Instituting Opera in Fernando VII's MadridAcculturation and Critical reception in the Age of Rossini (1813-1824)

Abstract

The period represented here coincides with Spain’s Rossini phenomenon, from the tentative early introduction of his and his contemporaries’ works, through their apex in popularity and the ensuing cultural phenomenon of local and national fanatical opera reception. During this period, which precedes the establishment of dedicated music periodicals by several decades, the country is not generally considered to have enjoyed consistent musical or theatrical press coverage, rendering their rediscovery during our research all the more exciting and significant. The origins of operatic criticism earlier in the Fernandine epoch have never been studied to full advantage, but rather largely eschewed as almost not having existed. Instead, scholars have intermittently lamented its absence (and of reviews), rather than pursuing a comprehensive, thorough comparative and historical analysis of its sources. Therefore, their examination goes hand-in-hand with the first-time chronicling of opera in that particular place and time. The investigation was approached in stages after painstakingly identifying and combing through sources beginning with the archival record, exhausted to the extent possible to flesh out the rather weak context which previous chroniclers lent to opera’s progression in the period. The performance rosters and chronology were collected by scouring the dailies for announcements and tabulating the data in table format. Finally, the exhaustive examination of all available periodicals culminated in the process of eliminating titles inconsequential to our purpose, and positive identification of those most relevant to the exercise. The phenomenon of Italian opera reception as experienced in the period had a profound impact and influence on the progression of societal mores, the development of culture, communication, and means of artistic expression.