===
	Traditionally, librarians and historians have relied on standard bibliographical studies to assign a year to a work. No opera of the time was published. Only the putative text for the work was available to attendees in a small-format print called a libretto. However venerable a bibliography may be, its designated year can be off by one because of implicit disagreements about when a new year began.		Traditionally, librarians and historians have relied on standard bibliographical studies to assign a year to a work. No opera of the time was published. Only the putative text for the work was available to attendees in a small-format print called a libretto. However venerable a bibliography may be, its designated year can be off by one because of implicit disagreements about when a new year began.
	<br>		<br>
	According to the Church, the new year began on January 1. According to the Venetian State (Republic) it began on March 1. Through the time of Napoleon, the majority of Venetian operas opened in January or February. Libretti can have as many as three sstatements of the year--one on the title page, one when the censor authorized the libretto for publciation, and one given by the printer at the time of publication. Bibliographers confront discrepancies between these, so that the "source" cannot be counted on to offer a year that will be uniform in the work of interpreters.		According to the Church, the new year began on 1 January. According to the Venetian State (Republic) it began on 1 March. Through the time of Napoleon, the majority of Venetian operas opened in January or February. Libretti can have as many as three sstatements of the year--one on the title page, one when the censor authorized the libretto for publciation, and one given by the printer at the time of publication. Bibliographers confront discrepancies between these, so that the "source" cannot be counted on to offer a year that will be uniform in the work of interpreters.
	<br>		<br>

Esfield: /* Why is dating Venetian operas a problem? */

2024-11-01T03:23:38Z

Why is dating Venetian operas a problem?

← Older revision		Revision as of 03:23, 1 November 2024
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	The monthly print <i>Pallade veneta</i> often shows the seams of weekly news reports. After 17 issues (from January 1687 through May 1688), it ceased publication. However, it continued in manuscript circulation. Most weekly issues are lost, but some surviving ones are from the year 1751. Much more compendious gatherings of news from all over Europe. In these collections each local report is taken from a manuscript <i>avviso</i>.		The monthly print <i>Pallade veneta</i> often shows the seams of weekly news reports. After 17 issues (from January 1687 through May 1688), it ceased publication. However, it continued in manuscript circulation. Most weekly issues are lost, but some surviving ones are from the year 1751. Much more compendious gatherings of news from all over Europe. In these collections each local report is taken from a manuscript <i>avviso</i>.

	The great virtue of weekly news-sheets in historical research is that they provide incontrovertible dates for events. These can be deduced from named weekdays (as in "Last Sunday the bones of Julius Caesar were resurrected in the Theater X"). Why are dates from these humble writings incontrovertible? In each locale from which they were issued, the dispatch was consistently made on a same day of the week. In Venice it was Saturday. The same date could not fall on Saturday in two consecutive years. n other venues, the dispatch date could be another day of the week. In the mid-eighteenth century dispatches became more frequent, but delivery remained slow. In a printed "news from all over" or "<i>notizie universali</i>" containing combined dispatches from many locales, the individual items quoted could have been written over as long as two weeks.		The great virtue of weekly news-sheets in historical research is that they provide incontrovertible dates for events. These can be deduced from named weekdays (as in "Last Sunday the bones of Julius Caesar were resurrected in the Theater X"). Why are dates from these humble writings incontrovertible? In each locale from which they were issued, the dispatch was consistently made on a same day of the week. In Venice it was Saturday. The same date could not fall on Saturday in two consecutive years. In other venues, the dispatch date could be another day of the week. In the mid-eighteenth century dispatches became more frequent, but delivery remained slow. In a printed "news from all over" or "<i>notizie universali</i>" containing combined dispatches from many locales, the individual items quoted could have been written over as long as two weeks.

	==In a field such as opera history, otherwise served by multiple loose chronologies depending on carelessly edited period prints and modern interpretations, conflicts between the supposed implications derived from concentrating on years and seasons arise often.		==In a field such as opera history, otherwise served by multiple loose chronologies depending on carelessly edited period prints and modern interpretations, conflicts between the supposed implications derived from concentrating on years and seasons arise often.

