Musical Dramaturgy
A.Y. 2022/2023
Learning objectives
The course develops students' aptitude to understand and interpret different kinds of music in different music genres and media contexts (theatre music, opera, cinema, etc.). It also aims to encourage them to develop what we could call a "dramaturgical listening" or, to say it in other words, a "dramaturgical awareness" of how music can contribute to define characters, generate action, establish atmosphere (etc.) in a broad range of dramatic genres and media.
The main learning scope of the course of musical dramaturgy/dramaturgy of sound is to enable students to relate their musical ear with the listening to music in an intermedial environment.
The main learning scope of the course of musical dramaturgy/dramaturgy of sound is to enable students to relate their musical ear with the listening to music in an intermedial environment.
Expected learning outcomes
By the end of the course, students will be able to understand the dramatic functions of music in theatre, opera, cinema, etc., with reference to the monographic subject explored each new academic year.
Lesson period: First semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course cannot be attended as a single course. Please check our list of single courses to find the ones available for enrolment.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
First semester
Course syllabus
Course Title (2022-23 A.Y.):
Macbeth in an intermedial perspective.
The course focuses on a number of adaptations and remediations of Shakespeare's and Verdi's Macbeth, whose story will be considered as an "intermedial myth" in the sense of Strauss's understanding of myth "as the sum of its variants." The course is structured in three parts of 20 hours each.
A. The first part is centered in the analysis and interpretation of three Regietheater productions: The Macbeth directed by Luca Ronconi at Berlin Deutsche Oper in 1987 (the DVD of this production is available from Arthaus); the Tosca production directed by Dmitri Cerniakov at Paris's Opéra Bastille in 2009 (the DVD of this production is available from BelAir); the third and last production that we will take in account is the Macbeth directed by Emma Dante at Palermo's Teatro Massimo in 2017 (the DVD of this production is also available from Naxos).
B. The second part focuses on three spoken theatre adaptations of Macbeth: The first one is the Macbeth Horror Suite by Carmelo Bene performed at Rome's Teatro Argentina in 1996 and broadcasted on TV in 1997 (a video recording of this broadcast is available on YouTube); the second one is the Ninagawa Macbeth, a Japanese adaptation of Macbeth, premiered in 1980 and presented at the Edinburgh Festival in 1885 (the DVD of a live performance taking place at Tokio's Bunkamura Theatre Cocoon in 2015 is available); the last is the Macbettu by Alessandro Serra, an adaptation in Sardinian language premiered at Cagliari's Teatro Massimo (a video recording of which will be available on Teams).
C. The third part is based on three cinematic adaptations of Macbeth. The first one is Orson Wells' Macbeth, released in 1948 (film music by Jacques Ibert; DVD available). The second one is the film Throne of Blood by Akira Kurosawa, where the plot of Shakespeare is transposed to feudal Japan (film music by Masaru Satō; DVD available). The third one is the Geoffrey Wright's Macbeth, a contemporary retelling of the Shakespearian plot, filmed in Melbourne and Victoria, and released in 2009 (DVD also available).
Macbeth in an intermedial perspective.
The course focuses on a number of adaptations and remediations of Shakespeare's and Verdi's Macbeth, whose story will be considered as an "intermedial myth" in the sense of Strauss's understanding of myth "as the sum of its variants." The course is structured in three parts of 20 hours each.
A. The first part is centered in the analysis and interpretation of three Regietheater productions: The Macbeth directed by Luca Ronconi at Berlin Deutsche Oper in 1987 (the DVD of this production is available from Arthaus); the Tosca production directed by Dmitri Cerniakov at Paris's Opéra Bastille in 2009 (the DVD of this production is available from BelAir); the third and last production that we will take in account is the Macbeth directed by Emma Dante at Palermo's Teatro Massimo in 2017 (the DVD of this production is also available from Naxos).
