Il teatro alla moda osia Metodo sicuro, e facile per ben comporre, & esequire l'opere italiane in musica all'uso moderno - Marcello, Benedetto 1686-1739 (Venice Aldiviva Licante, 1722)
'The Fashionable Theater' is a satirical pamphlet in which its author, the Venetian composer Benedetto Marcello, vents his critical opinions on the milieu of the Italian opera seria in the first decades of the eighteenth century. Virtually every aspect of opera seria and its social environment is mercilessly criticized: the artificiality of plots, the stereotyped format of music, the extravagant scenography and machinery, the inability and venality of composers and poets, the vanity and vulgarity of singers, the avidity of impresarios, the ineptitude of musicians. The frontispiece contains several allusions to well-known protagonists of the Venetian theater of the time. For instance, the publisher's name "Aldiviva Licante" refers, by means of anagrams, both to Antonio Vivaldi, then very famous as an opera composer, and to the singer Caterina Canteli. The engraving shows a little boat rowed by a well dressed gentleman. Numerous supplies such as a wine barrel and sacks of flour are lying in the forward part of the boat, at the bow of which stands a bear (representing impressario Orsatti) wearing a wig and waving a little flag. An angel wearing a priest's hat and playing on a diminituive violin occupies the opposite position, hovering over the rudder at the stern, representing Antonio Vivaldi. Underneath the picture follows an imprint, in which every word printed in capitals refers to a composer, singer or other person involved in Venetian opera business.
A discussion and full English translation is published in Musical Quarterly:Pauly, Reinhard G. (1948). "Benedetto Marcello's Satire on Early 18th-Century Opera". The Musical Quarterly. 34 (2): 222–233. ISSN 0027-4631. JSTOR 739306.Marcello, Benedetto; Pauly, Reinhard G. (1948). "Il Teatro Alla Moda--Part I". The Musical Quarterly. 34 (3): 371–403. ISSN 0027-4631. JSTOR 739550.Marcello, Benedetto; Pauly, Reinhard G. (1949). "Il Teatro Alla Moda--Part II". The Musical Quarterly. 35 (1): 85–105. ISSN 0027-4631. JSTOR 739581.
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Il_teatro_alla_moda
Originally published, anonymously, in 1720
Ex libris Abrahao Carvalho (plate) and I. M. Iraham, Rio 1978 (manuscript)
nel quale si danno avvertimenti utili, e necessarj a poeti, compositori di musica, musici dell'uno, e dell'altro sesso, impresarj, suonatory, ingegneri, e pittori di scene, parti buffe, sarti, paggi, comparse, suggeritori, coposti, protettori, e madri di virtuose, ed altre persone appartenenti al teatro. Dedicato dall'autore del libro al compositore di esso. Stampato ne Borghi di Belisania per Aldiviva Licante, all'insegna dell'Orso in Peata. Si vende nella strada del Corallo alla porta del palazzo d'Orlando. Come pure in Milano da Francesco Agnelli.
Keywords: 18th Century (1701-1800); Music criticism; Opera seria; Satire; Venice (Italy); a =; ad lib. aria in opera; ademhalen; advokaat; altviool; bc; cadens; castraten; cello; componeren; componist; contrabas; dansen; oud-nieuw; diminuties; dirigent; pizzicato; emoties; enharmonisch; entréeprijs; publiek; sordine; forlane; stemomvang; streektechniek; tabak; tekst; tekstschrijver; tekstuitspraak; temperatuur; tempo; tempo van triller; tromba marina; uit 't hoofd zingen; viool; Vivaldi, A; impresario; volume; zangeres; zangers; zuiverheid; recitatief; repeteren; repetitie en zangers; koor/orkestbezetting; kwaliteit van uitvoering; salaris; majeur einde in mineur stuk; mise-en-scène; messa di voce; compositieduur; copiist; excuses om niet te zingen; gesticuleren etc; jaloezie