Esfield: /* ====Why is dating Venetian operas a problem? */

2024-10-31T21:58:27Z

====Why is dating Venetian operas a problem?

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:58, 31 October 2024
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	In the late 1970s other research introduced me to the network of weekly news-sheets that flowed across Europe, post by post, from the 1560s to the end of the eighteenth century. In good conditions, a courier (the forerunner of a mail delivery agent) would ride for about five hours in a day. Increasingly over time, dispatches were gathered together into bundles of new from other points. Some collections began to be printed and sold on subscription in the eighteenth century. Venice was an important hub for the exchange of news but its avvisi (news-sheets) in print only in collections issuing from such cities as Rome, Bologna, Amsterdam, and Vienna. Much of the distribution of news in the seventeenth century initially focused on news of battles and the position of troops, but when war news was scarce, cultural news found favor in many dispatches.		In the late 1970s other research introduced me to the network of weekly news-sheets that flowed across Europe, post by post, from the 1560s to the end of the eighteenth century. In good conditions, a courier (the forerunner of a mail delivery agent) would ride for about five hours in a day. Increasingly over time, dispatches were gathered together into bundles of new from other points. Some collections began to be printed and sold on subscription in the eighteenth century. Venice was an important hub for the exchange of news but its avvisi (news-sheets) in print only in collections issuing from such cities as Rome, Bologna, Amsterdam, and Vienna. Much of the distribution of news in the seventeenth century initially focused on news of battles and the position of troops, but when war news was scarce, cultural news found favor in many dispatches.

	~~====~~===Why is dating Venetian operas a problem?===		===Why is dating Venetian operas a problem?===
	Venetian culture thrived on inspiration, expression, and imagination. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries ~~Venice had~~ eight different nomenclatures for identifying years and seasons. Because there were so many operas ~~(889~~ in ~~the century annotated here)~~, small questions about ~~topics like~~ the sequence of works ~~of a~~ composer or theater ~~or about competing between theaters can never~~ be definitively answered. As many as 23% of the ~~years given~~ in opera bibliographies ~~are incorrect~~.		Venetian culture thrived on inspiration, expression, and imagination. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries eight different nomenclatures for identifying years and seasons were in use. Because there were so many operas given in close succession, small questions about the sequence of works by an individual composer or staged at a specific theater ccould not be definitively answered. As many as 23% of a given year's works are listed with the wrong year in respected opera bibliographies. Ths comes about mainly from misinterpretations of seasonal terminology and lack of understanding of the conflicting approaches to year determination by the Church and the Venetian Republic.

	~~The root of the problem lies in erratic information given in printed libretti, which number many multiples higher than the number of works.~~ Opera played no direct role in the church of the church, but it was not specifically a civic product either. Libretti were caught in the draft between a church year that started on January 1 and a civic year that advanced on March 1 (the <i>mors veneto</i>). The details and intricacies of the many conflicts caused by the difference are spelled out on my <i>Song and Season: Science, Culture, and Theatrical Time in Early Modern Venice </i> (2007). This database is closely connected to three of my earlier book		Opera played no direct role in the church of the church, but it was not specifically a civic product either. Libretti were caught in the draft between a church year that started on January 1 and a civic year that advanced on March 1 (according to the <i>mors veneto</i>). The details and intricacies of the many conflicts caused by the difference are spelled out on my <i>Song and Season: Science, Culture, and Theatrical Time in Early Modern Venice </i> (2007). This database is closely connected to three of my earlier book
	[https://archivio.fondazionelevi.it/serie-item-detail?id_s=IT-LEVI-ST0002-024030 <i>Pallade Veneta: Writings on Music in Venetian Society</i>, Venice: Fondazione Ugo e Olga Levi, 1985].		[https://archivio.fondazionelevi.it/serie-item-detail?id_s=IT-LEVI-ST0002-024030 <i>Pallade Veneta: Writings on Music in Venetian Society</i>, Venice: Fondazione Ugo e Olga Levi, 1985].