B. The second part focuses on three spoken theatre adaptations of Macbeth: The first one is the Macbeth Horror Suite by Carmelo Bene performed at Rome's Teatro Argentina in 1996 and broadcasted on TV in 1997 (a video recording of this broadcast is available on YouTube); the second one is the Ninagawa Macbeth, a Japanese adaptation of Macbeth, premiered in 1980 and presented at the Edinburgh Festival in 1885 (the DVD of a live performance taking place at Tokio's Bunkamura Theatre Cocoon in 2015 is available); the last is the Macbettu by Alessandro Serra, an adaptation in Sardinian language premiered at Cagliari's Teatro Massimo (a video recording of which will be available on Teams).
C. The third part is based on three cinematic adaptations of Macbeth. The first one is Orson Wells' Macbeth, released in 1948 (film music by Jacques Ibert; DVD available). The second one is the film Throne of Blood by Akira Kurosawa, where the plot of Shakespeare is transposed to feudal Japan (film music by Masaru Satō; DVD available). The third one is the Geoffrey Wright's Macbeth, a contemporary retelling of the Shakespearian plot, filmed in Melbourne and Victoria, and released in 2009 (DVD also available).
Prerequisites for admission
Due to the interdisciplinary nature of the course, students need a basic knowledge of the music, opera, theatre, and cinema history. So, it is advisable that students choose Musical Dramaturgy after having attended two or three of the afore mentioned courses.
Teaching methods
The course is based on class lectures which are integrated by bibliographic and multimedia teaching materials uploaded to the Teams platform. The classes will alternate theoretical and historical overviewes with analysis and collective discussions of the treated case studies.
Teaching Resources
Before the beginning of the course, students will be asked to know both the Shakespeare's play (in a full text and accurate edition) and Verdi's opera (any recording will do, as long as it is a full recording). For an in-depth investigation on the concept of "adaptation", students will have to read: Linda Hutcheon, Teoria degli adattamenti. I percorsi delle storie fra letteratura, cinema, nuovi media, Roma, Armando, 2011, pp. 19-59.
Part A [Opera]
Videos:
- Verdi, Macbeth, stage direction by Luca Ronconi, conductor Giuseppe Sinopoli, Berlino, Deutsche Oper, 1987, DVD Arthaus (video recording director, Brian Large).
- Verdi, Macbeth, stage direction by Dmitri Cerniakov, conductor Teodor Currentzis, Parigi, Opéra Bastille, 2009, DVD BelAir (video recording director, Andy Sommer).
- Verdi, Macbeth, stage direction by Emma Dante, conductor Gabriele Ferro, Palermo, Teatro Massimo, 2017, DVD Naxos (video recording director Matteo Ricchetti).
Written texts:
- Emanuele Senici, Il video d'opera "dal vivo": testualizzazione e liveness nell'era digitale, in «Il Saggiatore musicale», vol. 16, fasc. 2, 2009, pp. 273-312 (available on Unimi Digital Library).
- Emanuele Senici, Storia mediale dell'opera e retorica della fedeltà, in Giuseppe Verdi: dalla musica alla messinscena, a cura di Franco Piperno et alii, Parma, Istituto nazionale di studi verdiani, 2015, pp. 114-119.
- Clemens Risi, Opera in Performance: "Regietheater" and Performative Turn, in «The Opera Quarterly», vol. 35, fasc. 1-2, 2019, pp. 7-19 (available on Unimi Digital Library).
- Emilio Sala e Susanne Stewart-Steinberg, Due icone del re muto: Duncano e Carlo X, in Regìa Parola Utopia. Il teatro infinito di Luca Ronconi, a cura di Roberta Carlotto e Oliviero Ponte di Pino, Macerata, Quodlibet, 2021, pp. 147-156.
- Emilio Sala, Il "fantastico" nemico del "vero"? Il Macbeth e il "soprannaturale operistico", in Macbeth, volume published on the occasion of Macbeth's Scala production, Milano, Teatro alla Scala, 2021, pp. 87-94.
