28488 - History of Philosophy (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

The student is able to identify and clarify the main theoretical issues of the philosophical debate and will develop an understanding of the relevant authors and topics, making constant reference to the historical context.There will be a particular focus on the study of the filosofical debate about the nature and history of music and theater. The primary texts will be accompanied by a reading list of secondary texts, by means of which the student can explore the plurality of historiographical interpretations.

Course contents

Performing Arts and the philosophy of history: the case of Prometheus

The course will be dedicated to the myth of Prometheus, and in particular to the philosophical meaning of various modern and contemporary musical and theatrical reinterpretations of it.

First there will be a general outline of the history of the myth of Prometheus - with particular reference to Hesiod and Plato and some well-known modern interpretations.

Secondly, the course will focus on various musical and theatrical reinterpretations proposed at the turn of the modern and contemporary ages:

[a] The Creatures of Prometheus (set to music by Beethoven with choreography by Salvatore Viganò);

[b] the symphonic poem Prometheus by Liszt, inspired by Herder's Prometheus Liberated, which Liszt had already set to music [Chöre zu Herder's "entfesseltem Prometheus"];

[c] the poem Prometheus by Goethe (set to music by Schubert: Prometheus D. 674], and the drama Pandora by Goethe;

[d] Luigi Nono's Prometeo: Tragedia dell'ascolto.

Particular importance will be placed on listening to and viewing the works and engaging with their philosophical assumptions.

 

Starting date: 11th February 2026

 

Wednesday, 15:00 - 17:00, aula Donatoni (Palazzo Marescotti, via Barberia 4)

Thursday, 15:00 - 17:00, aula Picchi (Palazzo Marescotti, via Barberia 4)

Friday, 15:00 - 17:00, aula Colonne (Palazzo Marescotti, via Barberia 4)

 

Readings/Bibliography

1. Primary readings:

 

A. Literary sources:

Selected parts * of these texts:

Esiodo, Teogonia, Einaudi, Torino 2023

Id., Opere e giorni, Garzanti, Milano 2020

Eschilo, Prometeo incatenato con i frammenti della trilogia, Rizzoli, Milano 2004

Platone, Protagora, BUR, Milano 2010

Luciano di Samosata, Prometeo o il Caucaso, in Id., Tutti gli scritti, Bompiani, Milano 2007

Pseudo-Apollodoro, Biblioteca, Mondadori, Milano 1996

 

B. Authors:

Selected parts * of these texts:

J.W. Goethe, Inno a Prometeo, Opere complete, Sansoni 1970

Id., Pandora, in Opere complete, Sansoni 1970

J.G. Herder, Prometeo liberato (selected parts of: Der entfesselte Prometheus, in J.G. Herder, Sämtliche Werke, 28, Weidmann, Berlin 1884 )

Salvatore Viganò, Prometeo: libretto del ballo (1813), a cura di Stefano Tomassini, Legenda, Torino 1999 

Prometeo: tragedia dell'ascolto, testi a cura di Massimo Cacciari, nuova edizione a cura di André Richard, Marco Mazzolini, Milano, Ricordi 2021 

 

* The selected parts of the texts will be collected in a handout (See Teaching Resources)

 

2. Critical readings **:

 

2a. On mith and philosophy

H. Blumenberg, Elaborazione del mito, il Mulino, Bologna 1991, pp. 25- 364

Id., Il futuro del mito, Medusa, Milano 2002

E. Cassirer, Filosofia delle forme simboliche, vol. 2: Il pensiero mitico, La Nuova Italia, Firenze 1964

P. Philippson, Origini e forme del mito greco, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino 1983

J.-P. Vernant, Mito e pensiero presso i greci, Einaudi, Torino 1970

2b. On Prometheus

H. Blumenberg, Elaborazione del mito, Bologna 1991, pp. 365 segg.

J. Duchemin, Prométhée. Le mythe et ses origines, Les Belles Lettres, Paris 1974

K. Kerényi, Prometheus. Die menschliche Existenz in griechischer Deutung, Rowohlt, Zurigo 1959 [oppure in traduzione inglese: Prometheus : Archetypal Image of Human Existence, Bollinghen, New York 1963]

