Melania Bucciarelli
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
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
2021
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2021)
Italian Singers on the Move: Networks, Social Support, and Contact with the Native Land during Senesino’s London Years.
Mapping Artistic Networks: Eighteenth-Century Italian Theatre and Opera Across Europe.
Academic chapter/article
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2021)
Kvinner, opera og den offentlege scena i Venezia på 1700-tallet.
Musikk & Historie.
volum 4.
Academic article
-
Bucciarelli, Melania;
Butler, Margaret.
(2021)
Women on Stage in Eighteenth-Century Venice: A New Research Collaborative.
Society for Eighteenth-Century Music Newsletter.
volum 38.
Short communication
2019
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2019)
La Collana 'Drammaturgia Musicale Veneta', in: Lettera da San Giorgio, 40 (2019), 21-25.
Leaflet
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.
volum 14 (1).
Scientific translation/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.
volum 27 (3).
Academic article
2012
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2012)
Luigi Nono, Intolleranza 1960.
Grafia musicale e segno pittorico nell’avangurdia italiana (1950-1970).
Other
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2012)
Luigi Nono, Omaggio a Emilio Vedova.
Grafia musicale e segno pittorico nell’avangurdia italiana (1950-1970).
Other
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2012)
Niccolò Castiglioni, Tre Misteri.
Grafia musicale e segno pittorico nell’avangurdia italiana (1950-1970).
Academic chapter/article
2010
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2010)
From Rinaldo to Orlando, or Senesino's Path to Madness.
Handel.
Academic chapter/article
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.
volum 6 (1).
Review
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2009)
Francesco Nicola Haym.
Cambridge Handel Enciclopedia.
Other
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2009)
From Rinaldo to Orlando, or Senesino's Path to Madness.
D'une scène à l'autre. L'opéra italien en Europe.
Academic chapter/article
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2009)
Giovanni Bononcini.
Cambridge Handel Enciclopedia.
Other
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2009)
Giovanni Bononcini, Griselda.
Cambridge Handel Enciclopedia.
Other
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2009)
Ludovico Ariosto.
Cambridge Handel Enciclopedia.
Other
2008
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2008)
Classical Tragedy in the Italian Manner: The Case of Polidoro.
Italian Opera in Central Europe, vol. 2: Italianità: Image and Practice in Central European Opera in the 17th and 18th Centuries.
Academic chapter/article
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2008)
Taming the Exotic: Vivaldi’s Armida al campo d’Egitto.
Vivaldi, “Motezuma” and the Opera Seria: Essays on a Newly Discovered Work and Its Background.
Academic chapter/article
2007
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2007)
Echi tassiani e rappresentazioni dell'Oriente al Teatro S. Angelo di Venezia.
Le arti della scena e l'esotismo in età moderna.
Academic chapter/article
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2007)
From Venice to London: On the Trail of Luigi Riccoboni and Italian Opera.
Italian Opera in Central Europe, vol. 3: Opera subjects and European Relationships.
Academic chapter/article
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2007)
Venice and the East: Operatic Readings of Tasso’s Armida in early Eighteenth-Century Venice.
Music as Social and Cultural Practice.
Academic chapter/article
-
Bucciarelli, Melania;
Joncus, Berta.
(2007)
Music as Social and Cultural Practice.
Boydell & Brewer. 2007. ISBN 9781843833178.
Scientific 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. 2006. ISBN 978-3-8305-0381-1.
Scientific 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.
volum 2 (2).
Short communication
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.
Commedia dell'Arte e Spettacolo in musica tra Sei e Settecento.
Academic chapter/article
2000
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2000)
Italian Opera and European Theatre, 1680-1720: Plots, Performers, Dramaturgies.
Brepols. 2000. ISBN 978-2-503-51021-7.
Scientific monography
1999
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(1999)
Radamisto's Theatrical Sources and their Influence on Handel's Creative Process.
Göttinger Händel-Beiträge.
Academic chapter/article
1995
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(1995)
Il Matrimonio Segreto ovvero Il Segreto di un Matrimonio Riuscito. Teatro di San Carlo, Naples.
Musical or theatrical program introduction
1994
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(1994)
Michelangelo Rossi, Erminia sul Giordano (bd 5).
Pipers Enzyklopädie des Musiktheaters bd 1-7.
