An der Wiege einer neuen Gattung: Balli und Moresche in der frühen italienischen Oper von Monteverdi bis Kapsberger
(Christoph Koop, Hanna Walsdorf)

Gattungszuordnungen sind gerade in der Frühzeit dessen, was in herkömmlichen Lehrbüchern heute als Oper bezeichnet wird, oftmals eine definitorische Herausforderung. Bereits in jenen Werken, die dabei als erste dieser Gattung gelten, war Tanz ein integraler Bestandteil. So finden sich balli nicht nur in Cavalieris Oratorium Rappresentatione di anima e di corpo (Rom 1600) und in Monteverdis dramma per musica L'Orfeo (Mantua 1607), sondern auch in Kapsbergers Jesuitenoper Apotheosis, sive consecratio SS. Ignatii et Francisci Xaverii (Rom 1622). Die beiden letztgenannten Beispiele verweisen dabei auf die tänzerischen Praktiken und Diskurse ihrer Zeit, sind doch in die Partituren neben renaissancehaften balli auch moresche eingelassen: Bei Monteverdi fungiert eine moresca als Finaltanz am Ende des fünften Aktes, bei Kapsberger hingegen ist sie inmitten des dritten von fünf Akten platziert, einen Kampf zwischen Frankreich und Japan markierend.
Unter Einbezug historischer Quellen und neuester Forschungsliteratur sollen diese beiden Werke mitsamt ihrer Entstehungs- und Aufführungskontexte eingehend betrachtet werden. Welche oder besser: wessen Tänze kommen an welcher Stelle der Handlung zum Einsatz? Was ist ihre dramaturgische Funktion, und welche Rückschlüsse lassen sich aus den überlieferten Quellenmaterialien im Hinblick auf die choreographische Umsetzung ziehen? In einem Ausblick soll schließlich der Frage nachgegangen werden, welchen Einfluss die beiden hier ausgewählten römischen Opern auf die weitere Entwicklung der Gattung Oper im Allgemeinen und auf Tanz in der Oper im Speziellen ausgeübt haben – in Italien und darüber hinaus.

Christoph Koop, Leipzig, Germany:

Christoph Koop studierte nach seiner Mitgliedschaft im Dresdner Kreuzchor Musikwissenschaft, Kunstgeschichte und Romanistik an den Universitäten in Dresden und Leipzig. Seine Affinität zu musikalischen Editionen mündete in einer Anstellung als Lektor in einem Leipziger Musikverlag. Zeitgleich gründete er den Verlag kopp & koop. Im Rahmen seines Dissertationsvorhaben studierte er an der Università degli Studi di Perugia und forschte zur Kirchenmusik von Francesco Morlacchi. Es folgte eine Anstellung im DFG-Projekt "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Briefausgabe" an der Universität Leipzig. Seit Dezember 2015 ist er am DFG-Projekt der Emmy Noether-Nachwuchsgruppe "Ritualdesign für die Ballettbühne" an der Universität Leipzig beteiligt. Seit 2009 wurde er als Sänger und Statist wiederholt für Produktionen des Concert Royal Köln am Markgräflichen Opernhaus Bayreuth, im Goethe-Theater Bad Lauchstädt und im Ekhof-Theater Gotha verpflichtet.

Hanna Walsdorf, Leipzig, Deutschland:

Studium der Musik- und Tanzwissenschaft, Politischen Wissenschaft sowie der Historische Hilfswis-senschaften und Archivkunde an den Universitäten Salzburg, Bonn und Bern. Magisterexamen 2006 in Bonn,im Juli 2009 Promotion mit Auszeichnung in Salzburg. 2009–2013 wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin im SFB 619 »Ritualdynamik« an der Universität Heidelberg. Seit April 2014 Leiterin der Emmy Noether-Nachwuchsgruppe »Ritualdesign für die Ballettbühne: Konstruktionen von Volkskultur im europäischen Theatertanz (1650–1760)« am Institut für Theaterwissenschaft der Universität Leipzig.

Ballon's, Fabiani's and Favier's conquest of pre-republican Rome (1790-1797)
(Nika Tomasevic)

