- Strohm, Reinhard. “Italienische Opernarien des frühen Settecento (1720–
1730).” Analecta musicologica 16, part 1: 1–268; part 2: 1–342.
Two full volumes of the journal are devoted to this valuable monograph,
which considers the economic and social context of opera in Italy and the
demands of audiences. It was audience preference for certain kinds of aria that
led composers to standardize the form. Strohm uses 18 arias to exemplify his
views, drawing on such composers as Alessandro Scarlatti, Vinci, Gasparini,
Pollarolo, Porpora, Leo, Vivaldi, and Hasse. He examines their scoring, decla-
mation, musical structure, and the da capo form that emerged as typical of the
period.
2461.“Con che soavità”: Studies in Italian Opera, Song, and Dance, 1580–1740.
Ed. Iain Fenlon and Tim Carter. New York: Oxford U.P., 1995. viii, 336p.
ISBN 0-19-816370-3. ML1633 .C66.
A valuable collection of 13 essays, including these on opera which are cited
separately: Eric Cross on Vivaldi’s Tamerlano(#1961), Winton Dean on
Alcina(#979), William Porter on laments (#1229), Michael Talbot on Albi-
noni’s Pimpinone(#456), and Reinhard Strohm on Neapolitans in Venice
(#2532). Indexed. The book’s title is drawn from a Monteverdi madrigal. - “Crosscurrents and the Mainstream of Italian Serious Opera, 1730–1790.”
Studies in Music (U. of Western Ontario) 7–1 (1982).
A journal issue devoted to six papers from a symposium held at the U. of West-
ern Ontario in February 1982. Included are Nino Pirrotta, “Metastasio and
the Demands of His Literary Environment,” Don Neville, “Moral Philosophy
in the Metastasian Drama,” Michael F. Robinson, “The Ancient and the Mod-
ern: A Comparison of Metastasio and Calzabigi,” and one entered separately:
Stephen Willis on Cherubini (#698). An essay by Daniel Heartz, “Mozart’s
Tragic Muse,” was reprinted in his Mozart’s Operas(#1276). - Corte, Andrea della. L’opera comica italiana nel ‘700.Bari: Laterza, 1923. 2v.
ML1733.3 .C68.
Considers the antecedents of comic opera, such as comic parts in serious
opera, and the fully developed comic works of all the important composers in
the 18th century. Footnoted but without musical examples or bibliography.
Name and title index. - Verti, Roberto. “Indizi su repertorio, geografia e milieu delle farse per musica.”
In I vicini di Mozart(#90), v.2, 597–624.
Addresses the problem of defining the farsaand discusses the diffusion of the
form from Venice to other cities. Table of performances in various cities,
1783–1794. Farsain the 19th century is taken up by Morelli (#2477). - Troy, Charles E. The Comic Intermezzo: A Study in the History of Eighteenth-
Century Italian Opera. Studies in Musicology, 9. Ann Arbor, Mich.: UMI
Research, 1979. xvi, 242p. ISBN 0-8357-0992-2. ML1733.3 .T6.
Comic elements were introduced into serious opera via the intermezzo, a
humorous sketch performed between the acts. Its origin is ably traced in this
Italy 459