Melania Bucciarelli
+4773413037
Bygg 2, Dragvoll
About
I was born and educated in Italy, where I combined performance studies (Pianoforte Diploma, 1983) with studies in Music History and the Humanities at the University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’ (Laurea di Dottore in Lettere, 1991). I obtained my PhD in Historical Musicology at Kings College (University of London) in 1998 and joined the Musikkinstitutt at NTNU in 2016, after Senior Lectureships in the music departments at Oxford Brookes University and City University London.
I specialise in Italian opera, theatre and literature from a variety of musicological and interdisciplinary perspectives: from studies on genre, literature and dramaturgy, period acting and staging practices, to cultural history. I have explored the concept of ‘Italianità’ and ways in which Italian baroque opera could function as a medium of cultural transfer, a mediator of public perceptions of otherness, gender roles, and ideologies, with particular foucs on the context of opera in London, Venice and central Europe in the eighteenth century. Recent publications focus on the phenomenon of the castrato and singers’s agency in Eighteenth-century opera.
I currently lead the research project WOVEN - Women, Opera and the Public Stage in Eighteenth-Century Venice, funded by the NFR.
Possible areas for doctoral supervision within Western Art Music traditions include: music history, opera studies, early music, music exoticism and gender studies; philosophy of music; music and literature; music and rhetoric, music and theatre (including commedia dell’arte, acting and staging practices); music and psychoanalysis; cultural studies of music; reception and social history of music.
Current projects
Women, Opera and the Public Stage in Eighteenth-Century Venice (WoVen). Norges Forskningsråd, Researcher Project for Scientific Renewal. Project leader and principal investigator
Research groups
'Opera in Venice at the time of Antonio Vivaldi'. Istituto Antonio Vivaldi, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice.
'La drammaturgia musicale a Venezia (1678-1792)'. Fondazione Ugo e Olga Levi, Venice.
Literary and Cultural Eighteenth-Century Studies (LACES)
PhD supervision
Brad Carlton Sisk: Varieties of Musical Dramaturgy in the Serious Operas of Giuseppe Maria Orlandini (1676-1760) and His Collaborators
Alene Mari Holder: Vivaldi’s cross-gender casting: An analysis- and practice-based study of trouser role repertoire in Eighteenth-century Venice
Lars Henrik Johansen: '...chanter un discours'. The Eloquence of Marc-Antoine Charpentier's Leçons de Ténebres
Publications
2026
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2026)
Vieni, Andromaca, vieni…». Andromaca tra Salvi e Racine.
Academic chapter
2025
-
Bucciarelli, Melania;
Korneeva, Tatiana;
Vescovo, Piermario.
(2025)
Introduction.
Introduction in anthology
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2025)
Galeotta fu Venezia e la Faustina: New Sources for Francesco Bernardi, Il Senesino, and Faustina Bordoni's 1728-1729 Opera Season in Venice.
Academic chapter
-
Bucciarelli, Melania;
Korneeva, Tatiana;
Vescovo, Piermario.
(2025)
Voices in Motion: Women and the Pan-European Mobility of Italian Opera in the Eighteenth Century.
Edizioni di Pagina
Anthology
2021
-
Bucciarelli, Melania;
Butler, Margaret.
(2021)
Women on Stage in Eighteenth-Century Venice: A New Research Collaborative.
Society for Eighteenth-Century Music Newsletter
Academic article
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2021)
Italian Singers on the Move: Networks, Social Support, and Contact with the Native Land during Senesino’s London Years.
Academic chapter
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2021)
Kvinner, opera og den offentlege scena i Venezia på 1700-tallet.
Musikk & Historie
Academic article
2017
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2017)
'Farò il possibile per vincer l’animo di M.r Handel': Senesino’s arrival in London and Arsace’s rhetoric of passions.
Eighteenth-Century Music
Academic literature review
2015
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2015)
Senesino's negotiations with the Royal Academy of Music: further insight into the Riva-Bernardi correspondence and the role of singers in the practice of eighteenth-century opera.
