We the Italians June 13, 2014 - 34 | Page 7

tendencies, it was an option and one that created some financial opportunities.

Is it possible to draw a parallel between the perception that in these representations Italy's elite world of opera had of the Americans and, roles reversed, the perception that Americans had of the Italian immigrants in the first 20 years of last century ?

The question is interesting. It is very difficult to make a comparison. All these operas are focused on a transatlantic meeting between Italy and America, so there are always Italian characters who meet with American characters, either of British origin or Native Americans.This type of encounter is however very different from that which will occur later at the time of mass migration. In the XVIII century it was more a question of mutual curiosity and a taste for mystery and exoticism.

In these works, America represents a kind of utopia, a freshwind ofopportunities for Italians whodid not have them in their country. However, America is not seen as poor. On the contrary, American characters are sometimes rich.In another opera by Giovanni Paisiello, Le gare generose(‘The contests in generosity’) written in 1786 in Naples and soon after played in Vienna, an Italian couple lose all their belongings and are enslaved in Boston after being captured by pirates. A wealthy Quaker buys them. They initially pretend to be brother and sister, and when the Quaker finds out the truth he gets very upset, but then not onlydoes he forgive them, but he even offers them financial support.

In these operas, inspired by American themes, money is not seen as something dirty, but it is on the contrary rather noble.Trade ennobles man as the idea of freedom and economic independence emerge.This is also the theme in Le nozze di Figaro: in the end, thanks to a large sum of money, Figaro manages to pay a debt that would make him a slave. In short, Americans know that money is useful and that without it there is no freedom.

Why is opera such a great means of cultural promotion for Italy? And how was this perceived as a cultural proposal, abroad, even before Italy would officially become a nation?

A key figure from this point of view was Lorenzo Da Ponte. After the Declaration of Independence in 1776, he wrote a series of poems in Latin and Italian on "American"themes such as the law, which he was inspired by. Da Ponte was undoubtedly attracted by the message of the American Enlightenment: thanks to that he was able to leave his teaching career and become a librettist, and to work for the complete review of La quacquera spiritosa, which was brought to Vienna thanks to him.

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