	The monthly print <i>Pallade veneta</i> often shows the seams of weekly news reports. After 17 issues (from January 1687 through May 1688), it ceased publication. However, it continued in manuscript circulation. Most weekly issues are lost, but some surviving ones are from the year 1751.		The monthly print <i>Pallade veneta</i> often shows the seams of weekly news reports. After 17 issues (from January 1687 through May 1688), it ceased publication. However, it continued in manuscript circulation. Most weekly issues are lost, but some surviving ones are from the year 1751. Much more compendious gatherings of news from all over Europe. In these collections each local report is taken from a manuscript <i>avviso</i>.

	The great virtue of weekly news-sheets in historical research is that they provide incontrovertible dates for events. These can be deduced from named weekdays (as in "Last Sunday the bones of Julius Caesar were resurrected in the Theater X"). Why are dates from these humble writings incontrovertible? In each locale from which they were issued, the dispatch was consistently made on a same day of the week. In Venice it was Saturday. The same date could not fall on Saturday in two consecutive years.		The great virtue of weekly news-sheets in historical research is that they provide incontrovertible dates for events. These can be deduced from named weekdays (as in "Last Sunday the bones of Julius Caesar were resurrected in the Theater X"). Why are dates from these humble writings incontrovertible? In each locale from which they were issued, the dispatch was consistently made on a same day of the week. In Venice it was Saturday. The same date could not fall on Saturday in two consecutive years. n other venues, the dispatch date could be another day of the week. In the mid-eighteenth century dispatches became more frequent, but delivery remained slow. In a printed "news from all over" or "<i>notizie universali</i>" containing combined dispatches from many locales, the individual items quoted could have been written over as long as two weeks.

	In a field such as opera history, otherwise served by multiple loose chronologies depending on carelessly edited period prints and modern interpretations, conflicts between the supposed implications derived from concentrating on years and seasons arise often.		==In a field such as opera history, otherwise served by multiple loose chronologies depending on carelessly edited period prints and modern interpretations, conflicts between the supposed implications derived from concentrating on years and seasons arise often.

	Two discoveries emerged from the fact that opera openings are mentioned ubiquitously in weekly news-sheets. One was that the idea of establishing a secure chronology was entirely feasible. The other was that while there are many series of weekly news-sheets from Venice (and several dozen other cities), not one of them is complete. The pursuit of a fixed timeline thus came to depend on tracking down more and more dispatched assembled, patchwork style, in collections of <i>Notizie</i>, </i>Diari</i>, and other forerunners of modern newspapers. Full source citations are given in the <i>New Chronology</i>. In all, I consulted sixteen weekly series for any part of the century at hand I could find.		Two discoveries emerged from the fact that opera openings are mentioned ubiquitously in weekly news-sheets. One was that the idea of establishing a secure chronology was entirely feasible. The other was that while there are many series of weekly news-sheets from Venice (and several dozen other cities), not one of them is complete. The pursuit of a fixed timeline thus came to depend on tracking down more and more dispatched assembled, patchwork style, in collections of <i>Notizie</i>, </i>Diari</i>, and other forerunners of modern newspapers. Full source citations are given in the <i>New Chronology</i>. In all, I consulted sixteen weekly series for any part of the century at hand I could find.

