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
2025
-
Bucciarelli, Melania;
Korneeva, Tatiana;
Vescovo, Piermario.
(2025)
Introduction.
Introduction
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2025)
Galeotta fu Venezia e la Faustina: On Newly Discovered Sources for Faustina Bordoni and Francesco Bernardi, Il Senesino's 1728-1729 Opera Season in Venice.
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
-
Bucciarelli, Melania;
Korneeva, Tatiana;
Vescovo, Piermario.
(2025)
Voices in Motion: Women as Agents for the Pan-European Mobility of Italian Opera in the Eighteenth Century.
Edizioni di Pagina
Edizioni di Pagina
Academic anthology/Conference proceedings
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/article/Conference paper
-
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.
Chapter
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2012)
Niccolò Castiglioni, Tre Misteri.
Chapter
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2012)
Luigi Nono, Intolleranza 1960.
Chapter
2010
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2010)
From Rinaldo to Orlando, or Senesino's Path to Madness.
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
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.
Chapter
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2009)
From Rinaldo to Orlando, or Senesino's Path to Madness.
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
2008
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2008)
Classical Tragedy in the Italian Manner: The Case of Polidoro.
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2008)
Taming the Exotic: Vivaldi’s Armida al campo d’Egitto.
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
2007
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2007)
From Venice to London: On the Trail of Luigi Riccoboni and Italian Opera.
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2007)
Echi tassiani e rappresentazioni dell'Oriente al Teatro S. Angelo di Venezia.
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
-
Bucciarelli, Melania;
Joncus, Berta.
(2007)
Music as Social and Cultural Practice.
Boydell & Brewer
Boydell & Brewer
Academic anthology/Conference proceedings
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2007)
Venice and the East: Operatic Readings of Tasso’s Armida in early Eighteenth-Century Venice.
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
-
Bucciarelli, Melania;
Joncus, Berta.
(2007)
Introduction Music as Social and Cultural Practice.
Introduction
-
Bucciarelli, Melania;
Joncus, Berta.
(2007)
Preface Music as Social and Cultural Practice.
Introduction
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
BWV - Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag
Academic anthology/Conference proceedings
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/article/Conference paper
2000
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2000)
Italian Opera and European Theatre, 1680-1720: Plots, Performers, Dramaturgies.
Brepols
Brepols
Academic monograph
1999
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(1999)
Radamisto's Theatrical Sources and their Influence on Handel's Creative Process.
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
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;
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
-
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.
(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.
(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.
(1993)
Conference-Workshop Report, Ariodante: Baroque Drama and Handel Opera (London, 13-18 April 1993).
Current Musicology
Academic article
Books
-
Bucciarelli, Melania;
Korneeva, Tatiana;
Vescovo, Piermario.
(2025)
Voices in Motion: Women as Agents for the Pan-European Mobility of Italian Opera in the Eighteenth Century.
Edizioni di Pagina
Edizioni di Pagina
Academic anthology/Conference proceedings
-
Bucciarelli, Melania;
Joncus, Berta.
(2007)
Music as Social and Cultural Practice.
Boydell & Brewer
Boydell & Brewer
Academic anthology/Conference proceedings
-
Bucciarelli, Melania;
Dubowy, Norbert;
Strohm, Reinhard.
(2006)
Italian Opera in Central Europe, 1614-c.1780, vol. 1: Institutions and Ceremonies.
BWV - Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag
BWV - Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag
Academic anthology/Conference proceedings
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2000)
Italian Opera and European Theatre, 1680-1720: Plots, Performers, Dramaturgies.
Brepols
Brepols
Academic monograph
Part of book/report
-
Bucciarelli, Melania;
Korneeva, Tatiana;
Vescovo, Piermario.
(2025)
Introduction.
Introduction
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2025)
Galeotta fu Venezia e la Faustina: On Newly Discovered Sources for Faustina Bordoni and Francesco Bernardi, Il Senesino's 1728-1729 Opera Season in Venice.
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2021)
Italian Singers on the Move: Networks, Social Support, and Contact with the Native Land during Senesino’s London Years.
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2012)
Luigi Nono, Omaggio a Emilio Vedova.
Chapter
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2012)
Niccolò Castiglioni, Tre Misteri.
Chapter
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2012)
Luigi Nono, Intolleranza 1960.
Chapter
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2010)
From Rinaldo to Orlando, or Senesino's Path to Madness.
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2009)
Giovanni Bononcini.
Chapter
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2009)
From Rinaldo to Orlando, or Senesino's Path to Madness.
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2008)
Classical Tragedy in the Italian Manner: The Case of Polidoro.
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2008)
Taming the Exotic: Vivaldi’s Armida al campo d’Egitto.
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2007)
From Venice to London: On the Trail of Luigi Riccoboni and Italian Opera.
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2007)
Echi tassiani e rappresentazioni dell'Oriente al Teatro S. Angelo di Venezia.
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2007)
Venice and the East: Operatic Readings of Tasso’s Armida in early Eighteenth-Century Venice.
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
-
Bucciarelli, Melania;
Joncus, Berta.
(2007)
Introduction Music as Social and Cultural Practice.
Introduction
-
Bucciarelli, Melania;
Joncus, Berta.
(2007)
Preface Music as Social and Cultural Practice.
Introduction
-
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/article/Conference paper
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(1999)
Radamisto's Theatrical Sources and their Influence on Handel's Creative Process.
