Author Contactable via this Register? | yes | No

Link to Thesis: https://library.anu.edu.au/record=b4959415

Other Links: Author's MPhil record in this register | |

Abstract/Summary/Outline:

Niccolò Piccinni's dramma giocoso Il Regno della Luna premiered in 1770, at a time when Europe and the world in general were changing at an almost unprecedented rate. New scientific discoveries, global exploration, colonialism, and interaction with non-European 'others', combined with evolving philosophical concepts of epistemology, sociopolitical structures and human emotions culminated in a mid-century reappraisal of future directions for European states. ... this scholarly modern edition makes a significant contribution to our knowledge of late eighteenth-century operatic performance practice. With its implication of cognitive displacement in time and place, the opera could be interpreted as prototypical science fiction. However, the pre-eminent interpretation of the work is that it is a satire on the constraints which some elements of European society sought to impose on the social and political position of women. In a very real sense it was an opera for 'the century of women'.

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