Italian Opera in the Age of the American Revolution

FAIN: FT-54230-06

Pierpaolo Polzonetti
University of North Carolina, Greensboro (Greensboro, NC 27412-5068)

This project is a pioneering study of internationally disseminated Italian operas based on North American subjects and produced during the age of the American Revolution. The project focuses on the music and dramatic characteristics of these operas, as well as on the historical and cultural context in which they were created and disseminated. My main purpose is to show how North America inspired a new, dynamic conception of social and gender roles, which led important librettists and composers of the time to redefine or subvert long established conventions of the genre.