Italian Opera Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Background. Italian Opera of Odessa, taken up in the first decades of the nineteenth century, became a centre of European vocal art in the South of Ukraine in a short time. Later it spread to other Ukrainian areas, having enriched the music culture of Kharkiv, Kyiv, Poltava, Katerynoslav with the achievements of Italian vocal classic. Odessa experience of foreign artistes and musicians engagement, forming opera repertoire, artistes communication with the audience, theatre management and entrepreneur, later became an important factor of Italian artistes performances on the theatrical stage of the city centers of the other areas above the Dnieper.
Objectives. Taking into consideration complex issues of the problem of the Italian opera enterprises functioning in the Odessa city theatre the objectives of this article are to investigate one of them – Nicolò Julien’s enterprise – in connection with two main components of its activity (scenic and organizational ones) ,including opera engagement in the theatrical centres of Italy and impresario’s duties tough upon the money spent on material support of the theatre performances.
The methods used in the present article assume the application of the semiotic approach, as well as the implementation of mosaic reconstructions and cross-disciplinary investigations that allow to investigate the musical theatre as an entire social and cultural space.
Results. N.Julien’s private company based on the theatre management tradition, having been formed in Odessa for decades and involved the Italian theatre agencies participation in artistes’ and musicians’ for Odessa stage engagement. Thus, during three seasons a part of artistes changed annually. Leading singers of Italian troupes were not always up to occupied vocal theatrical characters and did not satisfy the requirements put forward by the theatre management and the audience for the first performers. Discontentment with the quality of debutants’ performances poured the criticism against them on the local regional and Italian theatrical press pages.
However, a part of the troupe soloists offered to native audience the best achievements of the Italian school of opera singing, performing with high artistry popular repertoire of the Romanticism epoch composers’ heritage such as G. Donizetti, V. Bellini, G. Pachini and others. Having reached the agreement with the artistes, the spectators rewarded them with generously approving cheers, applause, calls to the stage, and also with bouquets and baskets of flowers and poetry-dedications.
N.Julien’s seasons repertory continued the tradition of native audience acquaintance with Giuseppe Verdi’s compositions. "Nabucco", "Attila", "Two Foscari" were first to put on, also did not stop the performances of "Lombards" and "Ernani", highly marked with the audience over the past seasons. Verdi’s premieres, having become as a tribute to fashion, accustomed Odessa intellectuals to the new trends in European opera. Those premiers also revealed the local orchestra and choir, artistes’ vocal specialty disparity to new opera music demands. Marked problems had to solve by the following entrepreneurs.
During N.Julien’s management some problems of theatre funding appeared. The young entrepreneur, deprived of the access to financial incomes from the port quarantine, had to spent, mainly, some money that the municipality appropriated for the theatre maintenance, gained with the theatrical subscription and ticket sales for the perform anee. Those funds, obviously, barely were enough for foreign artistes’ engagement and so-and-so performances providing. From year to year there were less good singers on Odessa stage, the troupe fevered with the lack of artistes in some specialty, during some seasons the cast of a number of major artistes was changed amidst the theatrical year, those had not happened before. This situation eventually negatively affected the number of visiting theatre audience.
Conclusions. The effected analysis leads to some conclusions about the activities of the three-year Nicolo Julien’s Italian enterprise in the city theatre of Odessa. In particular, the theatrical contract, combined articles about Italian opera enterprise maintenance with the monopoly for carrying out port suttlership in quarantine, separation between the father and the son Juliens, destroyed the key principle funding for the theatre, in which lack of funds for the theatre compensated with suttlership incomes; that immediately affected the quality of vocal and performing troupe and, consequently, has angered the public and theatre critics.
Lack of the experience and funds prevented the impresario from satisfying the long-standing needs to upgrade the equipment and stage props, lighting facilities and theatrical interior repair. During N. Julien’s enterprise, despite of the financial difficulties, the traditional relations of Odessa theatre management with leading Italian theatrical agencies in Milan have been preserved.
Finding a way out of the crisis prompted the entrepreneur to the repertory innovations, including the performances on the Odessa stage along with the favourite works of the Romanticism epoch composers, operas G. Verdi, having gained the popularity in the contemporary theatres of Italy and other leading countries of Western Europe.
The conclusions, based on the present article statements, provide a basis for further foreign opera engagement in Ukraine, Odessa Italian opera relations with other centres of Italian opera in Europe and beyond investigations, and, in perspective, define Odessa Italian Opera relationships with other national centres of musical and theatrical arts.