Venetian Opera Productions: Analytical Views: Difference between revisions
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=Theaters= | =Theaters= | ||
Because the number of operas produced during this century was so great, theaters drifted into the establishment of separate profiles. Detecting individual traits can be useful in understanding other fluctuations in other parameters. | |||
Differences could reflect the tastes of the proprietor(s) and their associates. All the theaters were affected from time to time by economic change and by unexpected occurrences, such as fires. | |||
=Patronage= | =Patronage= | ||
Revision as of 21:40, 12 June 2025
These analytical views give overviews of the main aspects of the Venetian opera repertory between 1660 and 1760.
Composers and Music
A few composers dominated Venetian opera at every stage of its development, but overall the number of composers covered here totaled more than 140. This excludes 25 pastiches (operas "pasted" together from a consortium of composers) and 17 unattributed works.
Entr'actes
Operas staged in Venice were often adorned with a miscellany of entr'actes. All of them were musical, but some were more elaborate and carefully constructed than others.
Source survival
Musical sources
Librettists and Texts
Librettists were slightly less numerous, but over time the number of texts that were reworked by others made the overall picture of literary authorship fuzzy.
Literary genres
Venetian operas were overwhelming offered as drammi per musica, but experimentation tested the boundaries of the paradigm at intervals.
Text recycling
Theaters
Because the number of operas produced during this century was so great, theaters drifted into the establishment of separate profiles. Detecting individual traits can be useful in understanding other fluctuations in other parameters. Differences could reflect the tastes of the proprietor(s) and their associates. All the theaters were affected from time to time by economic change and by unexpected occurrences, such as fires.
Patronage
In 1660 Venice commanded a growing profile of mercantile and social importance. Its steadfast avoidance of political alliances rendered it neutral territory for the negotiation of treaties, marriages, and law suits involving non-Venetian territories. This brought many powerful figures into the city. By 1760, however, the city's role in society was in decline.