72464 - Metrics and Contemporary Verse Theory (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

Throughout this class, students are introduced the knowledge of the fundamentals of an analytical approach to the poetic text - meter, rhythm, intonation, and the history of poetic forms - in a comparative perspective, and they become able to apply them as they read authors and poems belonging to various languages and traditions.

Course contents

Main subject: Voice and Verse. Metrics and Vocality in 20th Century.

This class (30 hours) is designed to set up some theories of verse, by focusing their relationships with opera and musical drama.

The course amounts to 6 credits, It assumes a minimum of knowledge upon metrics and stylistics, acquired during a BA curriculum.

Classes begin on Tuesday 13th November, 2018, and go further with the following schedule till 20th December, 2018:

- Monday, 3-5 pm, Forti Room, Via Zamboni 32;

- Tuesday, 3-5 pm, Serra Zanetti Room, Via Zamboni 32;

- Thursday, 3-5 pm, Guglielmi Room, Via Zamboni 32.

Students will be allowed to enroll in this class via the Insegnamenti OnLine web site since the first day of class.

Readings/Bibliography

Throughout the class, several excerpts from books and articles will be read and discussed, in order to be prepared towards the final oral exam. At the end of the class, a detailed list of pages to be read will be provided. Books and articles that will be considered are the followings:

- Peter Brooks, L'immaginazione melodrammatica, Parma: Pratiche, 1985;

- Friedrich Lippmann, Versificazione italiana e ritmo musicale, Naples: Liguori, 1986;

- Nino Pirrotta, Scelte poetiche di musicisti. Teatro, poesia e musica da Willaert a Malipiero, Venice: Marsilio, 1997;

- Mario Lavagetto, Quei più modesti romanzi. Il libretto nel melodramma di Verdi, Turin: Edt, 2003;

- Gilberto Lonardi, Il fiore dell'addio. Leonora, Manrico e altri fantasmi del melodramma nella poesia di Montale, Bologna: Il Mulino, 2003;

- Luca Zuliani, Poesia e versi per musica. L'evoluzione dei metri italiani, Bologna: Il Mulino, 2009;

- Paolo Giovannetti - Gianfranca Lavezzi, La metrica italiana contemporanea, Rome: Carocci, 2010.

Further explanations on these and other resources will be provided throughout the class. Copies will be partially made available to students on time with a view to the exam; any other information will be available on the Insegnamenti OnLine web site.

Students who are not able to attend the classes, as well as Erasmus+ and Overseas students, should ask the teacher for specific extensions or reductions of the course load.

Teaching methods

Traditional lectures with a strong interaction between students and teacher.

Assessment methods

The final exam consists of an oral appointment, which aims to verify some methodological, personally developed skills. It focuses on the main theoretical matters approached throughout the class, and verifies the knowledge of the text chosen as a subject of the group work.

A positive or excellent score (27 to 30/30, even with distinction) corresponds to a full mastering of technical, theoretical, historical and terminological resources of the theory of prose and verse, and to a strong ability to make connections among single parts of the course content, correctly approaching every textual feature with an appropriate language; an average score (23 to 26/30) goes to students who show some lacks in one or more topics or analytical proofs, or are able to use the involved notions and resources just mechanically; a pass or low score (18 to 22/30) to students who have severe lacks in one or more topics or exercises, or result to be not enough accurate while they are using notions and approaching samples. A negative score is assigned to students who are not able to use the general notions highlighted during the class.

Students can sign up at the AlmaEsami web site (https://almaesami.unibo.it). The registration ends two days before the exam.

Teaching tools

Digital transcripts, databases, and other resources.

Office hours

See the website of Stefano Colangelo