Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1958. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 317-324).

The lecture was given on September 25, 1989. The discussion dealt with the stylistic characteristics of music for clarinet by Ernesto Cavallini and included a performance of four romanzas: La Calma, Un Pensiero, L'Incudine, and Lontano dalla Patria. Cavallini was the foremost clarinet virtuoso of the nineteenth century as well as a prolific composer of music for his instrument. The works presented in the lecture represent Cavallini's proclivity for a performance style combining virtuosity with lyrical expression. Copies of the original publications of Cavallini's romanzas were obtained from the Biblioteca del Conservatory, "Giuseppi Verdi," Milan, Italy. In addition to the lecture recital, three other recitals for solo clarinet were given. The first recital was given on October 29, 1984, and included works by Carl Maria von Weber, Leslie Bassett, Halsey Stevens, and Carl Reinecke. The second recital was given on July 29, 1985, and included works by Bernard Heinrich Crusell, Halsey Stevens, and Johannes Brahms. The third recital was given on October 3, 1988, and included works by Saviero Mercadante, Eugene Bozza, and John Ireland. All four recitals were recorded on magnetic tape and are filed, along with the written version of the lecture materials, as a part of the dissertation.

Opera fantasias have been denigrated as insufficiently intellectual or serious, as derivative, as merely popular or sentimental. However, many of the perceived flaws were, if not hallmarks, at least accepted realities of Italian opera composing. Like opera itself, the opera fantasia is a popular art form, stylistically predictable yet formally flexible, based heavily on past operatic tradition and prefabricated materials. I approach opera fantasias, instrumental works that use themes from a single opera as the body of their virtuosic and flamboyant material, both historically and theoretically, concentrating on compositions written for and by woodwind-instrument performers in Italy in the second half of the nineteenth century. Important overlapping strands in my theoretical framework include the concept of virtuosity and its gradual demonization, the strong gendered overtones of individual woodwind instruments and of virtuosity, the distinct Italian context of these fantasias, the presentation and alteration of opera narratives in opera fantasias, and the technical and social development of woodwind instruments. I have uncovered a large body of compositions and composers, many of whom have not been written about in English, through archival research in Milan, Naples, Parma, Bologna, and Palermo. This reveals trends in operas used for fantasias, temporally, spatially, and between instruments, as well as further trends in the use of specific melodies. I use contemporary reviews of performances and compositions to attest to the popularity of the opera fantasia throughout the second half of the nineteenth century in Italy, including oboist Antonio Pasculli as a case study. This often overlooked genre is intimately tied to the central canon and deeply connected to its social and musical contexts. Approaching the opera fantasia as a coherent and meaningful group of works clarifies a genre that has been consciously stifled and cultural resonances that still impact music reception and performance today.