Semester Award Granted

Spring 2025

Submission Date

May 2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Ilaria Serra

Abstract

This dissertation offers a significant contribution to musicology, illuminating an opera lost to obscurity for over two centuries. Its reconstruction is the result of interdisciplinary research encompassing Italian socio-political history, philology, and cultural-linguistic analysis. The opera is Amalia e Carlo, a masterpiece by Pietro Carlo Guglielmi, composed in 1812, which enjoyed a brief period of success before succumbing to the shifting tides of time and political change. Its libretto and musical score were scattered and relegated to the obscurity of archives and closets in Tuscany, Naples, and Munich. The research aims to elucidate the opera's importance not only within the context of its creation during the Napoleonic dominion in Italy and the Kingdom of Naples but also its potential resonance with contemporary audiences.

The in-depth study of Amalia e Carlo offers a comprehensive analysis of its textual and musical content. A crucial aspect of this dissertation is the examination of Andrea Leone Tottola’s libretto—preserved in its original Italian and Neapolitan dialect, transcribed, and translated into both contemporary Italian and English. Moreover, the dissertation provides the first in-depth study of Tottola’s style through a comparative analysis of three of his librettos. Equally significant is the investigation into Pietro Carlo Guglielmi’s legacy as this is the first comprehensive examination of his opera Amalia e Carlo. This dissertation reassesses his contributions by situating his works within the transition from the Classical to the Romantic period and illustrating how he adapted to shifting political and cultural influences from Bourbon to Napoleonic rule. This dissertation also examines the broader influence of Andrea Leone Tottola and Pietro Carlo Guglielmi on Vincenzo Bellini’s opera Adelson e Salvini.

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