Changing the Score: Arias, Prima Donnas, and the Authority of Performance (Ams Studies in Musice)

237 Pages·2009·4 MB·English

by  Hilary Poriss

changing the score
AMS Studies in Music
M H , General Editor
ARY UNTER
Editorial Board
Joseph H. Auner Louise Litterick
J. Peter Burkholder Ruth A. Solie
Scott Burnham Judith Tick
Richard Crawford Gary Tomlinson
Suzanne Cusick Gretchen Wheelock
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Beth L.Glixon and Jonathan Glixon
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Liberalism
Margaret Notley
The Critical Nexus: Tone-System, Mode, and Notation in Early Medieval
Music
Charles M.Atkinson
Music, Criticism, and the Challenge of History: Shaping Modern Musical
Thought in Late Nineteenth-Century Vienna
Kevin C.Karnes
Jewish Music and Modernity
Philip V.Bohlman
Changing the Score: Arias, Prima Donnas, and the Authority ofPerformance
Hilary Poriss
Q
CHANGING THE SCORE
Arias, Prima Donnas, and the
Authority of Performance
Hilary Poriss
1
2009
1
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Poriss, Hilary.
Changing the score : arias, prima donnas, and the authority
of performance/ Hilary Poriss.
p. cm.—(AMS studies in music)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN978-0-19-538671-4
1. Opera—Italy—19th century. 2. Operas—
Performances—Italy—History—
19th century. I. Title.
ML1733.4.P672008
782.10945(cid:1)09034—dc22 2008046296
2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
For my dad,Oscar Poriss
(1933‒2008)
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acknowledgments
This book has been written over many years and in many different places. It is a
pleasure to be able to thank a number of people and institutions that were in-
strumental in helping me complete the project. My first gesture of gratitude must
go to Philip Gossett, who has been a treasured mentor and friend over the years and
whose example serves as the inspiration for this book. Francesco Izzo also deserves
special mention for reading every chapter, for offering priceless input on transla-
tions, and for providing much-needed encouragement whenever and wherever I
asked for it. I am deeply indebted to a group of musicologists and opera scholars
who have taken an interest in my ideas, read drafts of individual chapters, and pro-
vided invaluable commentary: Jane Bernstein, Susan Boynton, Patricia Brauner, Joy
Calico, Alessandra Campana, Rachel Cowgill, Will Crutchfield, Gabriele Dotto,
Mark Everist, Andreas Giger, Ed Goehring, Helen Greenwald, Roberta Monte-
morra Marvin, Ryan Minor, John Platoff, Arthur Rishi, David Rosen, and William
Weber. In addition, a number of friends from outside musicology graciously read
and commented on portions of this book, offering perspectives from the fields of
history and literature: Romina Crociani, Bradin Cormack, Jaclyn Maxwell, Wil-
liam Orchard, and Jay Rubenstein.
The research for this book was supported by the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foun-
dation, the University of Cincinnati, and postdoctoral fellowships from the Colum-
bia Society of Fellows and the Franke Institute for the Humanities at the Univer-
sity of Chicago. The writing was completed during a faculty leave, generously
granted by Northeastern University for the 2006–2007 academic year, during
which time I was able to accept the Millicent Mercer Johnson postdoctoral fellow-
ship at the American Academy in Rome. Very special thanks go to my colleagues
at Northeastern who supported me in this endeavor, especially Judith Tick, Ron
Smith, Matthew McDonald, and chair of the music department, Anthony De Ritis.
Additionally, I must express my gratitude to a number of friends and scholars at the
American Academy who offered essential commentary and constant moral support:
Tom Bissell, Hendrik Dey, Lisa Mignone, Jerry Passanante, Stephanie Pilat, Arman
Schwartz, Kevin Uhalde, Hillary Zipper, and Sarah Zwerling. Martha Feldman
viii acknowledgments
visited me at the American Academy and provided a wealth of inspiration, as she
has always done.
Support for the publication of this book was provided by the Dragan Plamenac
Publication Endowment Fund of the American Musicological Society.
A number of archivists and librarians deserve special mention for the help they
have extended to me over the course of this project. I am extremely grateful all of
them, and especially to Luigi Ferrara (Fondazione Cini, Venice), Matteo Sartorio
(Fondazione La Scala, Milan), Thomas Lisanti (New York Public Library, New
York), and Revinder Chahal (Victoria and Albert Museum, London).
I thank the University of California Press for permission to publish material in
chapter 3, which is a substantially revised and expanded version of my article “Mak-
ing Their Way through the World: Italian One-Hit Wonders,” published in 19th-
Century Music(2001):197–224. © 2001. Reprinted with permission.
I am grateful to Mary Hunter, editor of the American Musicological Society
Studies in Music, for having read several drafts of the manuscript and for encour-
aging me at every stage of the project. Two anonymous readers for AMS Studies in
Music also provided crucial insight and suggestions, and I owe them both very spe-
cial thanks. My gratitude also goes to Suzanne Ryan, editor at Oxford University
Press, and Madelyn Sutton, editorial assistant, and Stephanie Attia, production ed-
itor, who have expertly ushered this project through to completion.
Finally, I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to my mother Julie and stepfather
Don, and to my sister Sarah and brother-in-law Paul for their unflagging support.
Sarah and Paul’s dog Fredo—the greatest dog in the world—was always there to
cheer me up when the writing was going slower than I wanted. I also wish thank
my husband Chris, whose love and patience seem to know no bounds. Finally and
sadly, my father Oscar Poriss passed away as this book was going into production. I
miss him every day and wish he had been able to stick around for longer. I dedicate
this book to him.
contents
Introduction 3
1. A Discourse of Change 13
2. Selecting a “Perfect” Entrance: Carolina Ungher
and Marino Faliero 37
3. Making Their Way through the World: Italian
One-Hit Wonders 66
4. Maria Malibran, I Capuleti e i Montecchi,and a Tale
of Suicide 100
5. Che vuol cantare?The Lesson Scene of Il barbiere di Siviglia 135
6. An Insertion Aria Speaks 169
Appendix: Memoir of a Song 189
Bibliography 205
Index 217