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
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
- MUSV2032 - Bachelor Thesis in Musicology
- MUSV3133 - Music and Theatre
- MUSV3144 - Women, opera and feminist musicology
- MUSV3006 - Master's Thesis in Musicology
Outreach
2025
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Academic 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 , Alessandria, Sala Abbà Cornaglia 2025-09-15 - 2025-09-17
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Academic 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 , Venice 2025-02-19 - 2025-02-20
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LectureBucciarelli, Melania; Sisk, Brad Carlton. (2025) Urettmessig glemt? Orlandini, Venezias opera-mester. Barokkfest/Early Music Festival 2025 , Trondheim 2025-01-27 - 2025-02-01
2024
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Academic 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 , Trondheim 2024-04-10 - 2024-04-14
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Academic 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. , Florence 2024-05-21 - 2024-05-21
2023
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Academic 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 , Venice 2023-11-16 - 2023-11-18
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Academic lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2023) WoVen: Le donne, l'opera e la scena pubblica nella Venezia del Settecento. Musicologia oggi (Musicology Today) , Rome 2023-06-14 - 2023-06-14
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Academic 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 , Trondheim 2023-02-07 - 2023-02-07
2022
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Academic lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2022) The WoVen Project: Concepts, Sources and Methodologies. First WoVen Colloquium: Concepts, Sources and Methodologies , Venice 2022-05-23 - 2022-05-24
2021
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Academic 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) , Venice 2021-10-15 - 2021-10-17
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Academic lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2021) The WoVen project and the castrato. Castrato Singers in Opera: The Current State of Research , Villa Vigoni, Loveno di Menaggio (Como) 2021-10-21 - 2021-10-24
2019
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Academic 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) , Rome 2019-01-29 - 2019-01-30
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Academic 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 , Berlin 2019-04-11 - 2019-04-12
2018
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Academic lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2018) "Knowing voices we cannot hear". Knowing Music – Musical Knowing: Cross disciplinary dialogue on epistemologies. International Music Research School 2018 , NTNU, Trondheim 2018-10-23 - 2018-10-26
2015
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Academic 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) , Halle 2015-06-08 - 2015-06-10
2014
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InterviewBucciarelli, Melania. (2014) David Hansen. Kronjuvelen. Dagens Næringsliv Dagens Næringsliv [Journal] 2014-02-01
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LectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2014) Farinelli and his brothers: Castrati in eighteenth-century Europe. Senter for Tidligmusikk Barokkfest 2014 , Frimurerlogen, Trondheim 2014-02-01 -
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Academic 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 , School of Music, University of Leeds 2014-09-04 - 2014-09-06
2012
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Academic lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2012) Senesino: An Italian Castrato in Dresden, 1717-1720. Symposium Italienischer Music in Deutschland und Frankreich - Diagonale und Parallelen , Saarbrücken 2012-10-26 - 2012-10-28
2010
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Academic lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2010) Spinalba, opera buffa and the tradition of commedia dell’arte. Day Study on Spinalba , Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London 2010-10-24 -
2008
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Academic 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 , Senate House, University of London 2008-04-24 -
2007
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Academic lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2007) Soggetti, storie e immagini nell’opera veneziana al tempo di Antonio Vivaldi. Conference Istituto Antonio Vivaldi , Istituto Antonio Vivaldi, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice 2007-06-13 - 2007-06-16
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 , London House, Goodenough College, London 2006-10-22 -
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LectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2006) From Rinaldo to Orlando, or Senesino's path to madness. Public Lectures Series, Foundling Museum , Foundling Museum, London 2006-06-21 -
2005
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Academic lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2005) Venice and the East: Exotic Motives in Early Eighteenth-Century Opera. Symposium on Motezuma, Vivaldi and Opera Seria , Concert- en congresgebouw de Doelen, Rotterdam 2005-06-11 - 2005-06-12
2004
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Academic 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 , Naples 2004-05-06 - 2004-05-09
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Academic lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2004) From Rinaldo to Orlando, or Senesino's path to madness. Symposium Italian Voices and European Practice , Utrecht 2004-08-28 - 2004-08-30
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Academic lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2004) Opera, Politics and Intertextuality. Postgraduate Seminars , Faculty of Music, University of Oxford 2004-11-08 -
2001
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Academic 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 , London 2001-02-23 -
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Academic 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 , Warsaw 2001-10-12 - 2001-10-14
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Academic 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 , Naples 2001-09-28 - 2001-09-29
2000
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Academic 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 , Baden/Wien 2000-09-22 - 2000-09-24
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Academic 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 , Rome 2000-09-18 - 2000-09-22
1999
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Academic 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 , Durban 1999-06-17 -
1998
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Academic 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 , Oxford 1998-11-27 - 1998-11-29
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Academic 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 , Cardiff 1998-07-12 - 1998-07-15
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Academic 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 , Oxford 1998-03-27 - 1998-03-29
1996
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Academic lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (1996) Commedia dell'Arte and Opera Seria. International Conference Commedia dell'Arte: Actors and Artists , London 1996-05-09 - 1996-05-10
1995
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Academic lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (1995) Radamisto's Theatrical Sources and their Influence on Handel's Creative Process. 11th Annual Conference on Music in Eighteenth-Century Britain , London 1995-11-24 -