Other
1993
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(1993)
Conference-Workshop Report, Ariodante: Baroque Drama and Handel Opera (London, 13-18 April 1993).
Current Musicology.
volum 54.
Short communication
Scientific articles
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2021)
Kvinner, opera og den offentlege scena i Venezia på 1700-tallet.
Musikk & Historie.
volum 4.
Academic article
-
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.
volum 27 (3).
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.
volum 38.
Short communication
-
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.
volum 14 (1).
Scientific translation/review
-
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.
volum 6 (1).
Review
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2005)
Conference Report: Le arti della scena e l'esotismo in età moderna (Naples, 6-9 May 2004).
Eighteenth-Century Music.
volum 2 (2).
Short communication
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(1993)
Conference-Workshop Report, Ariodante: Baroque Drama and Handel Opera (London, 13-18 April 1993).
Current Musicology.
volum 54.
Short communication
Books
-
Bucciarelli, Melania;
Joncus, Berta.
(2007)
Music as Social and Cultural Practice.
Boydell & Brewer. 2007. ISBN 9781843833178.
Scientific 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. 2006. ISBN 978-3-8305-0381-1.
Scientific anthology
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2000)
Italian Opera and European Theatre, 1680-1720: Plots, Performers, Dramaturgies.
Brepols. 2000. ISBN 978-2-503-51021-7.
Scientific monography
Part of book/report
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2021)
Italian Singers on the Move: Networks, Social Support, and Contact with the Native Land during Senesino’s London Years.
Mapping Artistic Networks: Eighteenth-Century Italian Theatre and Opera Across Europe.
Academic chapter/article
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2012)
Luigi Nono, Intolleranza 1960.
Grafia musicale e segno pittorico nell’avangurdia italiana (1950-1970).
Other
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2012)
Luigi Nono, Omaggio a Emilio Vedova.
Grafia musicale e segno pittorico nell’avangurdia italiana (1950-1970).
Other
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2012)
Niccolò Castiglioni, Tre Misteri.
Grafia musicale e segno pittorico nell’avangurdia italiana (1950-1970).
Academic chapter/article
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2010)
From Rinaldo to Orlando, or Senesino's Path to Madness.
Handel.
Academic chapter/article
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2009)
Francesco Nicola Haym.
Cambridge Handel Enciclopedia.
Other
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2009)
From Rinaldo to Orlando, or Senesino's Path to Madness.
D'une scène à l'autre. L'opéra italien en Europe.
Academic chapter/article
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2009)
Giovanni Bononcini.
Cambridge Handel Enciclopedia.
Other
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2009)
Giovanni Bononcini, Griselda.
Cambridge Handel Enciclopedia.
Other
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2009)
Ludovico Ariosto.
Cambridge Handel Enciclopedia.
Other
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2008)
Classical Tragedy in the Italian Manner: The Case of Polidoro.
Italian Opera in Central Europe, vol. 2: Italianità: Image and Practice in Central European Opera in the 17th and 18th Centuries.
Academic chapter/article
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2008)
Taming the Exotic: Vivaldi’s Armida al campo d’Egitto.
Vivaldi, “Motezuma” and the Opera Seria: Essays on a Newly Discovered Work and Its Background.
Academic chapter/article
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2007)
Echi tassiani e rappresentazioni dell'Oriente al Teatro S. Angelo di Venezia.
Le arti della scena e l'esotismo in età moderna.
Academic chapter/article
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2007)
From Venice to London: On the Trail of Luigi Riccoboni and Italian Opera.
Italian Opera in Central Europe, vol. 3: Opera subjects and European Relationships.
Academic chapter/article
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(2007)
Venice and the East: Operatic Readings of Tasso’s Armida in early Eighteenth-Century Venice.
Music as Social and Cultural Practice.
Academic chapter/article
-
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.
Commedia dell'Arte e Spettacolo in musica tra Sei e Settecento.
Academic chapter/article
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(1999)
Radamisto's Theatrical Sources and their Influence on Handel's Creative Process.
Göttinger Händel-Beiträge.
Academic chapter/article
-
Bucciarelli, Melania.
(1994)
Michelangelo Rossi, Erminia sul Giordano (bd 5).
Pipers Enzyklopädie des Musiktheaters bd 1-7.