Esfield at 04:35, 31 October 2024

2024-10-31T04:35:31Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 04:35, 31 October 2024
Line 1:		Line 1:
	<br>		<br>
	Why are finite dates so important in understanding the phenomenon of Venetian opera? The short answer is "because so many ~~were produced in any given year~~.		Why are finite dates so important in understanding the phenomenon of Venetian opera? The short answer is "because there were so many of them".
	<br>		<br>
	The origins date back to the early 1980s, when my goal was to construct a single chronologically-ordered resource for Venetian opera of the Republican period. The density of titles for single years contained many pitfalls for careful assessment. These resided in unlikely places. Among these coded language for certain aspects of time that varied from one occupation to another was a big one.		Ordinary people did not have calendars or clocks. Information about the significance of particular occasions was entrusted to clergy and accountants, but they did not share a common vocabulary. Today, when fewer and fewer people observe Christian feasts, the purpose of the penitential seasons of Advent (intended for devotional anticipation of Christmas) and Lent (devotional preparation for Easter) are becoming increasingly elusive.
	~~<br>~~
	Ordinary people did not have calendars or clocks. Information about the significance of particular occasions was entrusted to clergy and accountants, but they did not share a common ~~set of terms for the many segments of a year that were partitioned on one or both ends by moveable feasts~~. Today, when fewer and fewer people observe Christian feasts, the purpose of the penitential seasons of Advent (intended for devotional anticipation of Christmas) and Lent (devotional preparation for Easter) are becoming increasingly elusive.
	<br>		<br>
			A fundamental contribution to the problem of dating operas is that while church officials all over italy considered the year to start on January 1, Venetian officials held it to start on March 1. Theaters were secular enterprises, but many librettists and composers were priests. Printers had no fixed preferences. The result was rampant contradictions of the quoted year in printed libretti.
	===Standard approaches to the dating problem===		===Standard approaches to the dating problem===
	Traditionally, librarians and historians have relied on standard bibliographical studies to assign a year to a work. No opera of the time was published. Only the putative text for the work was available to attendees in a small-format print called a libretto. However venerable a bibliography may be, its designated year can be off by one because of implicit disagreements about when a new year began.		Traditionally, librarians and historians have relied on standard bibliographical studies to assign a year to a work. No opera of the time was published. Only the putative text for the work was available to attendees in a small-format print called a libretto. However venerable a bibliography may be, its designated year can be off by one because of implicit disagreements about when a new year began.

Esfield at 04:30, 31 October 2024

2024-10-31T04:30:28Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 04:30, 31 October 2024
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	<br>		<br>
	Why are finite dates so important in understanding the phenomenon of Venetian opera? The short answer is because were produced ~~per~~ year.		Why are finite dates so important in understanding the phenomenon of Venetian opera? The short answer is "because so many were produced in any given year.
	<br>		<br>
	Ordinary people did not have calendars or clocks. ~~The year~~ was ~~parsed by religious feasts and other celebrations such as weddings and coronations (or, in Venice, installations of immportant office-holders). Only~~ clergy and accountants ~~maintained~~ a ~~sense~~ of the ~~progress~~ of ~~months and years.~~		The origins date back to the early 1980s, when my goal was to construct a single chronologically-ordered resource for Venetian opera of the Republican period. The density of titles for single years contained many pitfalls for careful assessment. These resided in unlikely places. Among these coded language for certain aspects of time that varied from one occupation to another was a big one.
	~~<b>Easter</b>, the paramount feast of Roman Catholicism, could fall anywhere along~~ a ~~35-day continuum. The date was determined by the first full moon after the 21st of March. Several other feasts~~ were ~~in turn dependent~~ on ~~the date of Easter, which was always observed on a Sunday. <b>Ascension</b> fell on a Thursday 40 days after Easter. <b>Pentecost</b> fell 50 days after Easter. <b>Corpus Domini</b> followed~~ by ~~another ten days~~.		<br>
	~~<br~~		Ordinary people did not have calendars or clocks. Information about the significance of particular occasions was entrusted to clergy and accountants, but they did not share a common set of terms for the many segments of a year that were partitioned on one or both ends by moveable feasts. Today, when fewer and fewer people observe Christian feasts, the purpose of the penitential seasons of Advent (intended for devotional anticipation of Christmas) and Lent (devotional preparation for Easter) are becoming increasingly elusive.
	Today, when fewer and fewer people observe Christian feasts, the purpose of the penitential seasons of ~~<b>~~Advent~~</b>~~ (intended for devotional anticipation of Christmas) and ~~<b>~~Lent~~</b>~~ (devotional preparation for Easter) are becoming increasingly elusive. The date of Advent can range over a sevenday period: it begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas. The Venetian day began at sundown. The religious celebration of Christmas was observed mass was celebrated on the night we call Christmas Eve. The start of Advent was therefore moveable, while its termination was fixed on December 24.