Part B [Theatre]
Videos:
- Carmelo Bene, Macbeth Horror Suite, music by Verdi and others, Roma, Teatro Argentina, 1996, video recording broadcasted by RAI-TV in 1997 available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7fj9AMVQD4
- Yukio Ninagawa (adaptation and stage direction), Ninagawa Macbeth, premiered in 1980, performed at Edinburgh Festival in 1985, Western classical music and Japanese traditional music; video recording of the performance staged in 2015 at Tokio Bunkamura Theatre Cocoon,DVD PCBE-55087.
- Alessandro Serra (adaptation and stage direction), Macbettu, mixture of Shakespeare and Sardinian
traditions (2017), compositions for Pinuccio Sciola's sounding stones by Marcellino Garau (video recording of the performance staged in 2017 at the Cagliari Teatro Massimo; director of this video, Marco Odetto).
Written texts:
- Carmelo Bene, Macbeth, adaptation from Shakespeare's tragedy (1982 version), in Opere. Con l'Autografia d'un ritratto, Milano, Classici Bompiani, 2002, pp. 1205-1232.
- Gianfranco Bartalotta, Carmelo Bene e Shakespeare, Roma, Bulzoni, 2000 pp. 139-166 (last chapter).
- Yeeyon Im, The Pitfalls of Intercultural Discourse: The Case of Yukio Ninagawa, in «Shakespeare Bulletin», vol. 22, n. 4 (Winter 2004), pp. 7-30 (available on Unimi Digital Library).
- Massimo Fusillo and Doriana Legge, Un Macbeth nudo. Lingua, suono e carne per tradurre l'energia del male, in «Teatro e Storia», 41, 2020, pp. 349-361, available online https://www.teatroestoria.it/pdf/41/TeS-41-7b-Fusillo-Legge.pdf.
- Alessandro Serra, Macbettu. Opera visionaria e acustica, in the volume published on the occasion of the 2017 premiere, Nuoro, Ilisso/Sardegna Teatro, 2017, pp. 7-11.
Part C [Cinema]
Videos:
- Orson Wells, Macbeth, 1948, score by Jacques Ibert, DVD.
- Akira Kurosawa, Trono di sangue, 1957, Japanese adaptation of the Shakespearian play, score by Masaru Satō, DVD.
- Geoffrey Wright, Macbeth, 2006, score by John Clifford White, DVD.
Written texts:
- Jérôme Rossi, De la musique de scène à la musique de film : Macbeth d'Orson Welles et Jacques Ibert, une écriture musico-cinématoraphique, in Marges de l'opéra : Musique de scène, musique de film et musique radiophonique, 1920-1950, ed. by Frédérique Toudoire-Surlapierre and Pascal Lécroart, Paris, Vrin, 2015, pp. 151-171.
- Antony R. Guneratne, Shakespeare, Film Studies, and the Visual Cultures of Modernity. New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008, pp. 173-210 (read only the chapter entitled Genre, Style, and the "Politique des Auteurs": Orson Welles versus "William Shakespeare").
- Tomothy Koozin, Music in Akira Kurosawa Music Adaptations of Shakespeare: "Throne of Blood" (1957), The Bad Sleep Well (1960), and Ran (1985), in The Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare and Music, edited by Mervyn Cooke and Christopher Wilson, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2022, pp. 1104-1130.
- Kenda Preston Leonard, Shakespeare, Madness, and Music: Scoring Insanity in Cinematic Adaptations, Scarecrow Press, 2009, pp. 69-95 (read only the chapter entitled Lady Macbeth).
- Evelyn Tribble, "When Every Noise Appalls Me": Sound and Fear in Macbeth and Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood, «Shakespeare», vol. 1, n. 1 (2005), pp. 75-90 (available on Unimi Digital Library).
- Muhammad Umer Azim, Zaheer Hussain and Azhar Musir Bhatti, Geoffrey Wright's Macbeth: A Story of Crime Retold in Postmodern Criminal World, "Al-Qalam", vol. 24, n. 1 (2019), pp. 750-760, available online: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349368231_GEOFFREY_WRIGHT'S_MACBETH_A_STORY_OF_CRIME_RETOLD_IN_THE_POSTMODERN_CRIMINAL_WORLD
- Sritama Maitra e Sangeeta Mukherjee, Gangster Macbeths and their Diseased Minds: Is Mental Illness a Succeful "Tool" to make Macbeth Adaptations Work?, in "Quarterly Review of Film and Video", vol. 38, n. 8, 2021, pp. 1-23 (available on Unimi Digital Library).