Id., Prometeo: il mitologema greco dell'esistenza umana, in Id., Miti e misteri, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino 2000, pp. 150-208

3c. Other classical Texts on Prometheus

P.B. Shelley, Prometeo liberato, in Opere, Einaudi, Torino 1995, pp. 212-393 (oppure: Prometeo slegato, Einaudi, Torino 1997)

K. Marx, La differenza tra la filosofia naturale di Democrito e la filosofia naturale di Epicuro, in Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Opere complete (MEOC), vol. I

M. Shelley, Frankenstein, Einaudi, Torino 2016

C. Pavese, La rupe, in Id., Dialoghi con Leucò, Einaudi, Torino 1965 segg.

F. Condello (a cura di), Prometeo. Variazioni sul mito. Eschilo, Goethe, Shelley, Gide, Pavese, Marsilio, Venezia 2011

4c. On the authors

R. Trousson, Le thème de Prométhée dans la littérature européenne, Librairie Droz, Ginevra 1964

Erica Brady Angert, Rhetoric, form, and sovereignty in Schubert's "Prometheus," D. 674, Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, 2005 (Tesi di laurea) (ONLINE)

Paul Bertagnolli, Prometheus in Music: Representations of the Myth in the Romantic Era, Aldershot, Ashgate 2007

Id., A Newly Discovered Source for Franz Liszts “Chöre zu Herder’s ‘Entfesseltem Prometheus’”’, in «The Journal of Musicology», 19, 1 (2002), pp. 125–70

Joanne Cormac, Prometheus, Melodramatic Mimesis, and the Visual, in Id., Liszt and the Symphonic Poem, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2017, pp. 132-86

Stefano Tomassini, Dall’azione-quadro al quadro d’azione. Il libretto di danza dal primato della scrittura allo spirito della pittura, in Salvatore Viganò, Prometeo: libretto del ballo (1813), Torino 1999, pp. 5-27

Martha Brech, Der komponierte Raum: Luigi Nonos »Prometeo, tragedia dellʼascolto«, transcript Verlag, Bielefeld 2020

Carola Nielinger-Vakil, Musica come pensiero, in Luigi Nono Prometeo: tragedia dell'ascolto, testi a cura di Massimo Cacciari, Ricordi, Milano 2021, pp. 16-37

Verso Prometeo, a cura di Massimo Cacciari, Ricordi, Venezia 1984

Prometeo: tragedia dell'ascolto, La Biennale, Venezia 2024

 

** It is not possible to choice texts of the same subgroup

 

3. Musical scores and audiovisual material [OPTIONAL]:

During the course, the scores of the works of Beethoven [Die Geshöpfe des Prometheus, Ballet, op. 43, Breitkopf & Härte, Leipzig], Schubert [Prometheus D. 674], and Liszt [1. Chöre zu Herder's "Entfesseltem Prometheus", C.F. Kahnte, Leipzig; 2. Prometheus. Symphonische Dichtung nr. 5, Breitkopf & Härte, Leipzig] will be made available, but they will not be studied analytically. Nono's score is in Prometeo: tragedia dell'ascolto, Milano, Ricordi 2021.

 

The programme is the same both for students who attend the lectures and those who don’t.

 

Teaching methods

Frontal lectures with discussions in class of the most crucial issues

Assessment methods

The final oral exam focuses on the programme material and will be held in Professor Imbriano’s office, via Barberia, 4.

Students will be examined on their knowledge of fundamental concepts, their level of analysis and their critical skills.

On the basis of these three principal parameters an overall evaluation is expressed out of a total of 30.

Evaluation of level:

18-21 Low/Sufficient

22-25 Medium

26-28 Good/very good

29-30 High

30 L Excellent

 

Students with SLD or temporary or permanent disabilities

It is necessary to contact the relevant University office with ample time in advance: the office will propose some adjustments, which must in any case be submitted 15 days in advance to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of these in relation to the teaching objectives.

 

Teaching tools

Traditional lectures and discussion with the support of Power Point and projection of audiovisual material.

Office hours

See the website of Gennaro Imbriano