Lorenzo Gennaro Bianconi
, born in Muralto (Switzerland) on January 14, 1946, naturalized as
an Italian citizen in 2004, studied musicology in Basel and
Heidelberg, where he received his doctorate in 1974.
Since 1977 he has been a professor at the University of Bologna,
where he has taught Musical Dramaturgy (full professor since 1983).
He also taught at Princeton (1977) and at the Universities of
Macerata (1977/78) and Siena (Arezzo campus, 1980-1983).
At the University of Bologna he served as president of the DAMS
degree course (Discipline delle Arti, della Musica e dello
Spettacolo, 1987-1989, 1994-1997), and of the master's degree in
Discipline musicali (2003-2007); he directed the University's
Dipartimento di Musica e Spettacolo (1998-2001); he was the
coordinator of Scuola di Specializzazione per l'Insegnamento
secondario (Graduate School of Secondary Education Teaching), for
the Music Education class (2006-2009; 2014-2015).
He was a member of the Osservatorio della Ricerca at the University
of Bologna (Research Observatory, 2004-2010); of the Nucleo di
Valutazione at the University of Rome ‘La Sapienza' (Assessment
Commission, 2011-2013). In 2012-2013 he was an advisor to the
Agenzia nazionale di Valutazione del Sistema Universitario e della
Ricerca per la Valutazione della Qualità della Ricerca (National
Agency on the Evaluation of the University and Research System for
Research Quality Assessment).
He was an advisor to the Ministry of Education, University and
Research for the Regolamento sulla formazione iniziale degli
insegnanti (Guidelines for the Basic Training of Teachers,
2008-2009) and for the Liceo musicale e coreutico (Music and Dance
College, 2009-2010).
He has published extensively on 17th century music
(Il Seicento, Turin: EDT, 1982; English edition, Music in the Seventeenth
Century, Cambridge
University Press, 1987; Spanish edition Madrid: Turner, 1987);
opera (La drammaturgia musicale, Bologna: Il Mulino, 1986;
Storia dell'opera italiana, with G. Pestelli, Turin: EDT,
1987-1988; translated into French, German and English, as History of Italian Opera,
University of Chicago Press, 1998-2003; Il teatro d'opera in
Italia, Bologna: Il Mulino, 1993, English version as entry
‘Italy' in the New Grove
Dictionary of Opera, 1992); poetry and music (in Letteratura
italiana, VI, Turin: Einaudi, 1986); Rossini; the philology of
librettos (Hors-d'œuvre alla
filologia dei libretti, 1995); didactic approaches to musical theater; education science and
music teaching.
He has published editions of works by 16th-century
madrigal composers (for the series “Musiche Rinascimentali
Siciliane”) and of the Italian libretti of G.F. Handel (with his
wife Giuseppina La Face; Florence: Olschki, 1992–). With Ellen
Rosand (Yale University) he co-edits the critical edition of
Francesco Cavalli's operas (1602-1676; Kassel: Bärenreiter,
2012–).
He is an editorial advisor to the “Works of Gioachino Rossini” (ibid.), “Edizione critica
delle opere di Vincenzo Bellini” (Milan: Ricordi) and “Edizione
nazionale delle opere di G.B. Pergolesi” (ibid.). He is a contributor
to the series “Drammaturgia musicale veneta” (Venice-Milan:
Fondazione Cini - Ricordi).
He directed or co-directed the periodicals Rivista italiana di
musicologia (1973-1979), Acta Musicologica (official
journal of the International Musicological Society, 1987-1991), and
Musica e Storia
(1993-2009).
He founded the journal Il
Saggiatore musicale (1994–); he is co-editor of the series
“Historiae Musicae Cultores” and “Studi e testi per la Storia della
musica” (Florence: Leo S. Olschki). Since 2011 he has been a music
advisor to and since 2012 a co-editor of the Italian National
Biography (Dizionario
biografico degli Italiani, Rome: Istituto della Enciclopedia
Italiana).
He contributed to the establishment of Museo della Musica in
Bologna (2004). He chaired the scientific committee of the
14th Congress of the International Musicological Society
(Bologna, 1987; proceedings published in 3 volumes, Turin: EDT,
1990), was a member of the scientific committees of the
13th (Strasbourg, 1982) and 15th (Madrid,
1992) Congress, and will also be part of the committee of the
20th Congress (Tokyo, 2017).
In 1993 he founded the Associazione fra Docenti Universitari
Italiani di Musica (Association of Italian University Music
Teachers). He is the founder and vice-president of the Association
“Il Saggiatore musicale” (Bologna, 1994–).
Dent Medal of the Royal Musical Association (1983); corresponding
member of the American Musicological Society (1995); honorary
member of the Accademia Filarmonica in Bologna (2001);
corresponding member of Accademia delle Scienze in Turin (2006);
member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2015).
