The theme of the thesis is the serious opera Nitteti, which was composed in 1765 by the Italian composer Domenico Fischietti at the end of his several-years-long residence in Prague. The thesis aims at introducing Fischietti's serious opera style, which has so far been neglected and mostly overshadowed by his comic operas. This work focuses on exploring and elaborating on the topic of Prague Italian opera of that era through the study of the opera Nitteti. At the same time, the opera Nitteti is compared with a later version of the same title composed for Naples by Fischietti in 1775. One of the foundations for examining the opera is the context of the theater production (especially performing singers) in both opera centers. The composer's treatment of the classical libretto by Pietro Metastasio in terms of music dramaturgy and the transformation of Fischietti's compositional style is also subject to comparison scrutiny in both versions. Keywords Domenico Fischietti, Nitteti, opera seria, Pietro Metastasio, 18th century, arias analysis

The diploma thesis contributes to study of the Italian and Czech origins of the sacred music by Neapolitan composers from the first third of the 18th century. The first chapters of the thesis concentrate on classification of manuscripts with music by the Neapolitan composer Domenico Sarri (1678-1744) whose many works have been preserved in Czech music archives. Though Sarri demonstrably was a significant representative of the Neapolitan music production of his time, his work has not yet been adequately explored. This thesis therefore also includes a complete reconstruction of Sarri's psalm Dixit Dominus F major. In the last part of the thesis, this piece is analyzed and compared within the selection of few works by Sarri and his contemporaries with the aim to specify some of the general and individual aspects of Sarri's musical thinking.

Texte remanié de: Diss.--Saarbrücken, 1992. / Bibliogr. p. 263-275. Index.

At the close of the sixteenth century, the Roman architect Domenico Fontana choreographed the transformation of the Vatican Obelisk from its antique position on the circus of Nero, to its present location facing St. Peter's. Fontana's treatise Della trasportatione dell'obelisco Vaticano (1590), records this event in a detailed narrative, and a series of remarkable etchings. Architect to Pope Sixtus V, Fontana is often cited as a founder of city planning due to his seminal reorganization of Rome's topography, and as an early proponent of civil engineering owing to his calculated mechanics. Yet neither of these appellations do justice to Fontana's complex practice, one in which architecture is composed in time, characterized by the intensity and profundity of the festival, and the divine power of Man to operate within a world of sympathies. The scaffold which translates the obelisk---and the occulted knowledge of these cosmographic relations---into the space of the city, also invokes an alternate tradition for architecture. Opposite classical solidity and eternal being, Fontana's castello proposes the immaterial, and the ephemeral. An inquiry into this scene of emerging order is particularly relevant for our contemporary world, with our idols fallen and our foundations in rain. / Appended to this thesis is an abridged English translation of Della trasportatione, chapter 1.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Melbourne, 1989. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references.

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In eighteenth-century Britain, many aristocrats studied music, participated as amateurs in musical clubs, and patronized London’s burgeoning concert life. Richard Fitzwilliam, Seventh Viscount Fitzwilliam of Merrion and Thorncastle (1745-1816), was one such patron and amateur. Fitzwilliam shaped his activities – participation, patronage, and collecting – in a unique way that illustrates his specialized tastes and interests. While as an amateur musician he sang in the Noblemen’s and Gentlemen’s Catch Club (the premiere social club dedicated to musical performance), he rose to the highest level of patronage by spearheading the Handel Commemoration Festival of 1784 and serving for many years as a Director of the Concert of Antient Music, the most prestigious concert series in Georgian Britain. His lasting legacy, however, was his bequest to Cambridge University of his extensive collection of art, books and music, as well as sufficient funds to establish the Fitzwilliam Museum. At the time of his death, Fitzwilliam’s collection of music was the best in the land, save that in the Royal Library. Thus, his collection is ideally suited for examination as proof of his activities, taste and connoisseurship. Moreover, the music in Fitzwilliam’s collection shows his participation in the contemporary musicological debate, evidenced by his advocacy for ancient music, his agreement with the views of Charles Avison and his support for the music of Domenico Scarlatti. On one side of this debate were proponents of learned, ancient music, such as Fitzwilliam and Avison, whose Essay on Musical Expression of 1752 was a milestone in musical criticism. On the other side of the discussion were advocates for the more modern, “classical” style and genres, led by historian Charles Burney.

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This dissertation analyzes fifteenth-century representations of the Last Supper that were painted on the walls of monastic refectories located in and around the city of Florence, with a focus on the viewer’s multi-sensory experience of the paintings in their spaces of reception and in relation to theatrical performance. The project explores Domenico Ghirlandaio’s innovative approach to the composition and its relationship with the refectory (or dining hall) through compositional changes, particularly with his Last Supper at the convent of Ognissanti (c. 1480-1481), that marked an important pivot in the presentation of this familiar iconography by demonstrating a greater awareness of and engagement with the viewer. These pictorial innovations relate to the performance of devotional plays (sacre rappresentazioni) in fifteenth-century Florence and inspired the construction of sacred mountain sanctuaries (sacri monti) composed of multi-media sculptural groups arranged in devotional chapels. My dissertation illustrates how each of these modes of representation—painting, performance, and multi-media sculpture—reacted to and altered their spaces of reception, involving their viewers as active participants in immersive, sensorial experiences. The first chapter explores the origins and development of the monumental Last Supper frescoes in Florence’s monastic refectories, a tradition known as i cenacoli fiorentini. I discuss the iconography, provide a brief catalogue of the paintings, and observe how Ghirlandaio moved the standard composition from reinforcing the two-dimensionality of the refectory wall and toward an immersive experience that encouraged a sense of association between the painted scene and the space of reception. In the second chapter, I argue that, in addition to quattrocento techniques of pictorial illusionism, the dynamic performances of sacre rappresentazioni informed the interest in activating the viewer’s emotional engagement with the Last Supper fresco. Chapter three more directly involves the space of the refectory in my analysis, as I explore how the various functions and multi-sensory conditions of the refectory environment enhanced the performative and immersive qualities of the cenacolo painting. Finally, the fourth chapter extends my discussion to the sacri monti pilgrimage sites located in San Vivaldo and Varallo, Italy. I draw comparisons between the three-dimensional chapel environments and the Last Supper refectory frescoes. By placing these works in dialogue with one another, I observe new insights in the canonical cenacoli images and engage the sacri monti with the broader field of Renaissance art history. / 2024-06-24T00:00:00Z