Other
Teaching
Courses
- MUSV3129 - Music in Venice, the 'Capital of Pleasure' (1650-1750)
- MUSV1107 - Feminist Perspectives on Western Music
- MUSV1031 - Historical Perspectives on Music, Culture and Society
- MUSV3124 - Opera Studies
- MUSV2032 - Bachelor Thesis in Musicology
- MUSV3133 - Music and Theatre
- MUSV3006 - Master's Thesis in Musicology
- MUSV3004 - Music Studies: Disciplines, Approaches, and Perspectives
Media
2021
-
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) . Conservatorio B. Marcello; Teatro La Fenice; Fondazione Levi; Venice. 2021-10-15 - 2021-10-17.
-
Academic lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2021) The WoVen project and the castrato. Castrato Singers in Opera: The Current State of Research . Centro Italo-Tedesco per il Dialogo Europeo; Villa Vigoni, Loveno di Menaggio (Como). 2021-10-21 - 2021-10-24.
2019
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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) . Danish Academy in Rome; Rome. 2019-01-29 - 2019-01-30.
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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 . Freie Universität Berlin; Berlin. 2019-04-11 - 2019-04-12.
2018
-
Academic lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2018) "Knowing voices we cannot hear". Knowing Music – Musical Knowing: Cross disciplinary dialogue on epistemologies. International Music Research School 2018 . Grieg Research School / NTNU; 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) . Händel-Haus; Halle. 2015-06-08 - 2015-06-10.
2014
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InterviewBucciarelli, Melania. (2014) David Hansen. Kronjuvelen. Dagens Næringsliv [Avis]. 2014-02-01.
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Popular scientific lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2014) Farinelli and his brothers: Castrati in eighteenth-century Europe. Senter for Tidligmusikk Barokkfest 2014 . Senter for Tidligmusikk, Trondheim; 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 . Royal Musical Association; School of Music, University of Leeds. 2014-09-04 - 2014-09-06.
2012
-
Academic lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2012) Senesino: An Italian Castrato in Dresden, 1717-1720. Symposium Italienischer Music in Deutschland und Frankreich - Diagonale und Parallelen . Institut fur Musikwissenschaft, Universitat des Saarlandes; Saarbrücken. 2012-10-26 - 2012-10-28.
2010
-
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; Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. 2010-10-24.
2008
-
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 . Institute of Musical Research, University of London; Senate House, University of London. 2008-04-24.
2007
-
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; Istituto Antonio Vivaldi, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice. 2007-06-13 - 2007-06-16.
2006
-
Popular scientific lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2006) From Rinaldo to Orlando, or Senesino's path to madness. Public Lectures Series, Foundling Museum . Foundling Museum, London; Foundling Museum, London. 2006-06-21.
-
Popular scientific lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (2006) Singers, Voices and Props: How should we ‘do’ Handel opera?. Bloomsbury Festival, School of Advanced Studies, Debates series . Institute of Musical Research, University of London; London House, Goodenough College, London. 2006-10-22.
2005
-
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; Concert- en congresgebouw de Doelen, Rotterdam. 2005-06-11 - 2005-06-12.
2004
-
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 . Centro di Musica Antica 'Pietà dei Turchini', et alii; 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 . Holland Festival Oude Muziek, Utrecht; 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; Faculty of Music, University of Oxford. 2004-11-08.
2001
-
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 . Centre for Italian Studies, University College London; 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 . European Science Foundation, University of Warsaw; 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 . Centro di Musica Antica 'Pietà dei Turchini' et alii; Naples. 2001-09-28 - 2001-09-29.
2000
-
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 . European Science Foundation, University of Wien; 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 . Università di Roma “La Sapienza”, Accademia dell’Arcadia,etc; Rome. 2000-09-18 - 2000-09-22.
1999
-
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 . Department of Music, University of Natal, SA; Durban. 1999-06-17.
1998
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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 . Royal Musical Association, New College University of Oxford; Oxford. 1998-03-27 - 1998-03-29.
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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 . ESF, University of Oxford; 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 University of Wales; Cardiff. 1998-07-12 - 1998-07-15.
1996
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Academic lectureBucciarelli, Melania. (1996) Commedia dell'Arte and Opera Seria. International Conference Commedia dell'Arte: Actors and Artists . Italian Cultural Institute and Wimbledon School of Art; 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 . University of London; London. 1995-11-24.