Cambridge Opera Journal
Academic article
2012
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2012)
Luigi Nono, Omaggio a Emilio Vedova.
Non-fiction chapter
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2012)
Niccolò Castiglioni, Tre Misteri.
Non-fiction chapter
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2012)
Luigi Nono, Intolleranza 1960.
Non-fiction chapter
2010
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2010)
From Rinaldo to Orlando, or Senesino's Path to Madness.
Academic chapter
2009
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2009)
Eleanor Selfridge Field, The Calendar of Venetian Opera: A New Chronology of Venetian Opera and Related Genres, 1660-1760, Stanford University Press: Stanford, 2007).
Eighteenth-Century Music
Book review
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2009)
Giovanni Bononcini.
Non-fiction chapter
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2009)
From Rinaldo to Orlando, or Senesino's Path to Madness.
Academic chapter
2008
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2008)
Classical Tragedy in the Italian Manner: The Case of Polidoro.
Academic chapter
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2008)
Taming the Exotic: Vivaldi’s Armida al campo d’Egitto.
Academic chapter
2007
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2007)
From Venice to London: On the Trail of Luigi Riccoboni and Italian Opera.
Academic chapter
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2007)
Echi tassiani e rappresentazioni dell'Oriente al Teatro S. Angelo di Venezia.
Academic chapter
-
Bucciarelli, Melania;
Joncus, Berta.
(2007)
Music as Social and Cultural Practice.
Boydell & Brewer
Anthology
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2007)
Venice and the East: Operatic Readings of Tasso’s Armida in early Eighteenth-Century Venice.
Academic chapter
-
Bucciarelli, Melania;
Joncus, Berta.
(2007)
Introduction Music as Social and Cultural Practice.
Introduction in anthology
-
Bucciarelli, Melania;
Joncus, Berta.
(2007)
Preface Music as Social and Cultural Practice.
Introduction in anthology
2006
-
Bucciarelli, Melania;
Dubowy, Norbert;
Strohm, Reinhard.
(2006)
Italian Opera in Central Europe, 1614-c.1780, vol. 1: Institutions and Ceremonies.
BWV - Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag
Anthology
2005
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2005)
Conference Report: Le arti della scena e l'esotismo in età moderna (Naples, 6-9 May 2004).
Eighteenth-Century Music
Academic article
2003
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2003)
"Parto o bella, ma con qual cuore…". Riflessioni sulla drammaturgia del dramma per musica e il suo rapporto con l'arte comica.
Academic chapter
2000
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2000)
Italian Opera and European Theatre, 1680-1720: Plots, Performers, Dramaturgies.
Brepols
Academic monograph
1999
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(1999)
Radamisto's Theatrical Sources and their Influence on Handel's Creative Process.
Academic chapter
1993
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(1993)
Conference-Workshop Report, Ariodante: Baroque Drama and Handel Opera (London, 13-18 April 1993).
Current Musicology
Academic article
Journal publications
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2015)
Senesino's negotiations with the Royal Academy of Music: further insight into the Riva-Bernardi correspondence and the role of singers in the practice of eighteenth-century opera.
Cambridge Opera Journal
Academic article
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2009)
Eleanor Selfridge Field, The Calendar of Venetian Opera: A New Chronology of Venetian Opera and Related Genres, 1660-1760, Stanford University Press: Stanford, 2007).
Eighteenth-Century Music
Book review
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2017)
'Farò il possibile per vincer l’animo di M.r Handel': Senesino’s arrival in London and Arsace’s rhetoric of passions.
Eighteenth-Century Music
Academic literature review
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(1993)
Conference-Workshop Report, Ariodante: Baroque Drama and Handel Opera (London, 13-18 April 1993).
Current Musicology
Academic article
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2005)
Conference Report: Le arti della scena e l'esotismo in età moderna (Naples, 6-9 May 2004).
Eighteenth-Century Music
Academic article
-
Bucciarelli, Melania;
Butler, Margaret.
