Each tale chases another-Simone Spagnolo Thesis

495 Pages·2016·18.63 MB·English

by  Simone Spagnolo

Spagnolo, Simone (2015). Each tale chases another. Metaphorical representations, non-linearity
and openness of narrative structure in Italian opera from post-WWII to It makes no difference.
(Unpublished Doctoral thesis, City University London)
City Research Online
Original citation: Spagnolo, Simone (2015). Each tale chases another. Metaphorical
representations, non-linearity and openness of narrative structure in Italian opera from post-WWII
to It makes no difference. (Unpublished Doctoral thesis, City University London)
Permanent City Research Online URL: http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/13570/

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Each tale chases another
Metaphorical representations, non-linearity and openness
of narrative structure in Italian Opera from
post-WWII to It makes no difference
Thesis for:
Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance
for Ph.D. in Creative Practice, Music
Author name:
Simone Spagnolo
Final submission:
November 2014
THE FOLLOWING REPRODUCED MATERIAL HAS BEEN REDACTED
FOR COPYRIGHT REASONS:

p89
Reproduction of ‘Poème Simultané’ (Simultaneous Poem, 1916), Huelsenbeck, R., Arp, H.,
Janko, M., & Tzara, T. In Richter, H. (1997) Dada: Art and Anti-Art, London: Thames &
Hudson, p30.
Thesis title:
Each tale chases another. Metaphorical representations, non-linearity and openness of narrative
structure in Italian Opera from post-WWII to It makes no difference.
Author / student name:
Simone Spagnolo
Supervisors:
Principal Paul Barker
Second: Dominic Murcott
Course title (qualification for which the thesis is submitted):
Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance for PhD in
Creative Practice, Music
Name of institution:
Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance
Department in which the research was conducted:
Composition / Research Department
Month / Year of first submission:
February 2014
Month / Year of final submission:
November 2014
ii
Each tale chases another
Metaphorical representations, non-linearity and openness of narrative structure in Italian
Opera from post-WWII to It makes no difference
Abstract
This work addresses the demands of framing a theoretical problem and practice-based research and
it therefore comprises two parts: a thesis and a composition. The thesis discusses the narrative
structure of post-WWII Italian avant-garde opera in conceptual terms and demonstrates how it
develops on three principal features: the metaphorical representation of socio-political conditions,
the non-linearity of the dramaturgy, and openness to a plurality of interpretations. My composition
It makes no difference contributes both as a new musico-theatrical work and an outcome of the
discussion presented in the thesis.
The main text is composed of three main chapters, each respectively dedicated to the features of
socio-political representation, non-linearity and openness. Each chapter is in turn divided into two
sub-chapters: the first presents the contextualisation and analysis of post-WWII Italian experimental
operas, the second explores It makes no difference in relation to both these operas and the above
three features.
The discussion examines those works that have most significantly experimented with socio-political
representations, non-linearity and openness. These include Luigi Nono’s Intolleranza 1960 (1961),
Sylvano Bussotti’s La Passion selon Sade (1966) and Luciano Berio’s Opera (1977). At the same
time, it omits both those operas relying on traditional operatic principles and those others that,
although being experimental, do not focus on the three features this thesis puts forward. This study
considers post-WWII Italian avant-garde opera in cross-disciplinary terms and highlights the
necessity of discussing it in relation to disciplines other than those proper to the genre of opera,
including prose-theatre, literature, politics and philosophy.
The composition, on the other hand, provides a synthesis of the above three features: It makes no
difference develops a multi-narrative structure whilst providing a representation of contemporary
Italian socio-political life and epitomising the concept of openness. At the same time, it integrates
theatrical and literary elements and combines traditional notation and graphic scores.
INDEX
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
CHAPTER ONE: metaphorical representations of socio-political conditions . . . 9
1.1 Opera as socio-political vehicle
1.1.1 From L’incoronazione di Poppea to Satyricon
1.1.2 Zeitoper and the representation of actuality
1.1.3 The influence of expressionist and epic theatre on Italian post-WWII opera
1.2 It makes no difference and socio-political representations
1.2.1 Today’s Italian socio-political conditions
1.2.2 The representation of stable-instability
1.2.3 Three aspects of socio-political representation: characters’ bivalence, guilt and
perpetual questioning
1.2.4 Metaphorical relationships between the micro- and the macro-structure
CHAPTER TWO: how can dramaturgy be non-linear? . . . . . . . 37
2.1 The dismantling of narrativity’s linearity: reasons and outcomes
2.1.1 The rejection of Aristotelian norms
2.1.2 The rejection of linear-narrative and the case of Passaggio
2.1.3 Spatio-temporal dilation
2.1.4 Triple-narrative: Opera
2.1.5 Theatre-of-references: La Passion selon Sade
2.1.6 Anti-opera and meta-opera
2.1.7 Non-linear narrative in Italian post-WWII literature: Le città invisibili and
Se una notte d‘inverno un viaggiatore
2.1.8 Polydictic-theatre and theatre-of-the-imagination: La vera storia and Un re in ascolto
2.2 It makes no difference and the non-linear narrative
2.2.1 It makes no difference’s multi-narrative outline
2.2.2 From stations to snapshots
2.2.3 Repetitions as forward-motion
2.2.4 The absence of the set and the sharing of the toy-balls
2.2.5 Now and here: teatro polidittico inverso
CHAPTER THREE: Openness to a plurality of interpretations . . . . . 72
3.1 The concept of openness: origins, developments and influences
! 3.1.1 Opera Aperta and its influence
iii
! 3.1.2 The philosophical legacy
3.1.3 Openness and Nothingness: from the Accademia degli Incogniti to Corghi’s Blimunda
3.1.3 The semiological legacy
3.1.4 Openness in prose theatre: Pirandello, Fo and Brecht
3.1.5 The literary legacy: from the Middle Ages to Joyce
3.1.6 Openness and Nothingness in Italian post-WWII literature: Calvino and Eco
3.1.7 Non-linearity as the fulfilment of openness
3.2 It makes no difference and the concept of openness
3.2.1 On a textual level: allusions, unexplained lines and the Jokers’ lyrics
3.2.2 On a musical level: the augmented triad, the G-A-Ab cell and the Jokers’ scenes
3.2.3 On a spatio-visual level: the musicians’ physical gestures and the performance space
3.2.4 Openness as critical experience of reality
Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . cxix
Scores and writings
DVDs
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . cxxi
©Simone Spagnolo
iv
Mrs. Martin: What is the moral?
Fire Chief: That's for you to find out.
Mme. Martin: Quelle est la morale?
Le Pompier: C’est à vous de la trouver.
Eugene Ionesco, from La cantatrice Chauve
v
Introduction
This work discusses the principal features on which the narrative structure of post-WWII
Italian avant-garde opera is based. It comprises two parts as it addresses the twofold demands of
framing a theoretical problem and practice-based research. My composition It makes no difference
constitutes an initial contribution, both as a musico-theatrical work and an outcome of the
discussion presented in this thesis. In the main text, I suggest a consideration of post-WWII Italian
opera in thematic terms, whilst including my composition in the discussion. In pursuit of
comprehensive research, I will also include a number of non-Italian writers and works that have
been influential on post-WWII avant-garde Italian opera.
I have observed that composers such as Luigi Nono, Luciano Berio and Sylvano Bussotti
have predominantly cultivated their interests in a number of narrative elements that can be
summarised as follows: the metaphorical representation of socio-political conditions, the non-
linearity of the dramaturgy, and openness to a plurality of interpretations. These three features
constitute the innovations and experimentations in Italian opera since 1945, leading this genre to
unique creative trends. Following this line of argument, the analysis of It makes no difference
highlights some innovative aspects and demonstrates how this work develops these three features. It
makes no difference is an opera based on multi-narrativic principles that aims to represent
metaphorically today’s Italian socio-political conditions. At the same time, it also represents an
evolution of post-WWII Italian operatic experiments. Moreover, its structure draws from the
concept of opera aperta (open work), which maintains that a ‘work of art [constitutes] an open
product on account of its susceptibility to countless different interpretations’.1
Current academic literature on metaphorical representations, non-linearity and openness in
post-WWII Italian Opera is not only modest, but also fragmented in discussions of either individual
authors or works. At present, the sole text about contemporary Italian opera (Raymond Fearn’s
Italian opera since 1945), highlights ‘the absence, up to the present moment, of any study of the
musico-theatrical developments which have taken place during the period in question’ (from 1945
onward),2 an absence that Fearn partly addresses. Although Fearn’s work is a valuable source of
scholarship, the author presents Italian post-WWII opera in toto, providing a chronological
1 Umberto Eco, The Open Work. trans. Anna Cancogni. (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1989), 4.
2 Raymond Fearn, Italian Opera since 1945 (Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1997), xiii.
6
overview that places together both experimental works (as for example operas by Luciano Berio
and Sylvano Bussotti), and those based upon traditional operatic principles (such as the operas of
Nino Rota, Luciano Chailly and Camillo Togni). Secondary literature and related research material
is found in texts such as Luciano Berio’s Un ricordo al futuro (Remembering the Future, The
Charles Eliot Norton Lectures, 2006) and Alessandra Lucioli’s Sylvano Bussotti (1988), among
others. Still, these works are about individual composers, therefore they do not specifically discuss
Italian opera in general and they do not contextualise the composers’ creative trends within their
broader historical and artistic context. Consequently, my work here differs from the aforementioned,
in that my attention is directed towards the consideration of post-WWII Italian opera in conceptual,
rather than chronological terms.