In the years immediately preceding the Roman Republic and Napoleon's arrival in the Papal States, Rome was experiencing years of great turmoil and cultural vitality. Beyond the peculiar limits of the urban theatrical life (very present censorship, closure of theaters between 1793 and 1795, ban on female performances on stage) Argentina, Apollo and Alibert theatres proposed an interesting and heterogeneous artistic offer.
In this context, three choreographers worked at Teatro Argentina during the period 1790-1797: Michele Fabiani, Domenico Ballon e Charles-August Favier (Jean Favier's son).
The study is based on a comparative analysis of late eighteenth century dance booklets, related to the data obtained from chronologies and repertoires, and reconstructs and examines the activity of Fabiani, Ballon, and Favier, contextualizing it in transalpine dance trend.
In Rome, the three dancing-masters consolidated performance practices and contributed, as part of Italian pantomime dance, to the "standardization" of artistic and literary lines formed in the eighteenth century. An example is the "colonial current" that left a mark in French and Italian opera and ballet (see Jean-Georges Noverre's Belton et Éliza, 1774, and Gasparo Angiolini's Alzira o gli Americani, 1781).
The second part of the study focuses on the transformation of the "American colonial current" in a general exoticism (American, Middle Eastern, Australian). This introduced new dances and an almost invented local color in pantomime ballets, in very similar plots (stories about jealousy and thwarted love), La conquista del Perù o sia Telasco ed Amazili, La morte di Pizarro, Il capitano Cook nell'isola degli Ottaiti can be cited as examples. These pantomime ballets weren't very demanding in terms of content, because the main interest was focused on the spectacular nature of the scenes (religious ceremonies, military marches and battles) and a dynamic use of the scenography in the wake of traditional Italian dance in Rome.

Nika Tomasevic, Rom, Italien:

Nika Tomasevic, a scholar of theatre and dance, is currently studying for a PhD in The History of Contemporary and Modern Theatre at "L'Orientale" University in Naples. She worked with Fabrizio Crisafulli within the framework of his theatre workshops at DAMS (College of Arts, Music, Stage & Cinema) at Roma Tre University. She edited the book Place Body Light. The Theater of Fabrizio Crisafulli: Twenty Years of Reserch 1991-2011 (Art digiland Books, Dublin, 2013) and with Manuela Canali the volume Luce per la danza. La nuova stagione, 1999-2012 (L'Epos, Palermo, 2012).

The Siena LV29 manuscript and an unknown Dancing Master
(Ilaria Sainato)

This paper is a study on the ms. LV 29 preserved in Siena at the Biblioteca Comunale degli Intronati (henceforth S). As I was preparing a critical edition of this manuscript, I examined its composition and history and discovered surprising details leading to my hypothesis that there is a master behind the choreography. S is a 15th century parchment codex preserving a choreographic treatise, which is divided in sections about dance theory followed by a choreographic anthology. The theoretical section originates from the work of Guglielmo Ebreo da Pesaro, with insertions reworkings and summarized material form Domenico da Piacenza's treatise. The practical section collects sixty-six choreographies, which are circa 70% of the preserved 15th century Italian dance repertoire. 32 bassedanze and 34 balli are included. Among them are a significant number of unica: 12 bassedanze and 10 balli.
The manuscript lacks any musical notation. The choreographies are different in style, popularity, mixing famous dances and choreography with few concordances. They also contain stylistic peculiarities such as connections with French repertory. The aim of the compiler seems to be to assemble a complete collection as possible. An interesting detail is that the manuscript reveals a characteristic taste in the variation of the steps and their patterns, even maintaining the structural elements of the choreographies. This feature is connected to "mettere proporzione" the steps, as replacing three contrapassi in place of two doppi, creating a sort of sesquialtera. While the theoretical section of S seems to make a compendium of Guglielmo's and Domenico's works, in the practical section we can perceive the presence of a personal style, either of a particular dance school of a Master who possibly commissioned the manuscript. I identified him through the coat of arms illuminated in the manuscript and research in the Tuscan archives.

Ilaria Sainato, Venedig, Italien:

Ilaria Sainato graduated in Musicology at Cremona-Pavia University. She studied Renaissance Dance with Veronique Daniels, Barbara Sparti, Bruna Gondoni, Deda Cristina Colonna. At presente, she teaches early dance at the Scuola di musica antica di Venezia and in several Universities, Conservatory and Institutions in Italy and abroad. She focuses her research on early dance treaties and their connections with 14th-16th century dance music; moreover she performs with many ensembles and companies on this subject. She is also interested in Music Theater (17th-18th century), and works in several theatre productions as dancer, choreographer and stage director.

"Hasse's Comic Tunes" als Quelle italienischer Tanzkonventionen in London
(Jelena Rothermel)

