Artistic and stylistic concept of G. Fr. Malipiero’s opera triptych «L’Orfeide»: play or drama?

Maria V. Rudko

Rimsky-Korsakov Saint- Petersburg State Conservatory, St. Petersburg, Russia,
marybelll@yandex.ru, https://orcid.org/0009-0003-6018-6820

The triptych «L’Orfeide» (1918–1922), including the operas «The death of masks» («La morte delle maschere»), «Seven songs» (Sette canzoni») and «Orpheus, or the Eighth song» («Orfeo, ovvero L’Ottava canzone»), is rightfully considered the first major achievement of the venetian master. Malipiero’s musical and poetic theater is characterized by an organic unity of various models and forms, combining symbolist aesthetic principles with playful expressive means. In the «L’Orfeide» a peculiar discussion unfolds, at the center of which is the dilemma of primacy: a farcical comedy with masks or «high» professional art reflecting reality itself? The aesthetics of representation or the aesthetics of experience? A play or a drama?

In asking these questions, the author of the present article examines the multifaceted nature of the multidimensional content of Malipiero’s opera triptych..

Keywords: Italian opera, triptych, G. Fr. Malipiero, «L’Orfeide», «The death of masks», «Seven songs», «Orpheus, or the eighth song», Venice

For citation: Rudko M. V. Artistic and stylistic concept of G. Fr. Malipiero’s opera triptych «L’Orfeide»: play or drama? Scholarly papers of Gnesin Russian Academy of Music. 2024;(4):34-43. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.56620/2227-9997-2024-4-34-43

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