	<br>		<br>
	===Standard approaches to the dating problem===		===Standard approaches to the dating problem===

Esfield at 04:29, 31 October 2024

2024-10-31T04:29:10Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 04:29, 31 October 2024
Line 1:		Line 1:
	<br>		<br>
	Why are finite dates so important in understanding the phenomenon of Venetian opera? The short answer is "because ~~there~~ were ~~so many of them"~~.		Why are finite dates so important in understanding the phenomenon of Venetian opera? The short answer is because were produced per year.
	<br>		<br>
	The ~~origins date back to the early 1980s~~, ~~when my goal was to construct~~ a ~~single chronologically-ordered resource for Venetian opera~~ of the ~~Republican period. The density~~ of ~~titles for single~~ years ~~contained many pitfalls for careful assessment. These resided in unlikely places. Among these coded language for certain aspects of time that varied from one occupation to another was a big one~~.		Ordinary people did not have calendars or clocks. The year was parsed by religious feasts and other celebrations such as weddings and coronations (or, in Venice, installations of immportant office-holders). Only clergy and accountants maintained a sense of the progress of months and years.
	<br>		<b>Easter</b>, the paramount feast of Roman Catholicism, could fall anywhere along a 35-day continuum. The date was determined by the first full moon after the 21st of March. Several other feasts were in turn dependent on the date of Easter, which was always observed on a Sunday. <b>Ascension</b> fell on a Thursday 40 days after Easter. <b>Pentecost</b> fell 50 days after Easter. <b>Corpus Domini</b> followed by another ten days.
	~~Ordinary people did not have calendars or clocks. Information about~~ the ~~significance~~ of ~~particular occasions was entrusted to clergy and accountants~~, ~~but they did not share~~ a ~~common set~~ of ~~terms for~~ the ~~many segments~~ of a ~~year that were partitioned~~ on ~~one or both ends~~ by ~~moveable feasts~~. Today, when fewer and fewer people observe Christian feasts, the purpose of the penitential seasons of Advent (intended for devotional anticipation of Christmas) and Lent (devotional preparation for Easter) are becoming increasingly elusive.		<br
			Today, when fewer and fewer people observe Christian feasts, the purpose of the penitential seasons of <b>Advent</b> (intended for devotional anticipation of Christmas) and <b>Lent</b> (devotional preparation for Easter) are becoming increasingly elusive. The date of Advent can range over a sevenday period: it begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas. The Venetian day began at sundown. The religious celebration of Christmas was observed mass was celebrated on the night we call Christmas Eve. The start of Advent was therefore moveable, while its termination was fixed on December 24.

	<br>		<br>
	===Standard approaches to the dating problem===		===Standard approaches to the dating problem===

Esfield at 00:36, 9 October 2024

2024-10-09T00:36:28Z

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	===A dating solution with reliable and consistent years===		===A dating solution with reliable and consistent years===
	In the late 1970s other research introduced me to the network of weekly news-sheets that flowed across Europe, post by post, from the 1560s to the end of the eighteenth century. In good conditions, a courier (the forerunner of a mail delivery agent) would ride for about five hours in a day. Increasingly over time, dispatches were gathered together into bundles of new from other points. Some collections began to be printed and sold on subscription in the eighteenth century. Venice was an important hub for the exchange of news but its avvisi (news-sheets) in print only in collections issuing from such cities as Rome, Bologna, Amsterdam, and Vienna. Much of the distribution of news in the seventeenth century initially focused on news of battles and the position of troops, but when war news was scarce, cultural news found favor in many dispatches.		In the late 1970s other research introduced me to the network of weekly news-sheets that flowed across Europe, post by post, from the 1560s to the end of the eighteenth century. In good conditions, a courier (the forerunner of a mail delivery agent) would ride for about five hours in a day. Increasingly over time, dispatches were gathered together into bundles of new from other points. Some collections began to be printed and sold on subscription in the eighteenth century. Venice was an important hub for the exchange of news but its avvisi (news-sheets) in print only in collections issuing from such cities as Rome, Bologna, Amsterdam, and Vienna. Much of the distribution of news in the seventeenth century initially focused on news of battles and the position of troops, but when war news was scarce, cultural news found favor in many dispatches.