Acht Bände der„Hasse's Comic Tunes to the opera and theatre dances" gab der englische Verleger John Walsh zwischen den Jahren 1740 und1760 heraus. Sie enthalten einige der populärsten Tänze dieser Zeit, die im King'sTheatre, in Drury Lane oder Covent Garden aufgeführt wurden.Diese „Comic Tunes" waren kurze Instrumentalstücke, die zwischen Arien oder gesprochenen Dialogen gespielt wurden und Tanz oder Pantomime begleiteten. Die Sammlung bietet so einen seltenen Einblick in die Tanz- und Pantomimenmusik der Londoner Bühnen im 18. Jahrhundert. Darüber hinaus liefert sie Hinweise zu den Tänzern, die dieser Musik zu Popularität verschafften, führen sie doch ihre Namen zu zahlreichen Tunes auf. Von den 42 namentlich Genannten– darunter Berühmtheiten wie Barbara Campanini, Giovanni Gallini oder Giuseppe Salomon – stammt über die Hälfte aus Italien.
Unter Einbezug weiterer historischer Quellen und neuester Forschungsliteratur sollen die Bände der „Hasse's Comic Tunes" eingehend analysiert werden. Lassen sich aus den kurzen Musikstücken Rückschlüsse auf den individuellen Tanzstil der Tänzer ziehen? Finden sich im Vergleich mit den dort genannten französischen und englischen Tänzern Hinweise auf einen »italienischen Tanzstil«? Darüber hinaus soll untersucht werden, ob italienische Tänzer einen bestimmten Figurentyp – z. B. aus der Commedia dell'arte – besonders häufig verkörperten und inwieweit sich dies auf die Musik auswirkte.

Jelena Rothermel, Leipzig, Deutschland:

Jelena Rothermel received her M.A. in Musicology, Philosophy and Psychology from the University of Heidelberg (Germany) in 2013. She is currently studying for a PhD in Theatre studies at Leipzig University in affiliation with the Emmy-Noether Project "Ritual Design for the Ballet Stage: Constructions of Popular Culture in European Theatrical Dance (1650–1760)". Her research interests include Baroque Dance and Opera, contemporary music as well as the interaction of movement and music.

The Italianisation of French Dance: Dauberval at the Teatro Regio at Turin in 1759
(Flavia Papacena, Lorenzo Tozzi)

For the 1759 carnival season, Turin's Teatro Regio invited Jean Dauberval who, albeit just seventeen, was already well-known at the Grand Théâtre of Lyon as a performer and restager of Jean-Georges Noverre's work. For the Turin theatre, Dauberval composed a total of five 'balli' to be performed between the acts of the two operas Eumene (Zeno-Mazzoni) and Adriano in Siria (Metastasio-Borghi). The ballet music, by G.A. Le Messier, was transcribed in an album now kept by the Library of the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia in Rome. The ballets were described at the end of the opera libretto, as was customary in Turin since 1756. The second of the three entr'acte 'balli' for Adriano in Siria was La Fontana del Ringiovenimento, still considered as a restaging of Noverre's La Fontaine de Jouvence (Paris, Foire Saint-Laurent, 1754). In actual fact, the subject matter was considerably altered and reconstructed in a style to suit the Turin theatre and observe the limits imposed by Savoy's censors. The deities responsible for the rejuvenation (Hebe, Goddess of Youth, and the God of Love) do not appear in the ballet and the plot slips rapidly into a long coda of grotesque dances in the Italian tradition. These dances comprise three "pas de deux" performed by the Second Grotesque, the First Grotesque and the "Coppia Seria" (Serious Couple), which are actually pantomimed scenes intermixed with dance, performed by the conventional grotesque 'characters' of the period: the Hunter, the Gardener and the Wild Animal Tamer. The pas de deux of the "Coppia Seria" (i.e. French) of a Faun with a Villanelle is also based on a mixture of dance and pantomime, its style being presumably similar to that of the first forms of French narrative ballet which started to appear in the middle of the century in several French and Italian cities and in Central Europe.
This adaptation of a ballet by Noverre for the Turin stage is not unique, since in Italy, in the 'fifties and 'sixties, pantomimes of the grotesque genre were often included in ballets with a mythological theme, and many Italian theatres requested French choreographers (such as Pietro Alovar, Vincent Saunier, etc.) to adapt their ballets and even to compose in Italian style. The first of Dauberval's two 1759 ballets for the opera Eumene, Disposizioni per l'assalto di una città assediata, has clearly Italian features.

Flavia Pappacena, Rom, Italien:

Flavia Pappacena, professor at the Accademia Nazionale di Danza in Rome and at Rome University "La Sapienza". Since 1993 editor of the journal Chorégraphie and since 1984 of the dance collection by the publishers Gremese. She is the author of many research papers on the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, including Excelsior. Documents and Essays (1998), Carlo Blasis' Treatise on Dance 1820-1830 (2005), The Language of Classical Ballet. Guide to the Interpretation of Iconographic Sources (2012).

Lorenzo Tozzi, Rom, Italien:

Lorenzo Tozzi, professor at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia in Rome and at the Universities of Fermo and Lecce. Since 1994 he is the artistic director of the Romabarocca Ensemble and Chairman of the Cultural Association "Romabarocca". He is the author of many studies on Italian eighteenth-century dance.