(ANSA) - PARMA, 18 SEP - Parma Italian Capital of Culture 2021 unveils another jewel, 'Opera: the stage of society', an exhibition on the relationship between opera and society scheduled until 13 January at the Palazzo del Governatore with a ' unpublished exhibition curated by the art historian Gloria Bianchino and the Verdi scholar Giuseppe Martini.
'Opera' wants to explore the two-way relationship between opera and society: 514 pieces exhibited including paintings, ancient volumes, prints, photographs, booklets, magazines, archival documents, costumes, props and audiovisual and sound materials, coming from 75 public and private lenders. Among the works on display: the paintings of Francesco Hayez I Vespri Siciliani (1846) from the Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome, and Pope Urban II in the square of Clermont preaching the first Crusade (1835) from the collection of the Cariplo Foundation in Milan; the painting Au théatre by Federico Zandomeneghi (1885-1895) from the Matteucci Institute in Viareggio; a section of portraits by Lina Cavalieri, including the Portrait of Lina Cavalieri by Cesare Tallone (1905) from the Galleria Campari in Milan,and the series of photographs by Francesco Paolo Michetti from the Alinari Archive in Florence; the fragment 'W Verdi' from the Civic Museums of Treviso; the original libretto of Monteverdi's Orfeo from the Biblioteca Teresiana in Mantua; stage and evening dresses, including a piece by Balenciaga from Tirelli Costumes in Rome.
Along twenty rooms of the Governor's Palace, a three-section itinerary opens up that investigates the influence of the work on the uses and customs of the time and on the political scenario: a real journey through the operatic universe in its link with the processes of national autonomy, the civic values of the community and reflection on one's own identity and past. "The theme of melodrama runs through the history of Parma and Italy", says the mayor Federico Pizzarotti. "Opera is an important exhibition for our city: fitting in the last extraordinary period, which finally explodes in all its fullness, of our year as the Italian Capital of Culture. It is an exhibition that preserves and hands down a culture that belongs to us. ". (HANDLE).
