Corpus Research as a Means of Unlocking Musical Grammar Ramat Gan and Tel Aviv, 1–4 July 2019

Abstract

findings on the still little-studied area of ballet, scenography and stage technology in the Ligurian centre. Leonardo Spinelli (Università Gabriele d'Annunzio, Chieti-Pescara) spoke on the theatre at the Villa Medici of Pratolino. The metatheatrical relations in the social and political environments of the overseas regions of the Portuguese colonies were discussed by Marta Brites Rosa (Universidade de Lisboa), concentrating on the figure of the impresario, actor and playwright António José de Paula. I (Bella Brover-Lubovsky, Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance) spoke on the inauguration of the Hermitage court theatre in St Petersburg in , celebrated with a performance of Armida e Rinaldo by Giuseppe Sarti on a libretto by Marco Coltellini, originally prepared for Vienna and Salieri. The dramatic function of five substantial ballets in Sarti's score as scenic representations of the abridged text of Salieri's version reveals the cultural preferences of Russian court. Finally, János Malina (Hungarian Haydn Society) discussed the overlapping histories and curious pattern in the employment of musicians in two relatively remote courts, St Petersburg and Eszterháza. He demonstrated how a number of the star singers were contracted in both venues consecutively, despite their great geographical distance both from the renowned capitals and from each other. The conference enhanced our knowledge of the cultural context of European theatre, demonstrating an impressive variety of viewpoints and approaches; its intense schedule included a roundtable discussion on possible directions for future research. It also saw the launch of several new publications: Paologiovanni Maione (Università di Napoli Federico II) presented the critical edition of David Perez's serenata L'isola disabitata, composed in  for Queluz, prepared by Iskrena Yordanova (CEMSP) and published by the Istituto Italiano per la storia della musica (Rome, ); and the proceedings of the previous conference were launched (in the series Cadernos de Queluz (Vienna: Hollitzer, )). Finally, the attendees enjoyed music by Alessandro and Domenico Scarlatti (commemorating the three hundredth anniversary of the latter's arrival in Portugal) in a thoughtful performance by the Divino Sospiro orchestra, under the baton of Massimo Mazzeo.