ADDING READINGS FOR NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS:
- (Parts A and C) Fabio Vittorini, La soglia dell'invisibile. Percorsi del "Macbeth": Shakespeare, Verdi, Welles, Roma, Carocci, 2005.
- (Part B) Susan Bennett, Theory for Theatre Studies: Sound, London, Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2019.
Part A [Opera]
Videos:
- Verdi, Macbeth, stage direction by Luca Ronconi, conductor Giuseppe Sinopoli, Berlino, Deutsche Oper, 1987, DVD Arthaus (video recording director, Brian Large).
- Verdi, Macbeth, stage direction by Dmitri Cerniakov, conductor Teodor Currentzis, Parigi, Opéra Bastille, 2009, DVD BelAir (video recording director, Andy Sommer).
- Verdi, Macbeth, stage direction by Emma Dante, conductor Gabriele Ferro, Palermo, Teatro Massimo, 2017, DVD Naxos (video recording director Matteo Ricchetti).
Written texts:
- Emanuele Senici, Il video d'opera "dal vivo": testualizzazione e liveness nell'era digitale, in «Il Saggiatore musicale», vol. 16, fasc. 2, 2009, pp. 273-312 (available on Unimi Digital Library).
- Emanuele Senici, Storia mediale dell'opera e retorica della fedeltà, in Giuseppe Verdi: dalla musica alla messinscena, a cura di Franco Piperno et alii, Parma, Istituto nazionale di studi verdiani, 2015, pp. 114-119.
- Clemens Risi, Opera in Performance: "Regietheater" and Performative Turn, in «The Opera Quarterly», vol. 35, fasc. 1-2, 2019, pp. 7-19 (available on Unimi Digital Library).
- Emilio Sala e Susanne Stewart-Steinberg, Due icone del re muto: Duncano e Carlo X, in Regìa Parola Utopia. Il teatro infinito di Luca Ronconi, a cura di Roberta Carlotto e Oliviero Ponte di Pino, Macerata, Quodlibet, 2021, pp. 147-156.
- Emilio Sala, Il "fantastico" nemico del "vero"? Il Macbeth e il "soprannaturale operistico", in Macbeth, volume published on the occasion of Macbeth's Scala production, Milano, Teatro alla Scala, 2021, pp. 87-94.
Part B [Theatre]
Videos:
- Carmelo Bene, Macbeth Horror Suite, music by Verdi and others, Roma, Teatro Argentina, 1996, video recording broadcasted by RAI-TV in 1997 available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7fj9AMVQD4
- Yukio Ninagawa (adaptation and stage direction), Ninagawa Macbeth, premiered in 1980, performed at Edinburgh Festival in 1985, Western classical music and Japanese traditional music; video recording of the performance staged in 2015 at Tokio Bunkamura Theatre Cocoon,DVD PCBE-55087.
- Alessandro Serra (adaptation and stage direction), Macbettu, mixture of Shakespeare and Sardinian
traditions (2017), compositions for Pinuccio Sciola's sounding stones by Marcellino Garau (video recording of the performance staged in 2017 at the Cagliari Teatro Massimo; director of this video, Marco Odetto).
Written texts:
- Carmelo Bene, Macbeth, adaptation from Shakespeare's tragedy (1982 version), in Opere. Con l'Autografia d'un ritratto, Milano, Classici Bompiani, 2002, pp. 1205-1232.
- Gianfranco Bartalotta, Carmelo Bene e Shakespeare, Roma, Bulzoni, 2000 pp. 139-166 (last chapter).
- Yeeyon Im, The Pitfalls of Intercultural Discourse: The Case of Yukio Ninagawa, in «Shakespeare Bulletin», vol. 22, n. 4 (Winter 2004), pp. 7-30 (available on Unimi Digital Library).