(2021)
Women on Stage in Eighteenth-Century Venice: A New Research Collaborative.
Society for Eighteenth-Century Music Newsletter
Academic article
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2021)
Kvinner, opera og den offentlege scena i Venezia på 1700-tallet.
Musikk & Historie
Academic article
Books
-
Bucciarelli, Melania;
Korneeva, Tatiana;
Vescovo, Piermario.
(2025)
Voices in Motion: Women and the Pan-European Mobility of Italian Opera in the Eighteenth Century.
Edizioni di Pagina
Anthology
-
Bucciarelli, Melania;
Dubowy, Norbert;
Strohm, Reinhard.
(2006)
Italian Opera in Central Europe, 1614-c.1780, vol. 1: Institutions and Ceremonies.
BWV - Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag
Anthology
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2000)
Italian Opera and European Theatre, 1680-1720: Plots, Performers, Dramaturgies.
Brepols
Academic monograph
-
Bucciarelli, Melania;
Joncus, Berta.
(2007)
Music as Social and Cultural Practice.
Boydell & Brewer
Anthology
Part of book/report
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2026)
Vieni, Andromaca, vieni…». Andromaca tra Salvi e Racine.
Academic chapter
-
Bucciarelli, Melania;
Korneeva, Tatiana;
Vescovo, Piermario.
(2025)
Introduction.
Introduction in anthology
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2025)
Galeotta fu Venezia e la Faustina: New Sources for Francesco Bernardi, Il Senesino, and Faustina Bordoni's 1728-1729 Opera Season in Venice.
Academic chapter
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2012)
Luigi Nono, Omaggio a Emilio Vedova.
Non-fiction chapter
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2012)
Niccolò Castiglioni, Tre Misteri.
Non-fiction chapter
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2012)
Luigi Nono, Intolleranza 1960.
Non-fiction chapter
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(1999)
Radamisto's Theatrical Sources and their Influence on Handel's Creative Process.
Academic chapter
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2008)
Classical Tragedy in the Italian Manner: The Case of Polidoro.
Academic chapter
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2007)
From Venice to London: On the Trail of Luigi Riccoboni and Italian Opera.
Academic chapter
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2010)
From Rinaldo to Orlando, or Senesino's Path to Madness.
Academic chapter
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2007)
Echi tassiani e rappresentazioni dell'Oriente al Teatro S. Angelo di Venezia.
Academic chapter
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2007)
Venice and the East: Operatic Readings of Tasso’s Armida in early Eighteenth-Century Venice.
Academic chapter
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2008)
Taming the Exotic: Vivaldi’s Armida al campo d’Egitto.
Academic chapter
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2009)
Giovanni Bononcini.
Non-fiction chapter
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2009)
From Rinaldo to Orlando, or Senesino's Path to Madness.
Academic chapter
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2021)
Italian Singers on the Move: Networks, Social Support, and Contact with the Native Land during Senesino’s London Years.
Academic chapter
-
Bucciarelli, Melania;
Joncus, Berta.
(2007)
Introduction Music as Social and Cultural Practice.
Introduction in anthology
-
Bucciarelli, Melania;
Joncus, Berta.
(2007)
Preface Music as Social and Cultural Practice.
Introduction in anthology
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2003)
"Parto o bella, ma con qual cuore…". Riflessioni sulla drammaturgia del dramma per musica e il suo rapporto con l'arte comica.