			=======Why is dating Venetian operas a problem?===
			Venetian culture thrived on inspiration, expression, and imagination. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Venice had eight different nomenclatures for identifying years and seasons. Because there were so many operas (889 in the century annotated here), small questions about topics like the sequence of works of a composer or theater or about competing between theaters can never be definitively answered. As many as 23% of the years given in opera bibliographies are incorrect.

			The root of the problem lies in erratic information given in printed libretti, which number many multiples higher than the number of works. Opera played no direct role in the church of the church, but it was not specifically a civic product either. Libretti were caught in the draft between a church year that started on January 1 and a civic year that advanced on March 1 (the <i>mors veneto</i>). The details and intricacies of the many conflicts caused by the difference are spelled out on my <i>Song and Season: Science, Culture, and Theatrical Time in Early Modern Venice </i> (2007). This database is closely connected to three of my earlier book
			[https://archivio.fondazionelevi.it/serie-item-detail?id_s=IT-LEVI-ST0002-024030 <i>Pallade Veneta: Writings on Music in Venetian Society</i>, Venice: Fondazione Ugo e Olga Levi, 1985].

			The monthly print <i>Pallade veneta</i> often shows the seams of weekly news reports. After 17 issues (from January 1687 through May 1688), it ceased publication. However, it continued in manuscript circulation. Most weekly issues are lost, but some surviving ones are from the year 1751.

			The great virtue of weekly news-sheets in historical research is that they provide incontrovertible dates for events. These can be deduced from named weekdays (as in "Last Sunday the bones of Julius Caesar were resurrected in the Theater X"). Why are dates from these humble writings incontrovertible? In each locale from which they were issued, the dispatch was consistently made on a same day of the week. In Venice it was Saturday. The same date could not fall on Saturday in two consecutive years.

			In a field such as opera history, otherwise served by multiple loose chronologies depending on carelessly edited period prints and modern interpretations, conflicts between the supposed implications derived from concentrating on years and seasons arise often.

			Two discoveries emerged from the fact that opera openings are mentioned ubiquitously in weekly news-sheets. One was that the idea of establishing a secure chronology was entirely feasible. The other was that while there are many series of weekly news-sheets from Venice (and several dozen other cities), not one of them is complete. The pursuit of a fixed timeline thus came to depend on tracking down more and more dispatched assembled, patchwork style, in collections of <i>Notizie</i>, </i>Diari</i>, and other forerunners of modern newspapers. Full source citations are given in the <i>New Chronology</i>. In all, I consulted sixteen weekly series for any part of the century at hand I could find.

			In assembling my [https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=3727 <i>New Chronology of Venetian Opera</i>], I gave a letter code for the source of each date, e.g. (A) for avvisi, (M) for Mercuri. Extensive archival citations are not useful: news-reports are ordered by week, and it is very easy to find the original once an exact date is in hand. (None of these series is digitized for online consultation.) To convey and resolve all the complexities of dating at practical, cultural, and arithmetic levels, I wrote the book [https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=12218 <i>Song and Season: Science, Culture, and Theatrical Time</i>] as a companion to the <i>New Chronology</i>.

			I never aimed to compile such a sprawling mass of data when I started assembling a few details for the 1680s and 1690s. My hope in 1982 was to establishing the <i>sequential</i> order of performances. I supposed that the position of a few perennially undatable works would match up with random holes in this provisional sequence.

			By a circuitous path I was able to explore many topics pertinent to Venetian opera, which was a cornucopia of microhistories of theaters, personnel, creators, sources and how they arrived at their current locations, and--at a general level--how much Europe and the motives for staging opera changed between 1660 and 1760. Whole genres came and went, with each change reflected in patronage patterns, choices of entr'actes, dramatic genres, and, of course, musical style.

			Manners of production and performance changed along with them. Yet this century from 1660-1760 offers a level of corpus coherence that exceeds to be found in partly overlapping periods of a hundred years. The most conspicuous demarcations are the rise of theaters that were enjoy decades of stability from 1660 and the rapid demise of the <i>dramma per musica</i> in the 1740s to make way for <i>opera buffa</i>.