- Massimo Fusillo and Doriana Legge, Un Macbeth nudo. Lingua, suono e carne per tradurre l'energia del male, in «Teatro e Storia», 41, 2020, pp. 349-361, available online https://www.teatroestoria.it/pdf/41/TeS-41-7b-Fusillo-Legge.pdf.
- Alessandro Serra, Macbettu. Opera visionaria e acustica, in the volume published on the occasion of the 2017 premiere, Nuoro, Ilisso/Sardegna Teatro, 2017, pp. 7-11.
Part C [Cinema]
Videos:
- Orson Wells, Macbeth, 1948, score by Jacques Ibert, DVD.
- Akira Kurosawa, Trono di sangue, 1957, Japanese adaptation of the Shakespearian play, score by Masaru Satō, DVD.
- Geoffrey Wright, Macbeth, 2006, score by John Clifford White, DVD.
Written texts:
- Jérôme Rossi, De la musique de scène à la musique de film : Macbeth d'Orson Welles et Jacques Ibert, une écriture musico-cinématoraphique, in Marges de l'opéra : Musique de scène, musique de film et musique radiophonique, 1920-1950, ed. by Frédérique Toudoire-Surlapierre and Pascal Lécroart, Paris, Vrin, 2015, pp. 151-171.
- Antony R. Guneratne, Shakespeare, Film Studies, and the Visual Cultures of Modernity. New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008, pp. 173-210 (read only the chapter entitled Genre, Style, and the "Politique des Auteurs": Orson Welles versus "William Shakespeare").
- Tomothy Koozin, Music in Akira Kurosawa Music Adaptations of Shakespeare: "Throne of Blood" (1957), The Bad Sleep Well (1960), and Ran (1985), in The Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare and Music, edited by Mervyn Cooke and Christopher Wilson, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2022, pp. 1104-1130.
- Kenda Preston Leonard, Shakespeare, Madness, and Music: Scoring Insanity in Cinematic Adaptations, Scarecrow Press, 2009, pp. 69-95 (read only the chapter entitled Lady Macbeth).
- Evelyn Tribble, "When Every Noise Appalls Me": Sound and Fear in Macbeth and Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood, «Shakespeare», vol. 1, n. 1 (2005), pp. 75-90 (available on Unimi Digital Library).
- Muhammad Umer Azim, Zaheer Hussain and Azhar Musir Bhatti, Geoffrey Wright's Macbeth: A Story of Crime Retold in Postmodern Criminal World, "Al-Qalam", vol. 24, n. 1 (2019), pp. 750-760, available online: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349368231_GEOFFREY_WRIGHT'S_MACBETH_A_STORY_OF_CRIME_RETOLD_IN_THE_POSTMODERN_CRIMINAL_WORLD
- Sritama Maitra e Sangeeta Mukherjee, Gangster Macbeths and their Diseased Minds: Is Mental Illness a Succeful "Tool" to make Macbeth Adaptations Work?, in "Quarterly Review of Film and Video", vol. 38, n. 8, 2021, pp. 1-23 (available on Unimi Digital Library).
ADDING READINGS FOR NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS:
- (Parts A and C) Fabio Vittorini, La soglia dell'invisibile. Percorsi del "Macbeth": Shakespeare, Verdi, Welles, Roma, Carocci, 2005.
- (Part B) Susan Bennett, Theory for Theatre Studies: Sound, London, Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2019.
Assessment methods and Criteria
The assessment procedure consists of an oral exam on the topics developed during the course, by mark expressed on (the threshold to pass the exam) to the maximum of 30 (cum laude).
Unita' didattica A
L-ART/07 - MUSICOLOGY AND HISTORY OF MUSIC - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Unita' didattica B
L-ART/07 - MUSICOLOGY AND HISTORY OF MUSIC - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Unita' didattica C
L-ART/07 - MUSICOLOGY AND HISTORY OF MUSIC - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Professor(s)