Academic chapter
Teaching
Courses
- MUSV3129 - Music in Venice, the 'Capital of Pleasure' (1650-1750)
- MUSV2033 - Bachelor Thesis in Musicology
- MUSV3124 - Opera Studies
- MUSV1031 - Historical Perspectives on Music, Culture and Society
- MUSV3133 - Music and Theatre
- MUSV3144 - Women, opera and feminist musicology
- MUSV3006 - Master's Thesis in Musicology
Outreach
2025
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Conference lectureBucciarelli, Melania; Aresi, Stefano. (2025) Il progetto WoVen: Fonti, metodologie e risultati preliminari. La ricerca sul lavoro delle donne in età moderna: Percorsi, carriere, imprenditorialità. Tre progetti a confronto (ANR DEFI 2024-2027; VidiMus; WoVen)
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Conference lectureBucciarelli, Melania; Sisk, Brad Carlton; Aresi, Stefano; Colonna, Deda Cristina; Arnoldo, Silvano. (2025) International Outlook: The WoVen Project. Her Perspective: the Forgotten History of Opera. International Seminar About Operas Composed by Women (Copenhagen, 27-28 November 2025)
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Conference lectureBucciarelli, Melania; Menchelli-Buttini, Francesca. (2025) Introduction to the Round Table 'How do we do 18th-century opera? Music and gesture in Leonardo Leo’s Andromaca (Napoli 1742)'. Women in Italian Opera from Baroque to Enlightenment: Dramaturgy, Gesture, Music, Stage. International Conference
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Conference lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2025) Immagini femminili fra scena e dibattito critico: Semira, Adelaide e Faustina (Venezia 1729). Women as Agents for the Pan-European Mobility of Italian Opera in the Eighteenth Century
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LectureBucciarelli, Melania; Sisk, Brad Carlton. (2025) Urettmessig glemt? Orlandini, Venezias opera-mester. Barokkfest/Early Music Festival 2025
2024
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Conference lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2024) "Si può cosa bramar, ch'ei non ti doni?". Faustina Bordoni and the 1729 Carnival Season. Women, Opera and the Public Stage in Eighteenth-Century Venice
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Conference lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2024) "Le gare virtuose". L’interazione fra ruolo drammatico, interprete e immagine pubblica nell’opera italiana della prima metà del Settecento. Personaggi, ruoli ed interpreti nello spettacolo musicale, teatrale e cinematografico.
2023
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Conference lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2023) «Un soggetto con sei donne, pensando in tal guisa d’incontrar forse più facilmente il tuo genio». Presenze femminili al teatro Sant’Angelo durante i primi anni della gestione Vivaldi. Il Teatro Sant'Angelo ai tempi di Antonio Vivaldi / The Sant'Angelo Theatre at the time of Antonio Vivaldi
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Conference lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2023) WoVen: Le donne, l'opera e la scena pubblica nella Venezia del Settecento. Musicologia oggi (Musicology Today)
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Conference lectureBucciarelli, Melania; Colonna, Deda Cristina; Hansen, Karina Valnumsen. (2023) Staging History for Today’s Audiences: Women in Early Opera. Deda Cristina Colonna in conversation with Melania Bucciarelli and Karina Valnumsen Hansen. Staging History for Today’s Audiences: Women in Early Opera
2022
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Conference lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2022) The WoVen Project: Concepts, Sources and Methodologies. First WoVen Colloquium: Concepts, Sources and Methodologies
2021
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Conference lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2021) Il gioco delle parti: Personaggi e interpreti dell’Engelberta veneziana. 'Ombre romite, taciti orrori'. Convegno internazionale di studi in occasione della prima esecuzione in tempi moderni di Engelberta (Venezia, 1708)
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Conference lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2021) The WoVen project and the castrato. Castrato Singers in Opera: The Current State of Research
2019
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Conference lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2019) “Travelling North of the Alps: Senesino’s career from Italy to Dresden and London”. Music, Performing Arts and Artists in the North: The French and Italian Diasporas (1600-1900)
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Conference lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2019) “‘lo sistema antico ch’ei sempre propone per mostrare che quanto si fa è il medesimo ch’era prima’. Negotiating practices on the London Stage during the early years of the Royal Academy of Music”. Mapping Artistic Networks of Italian Theatre and Opera across Europe: 1600-1800
2018
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Conference lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2018) "Knowing voices we cannot hear". Knowing Music – Musical Knowing: Cross disciplinary dialogue on epistemologies. International Music Research School 2018
2015
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Conference lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2015) A Clash of Interests? Writing for Senesino on the London Stage. Händel und seine Interpreten / Handel and His Interpreters. Internationale Wissenschaftliche Konferenz zu den Händel-Festspielen in Halle (Saale)
2014
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Interview
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LectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2014) Farinelli and his brothers: Castrati in eighteenth-century Europe. Senter for Tidligmusikk Barokkfest 2014
