I drammi per musica di Giacomo Antonio Perti per il teatro della Villa medicea di Pratolino (1700-01; 1707-10)

Activity in the theatre of the Medici Villa of Pratolino, not far from Florence, peaked during the first decade of the 1700s. At that time, Prince Ferdinando de' Medici commissioned Alessandro Scarlatti and Giacomo Antonio Perti to compose operas, staged in the Villa on a one-per-year basis. Although the scores of these operas have been lost, much documentary material has survived. The greater part of this is still unpublished, but it provides an exceptional account of both the Prince's patronage and the theatre's functioning. This dissertation focuses on the six operas set to music by Perti ("Lucio Vero", 1700, in collaboration with Martino Bitti; "Astianatte", 1701; "Dionisio re di Portogallo", 1707; "Ginevra principessa di Scozia", 1708; "Berenice regina d'Egitto", 1709; "Rodelinda regina de' Longobardi", 1710), on the composer's relationship with the Prince, the librettist Antonio Salvi, his rival Scarlatti, the singers and the Medici Court, on the style he pursued and †" to the extent that such information is known or may be legitimately inferred †" on the physiognomy of his works (structures and literary, theatrical and musical resources).