Original scientific paper
Cristoforo Ivanovich's Minerva al tavolino Outside the Framework of Musicology Outside and Beyond the Memorie teatrali di Venezia
Katja Radoš-Perković
; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb
Abstract
A brief treatise on the beginnings of Venetian opera, entitled Theatrical Memories of Venice, published in 1681 as the appendix to a larger volume entitled Minerva al tavolino (Minerva at the table) earned Cristoforo Ivanovich a place in the history of music. This contribution to the study of the earliest opera productions is all the more valuable if we consider his having been a part of it as a librettist with five titles put on stage not only in Venice, but also at the imperial theatre in Vienna. Unfortunately, the rest of his literary production - including dozens of letters, poems and essays gathered in the aforementioned Minerva al tavolino - has never been thoroughly investigated. Such a research should either credit the author for having contributed to baroque Italian literature as much as to musicology, or it should prove that it is merely a display of eloquent language virtuosity with little, if any, literary value. The purpose of this article is to present the content of Minerva al tavolino and extrapolate some of its most interesting parts in order to stimulate further research, and to try to give Ivanovich a space and perhaps recognition beyond the secluded realms of international musicology
Keywords
Cristoforo Ivanovich; Minerva al tavolino; Venice; literary contribution
Hrčak ID:
191602
URI
Publication date:
28.12.2017.
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