Description
Capital, in the 19th century, of the largest kingdom of the Italian peninsula, for centuries an important crossroads for the culture of theatre and dance, Naples constituted until the Unification of Italy one of the major European centres for the training, production and circulation of dance. This volume focuses on Dance and Ballet in Naples: a dialogue with Europe (1806-1861), a theme promoted and organised by the Italian Association for Dance Research (AIRDanza) and the Early Music Centre of the Pietà de’ Turchini Foundation of Naples, in collaboration with prestigious Neapolitan institutions such as the State Archives, the “Vittorio Emanuele III” National Library, the Suor Orsola Benincasa University and the San Carlo Theatre (MeMus).
The twenty-five contributions in this volume offer the first important results articulated according to a plurality of objects of research, analysis and interpretation that have so far only been touched upon in a small way and which, if further developed, may succeed in shedding more light on the role played by dance in Naples in the more general context of Italian and European choreographic culture. The reading of documents – both unpublished and unpublished – according to an interdisciplinary methodology, has led the analysis to primary sources relating to theatres, dances, schools, dancers and choreographers, theatrical periodicals, scores and musical editions. There is no lack of contributions on dance and dance in relation to the dynamics of national identity, also in consideration of the Risorgimento process, the self-celebratory and propagandistic needs of the French Kingdom and then the Bourbon Kingdom.
From the geography of dance to the most important personalities such as Louis Henry, Armand Vestris, Salvatore Viganò, Fanny Cerrito, passing through the themes, subjects and ideals of Neapolitan romanticism without neglecting didactics, satire, almanacs, musical editions and business strategies that have made Naples and its theatres a crossroads of talent and novelty often unknown to traditional historiography.
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