NEXT WEEK is not simply next week, it is Settimana Della Lingua Italiana Nel Mondo, the Week of the Italian Language in the World, and as part of a worldwide celebration of Italian, NUI Galway will host a talk linking opera with Italian history.
The theme of this year’s Settimana is L’italiano della musica, la musica dell’italiano (The Italian of music, the music of Italian ). As a result, there will be an event, entitled The Culture of Italian Music: Opera and Colonialism, on Thursday October 29 from 6pm to 8pm in the university's Hardiman Research Building.
Prof Paolo Bartoloni, head of Italian at NUIG, will open the event with an introductory talk followed by talks by Mario Inglese, a research scholar at the university, and Alessandro Luchetti, an NUIG PhD student. Mario’s talk, The Italian Language and Opera: Verdi and Puccini will focus on showing how the language of the libretti of the operas composed over the same period by these two giants does differ considerably.
Alessandro Luchetti's talk is The Music of Italian Colonization in Africa: Racism and Sexism, and will centre on the impact of colonial propaganda songs on fascist society. A selection of songs from the late 1930s will be analysed in order to observe how racist and sexist stereotypes helped build a consensus around the colonial enterprise.
"The Italian operatic tradition is recognised throughout the world for its tremendous contribution to music, outstanding quality, and inclusion of universal themes," said Prof Bartoloni. “The focus on the music of colonisation provides innovative insights into one of the most tragic and damaging periods of Italian history, fascism, and its use of popular music for propaganda purposes.”
All are welcome to the talks. For more information visit www.nuigalway.ie