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Conference lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2014) Farò il possibile per vincer l’animo di M.r Handel” (I will do my best to win over M.r Handel’s heart): Arsace (1721) and Senesino’s arrival in London. Royal Musical Association 50th annual conference
2012
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Conference lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2012) Senesino: An Italian Castrato in Dresden, 1717-1720. Symposium Italienischer Music in Deutschland und Frankreich - Diagonale und Parallelen
2010
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Conference lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2010) Spinalba, opera buffa and the tradition of commedia dell’arte. Day Study on Spinalba
2008
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Conference lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2008) Armida’s Mirror: Literary (and non-literary) motifs in Vivaldi’s Armida al campo d’Egitto (Venice, 1718). New Directions in Musical Research Series
2007
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Conference lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2007) Soggetti, storie e immagini nell’opera veneziana al tempo di Antonio Vivaldi. Conference Istituto Antonio Vivaldi
2006
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LectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2006) Singers, Voices and Props: How should we ‘do’ Handel opera?. Bloomsbury Festival, School of Advanced Studies, Debates series
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LectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2006) From Rinaldo to Orlando, or Senesino's path to madness. Public Lectures Series, Foundling Museum
2005
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Conference lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2005) Venice and the East: Exotic Motives in Early Eighteenth-Century Opera. Symposium on Motezuma, Vivaldi and Opera Seria
2004
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Conference lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2004) Echi tassiani e rappresentazioni dell'Oriente al Teatro S. Angelo di Venezia. International conference Le arti della scena e l'esotismo in età moderna
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Conference lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2004) From Rinaldo to Orlando, or Senesino's path to madness. Symposium Italian Voices and European Practice
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Conference lecture
2001
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Conference lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2001) From Venice to London: On the Trail of Luigi Riccoboni and Italian Opera. Words and music: a symposium on Eighteenth-century Italian opera in memory of Giovanna Gronda
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Conference lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2001) From Venice to London: On the Trail of Luigi Riccoboni and Italian Opera. European Science Foundation International Conference Opera subjects and European Relationships
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Conference lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2001) Parto o bella, ma con qual cuore…: Riflessioni sulla drammaturgia del dramma per musica e il suo rapporto con l'arte comica. International conference Commedia dell'Arte e Spettacolo in musica tra Sei e Settecento
2000
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Conference lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2000) Classical Tragedy in the Italian Manner: The Case of Polidoro. European Science Foundation International Conference Italianità: Image and Practice in Central European Opera in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centur
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Conference lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2000) Parole e Musica: Corneille, Capece e il melodramma d’ispirazione francese a Roma prima di Metastasio. International Conference Le Arti in gara. Roma nel Settecento
1999
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Conference lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (1999) French Drama in the Italian Manner: Dramaturgy, Spectacle and Literary Standards of Early 18th Century Italian Opera. Research seminars at the University of Natal
1998
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Conference lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (1998) Luigi Riccoboni: Drama and Opera in Italy, France and England. European Science Foundation International Workshop-Conference European Baroque Opera: Institutions and Ceremonies
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Conference lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (1998) Representation of nature in early 18th-century Italian opera: Albinoni-Gasparini's Engelberta (1709). Centre for 18th-Century Musical Studies International Conference Music in Eighteenth-Century Italy
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Conference lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (1998) Italian tragedy and dramma per musica: attempts at a reform of Italian theatre (1694-1715). Royal Musical Association Annual Conference Music and Theatre
1996
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Conference lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (1996) Commedia dell'Arte and Opera Seria. International Conference Commedia dell'Arte: Actors and Artists
1995
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Conference lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (1995) Radamisto's Theatrical Sources and their Influence on Handel's Creative Process. 11th Annual Conference on Music in Eighteenth-Century Britain