The works I choose to include in this discussion are exclusively drawn from those that have
most significantly experimented with metaphorical representations, non-linearity and openness.
These include Luigi Nono’s Intolleranza 1960 (1961), Sylvano Bussotti’s La Passion selon Sade
(1966) and Luciano Berio’s Opera (1977). At the same time, I leave outside the discussion those
works that have not manifested an interest in the three features this thesis puts forward. Such works
include those operas relying on the traditional operatic principles of linearity and entertainment,3 as
for example Nino Rota’s Il cappello di paglia di Firenze (1955), Luciano Chailly’s Ferrovia
soprelevata (1955) and Lorenzo Ferrero’s Mare nostro (1985). In addition, this thesis does not take
into account those other works that, although being experimental, do not focus on the three features
this thesis discusses. Examples of these works are Salvatore Sciarrino’s Perseo e Andromeda (1991)
and Luci mie traditrici (1998), operas that base their experimentations on musical and sonorous
parameters.
Structurally, this thesis is composed of three main chapters, each respectively dedicated to
the features of metaphorical representation, non-linearity and openness. Each chapter is in turn
divided into two sub-chapters. The first is dedicated to the historical context and analysis of the
aforementioned operas, the second explores It makes no difference in relation to these three
features. However, although the overall discussion is confined to contemporary Italy, this work does
not examine the issues of Italianness or nationalism in Italian post-WWII opera. It instead provides
a line of argument that highlights a conceptual creative trend.
3 The term ‘entertainment’ refers to those operas that do not intend to metaphorically represent socio-political
conditions, but rather base their dramaturgical creativity on themes unanimously considered frivolous. Examples
include works in the style of Rossini and more generally the genre of opera buffa.
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