Impresari, costume e societa a teatro nell'autunno della Serenissima Repubblica di Genova (1772-97)

Historiography was only marginally interested in musical life in eighteenth-century Genoa, perhaps even discouraged by the disappointment expressed in a famous declaration by Charles Burney. Only recently, have some local scholars, with different approaches and intentions, become interested in the topic without however coming up with an overall study. The project launched an historically documented study on the theater’s management in Genoa in the period between the drafting of the last theatrical guidelines (1772) and the end of the aristocratic Republic (1797). The thesis is the result of the study on more than 3000 archival unpublished documents which describe the rends of the three main city halls (Teatro del Falcone, Teatro da Sant’Agostino, Teatro delle Vigne) to the the entrepreneurs, the behavior of the Genoese public in their theaters and portray the habits of the entrepreneurs, the operas that were performed, the immorality of dancers and singers, the incidence of malpractice in the boxes and in the parterre. These aspects of daily theatrical life are treated by reconciling the historical perspective with the sociological one. In a global idea of 18th century theater the aim of the thesis is to underline the relationships between spectators belonging to different social groups, the audience reactions, the rules and etiquette during performances and masquerades. These evidences are not merely gossip: they illustrate how theater was an integral part of people’s daily lives and how eighteenth-century society understood this elite ritual. The dissertation is accompanied by a chronology of Genoese performances between 1772 and 1797 and by a documentary appendix.