The Musical Crowd in English Fiction, 1840–1910 pp 110-129 | Cite as
Imagining 1848 Risorgimento Opera Production in Vittoria
Abstract
Sandra Belloni’s and Vittoria’s respective depictions of mid-century revolutionary events would have been quite topical to an England monitoring 1860s Italy, and in both novels music plays a decisive role in swaying the people.1 But while Sandra Belloni treats an individual’s development, Vittoria concentrates on the development of a national people during the 1848 uprising in Italy and explores how cultural production influences political activity. Music, this novel implies, persuades when it expresses mid-century advances in operatic composition, where musico-dramatic elements are refreshingly realistic. Musical realism instigates a physiological reaction, suggesting a music aesthetics that anticipates by a decade Edmund Gurney’s contention that the best music is that which impacts the listener emotionally, with pleasure resulting from associations inherited from primitive ancestors.2 In Vittoria, however, scientific ideas about pleasurable sensation and volition go a step further, since this corporeal response contributes to manipulating the audience politically.
Keywords
Operatic Composition Austrian Emperor English Reader Opera House Aesthetic ProductionPreview
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Notes
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