Bergamo, at Carrara an exhibition between painting and melodrama in the 19th century

An exhibition to see, hear and listen to is staged at theCarrara Academy in Bergamo from September 29, 2023 to January 14, 2024: it is entitled Tutta in voi la luce mia. History Painting and Melodrama and transforms the Bergamo museum into a theater, thanks to an immersive staging of a major exhibition project, the third and last of the year of Bergamo Brescia Capital of Culture, in which the public is invited to witness the discovery of painting, music, and the protagonists of an unrepeatable era, the19th century. Between history and art, passions and music, heroes and literature, friendship and rivalry, elegance and deception, meetings and salons, applause and booing: Tutta in voi la luce mia is a tale of the fascinating and continuous alternation between truth and representation, between painting and music.

The exhibition at the Accademia Carrara, curated by Fernando Mazzocca and Maria Cristina Rodeschini, aims to abolish the boundaries between stage and painting to represent a period of contamination between the arts, of intense exchange between artists often on the same themes, thanks to a common feeling. TheRomantic 19th century coincided with the rise of history painting, music, literature and poetry, and certainlyItalian opera in the world, which opened the door to modernity, particularly in the first half of the 19th century. The title of the exhibition pays homage to Gaetano Donizetti, since “Tutta in voi la luce mia” is one of the arias fromAnna Bolena, one of the compositions represented in the exhibition, made famous by Maria Callas.

The exhibition features more than 40 works by artists such as Francesco Hayez, Francesco Coghetti, Domenico Morelli and Giovanni Boldini, who came to Bergamo through national, international loans, telling the story of an era that made Italy famous in Europe and the world. Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti, Vincenzo Bellini and Giuseppe Verdi, their compositions, theaters, the heroes of their operas and, again, the characters of that period and encounters. The project aims to be an opportunity for the public to understand how much opera is a founding, attractive and present part of our culture. There is no place in Italy without a street, a square named after the great protagonists of melodrama, just as there are many cities with opera houses dedicated to them. This belonging, which goes far beyond toponymy, is a stratification that the Carrara exhibition itinerary wants to emphasize as a wealth, a testimony of Italy in the world. A heritage and topicality that the project also represents in themes and emotions such as love, freedom, pride, and belonging to a nation.

In Bergamo the exhibition finds its ideal city, because the city is the birthplace of Gaetano Donizetti, one of the great protagonists of melodrama, and, in the Carrara Academy a venue of choice, because in those very years it was establishing itself as a school of art and a great workshop of history painting. A project full of heroes and heroines such as Juliet and Romeo, Anne Boleyn, Othello, Torquato Tasso, Maria Stuarda, Marin Faliero who precisely in those years formed a new imaginary (from literature to the stage, to the canvas) replacing Greek and Roman myths, creating an epic closer to the sensibility of an increasingly large and participating audience, formed by readers of historical novels, frequenters of theaters and art exhibitions, who in the vicissitudes of the characters, in some cases really existed, projected the torments of Romantic man, with an extraordinarily new attention to female figures. All this contributes to building a new sensibility toward the past (especially the Middle Ages and the Renaissance) in a confrontation between the arts that can actualize and evoke episodes from history and, at the same time, enchant, involve and excite. A host of portraits of the painters, musicians, set designers, and singers will restore the likenesses of the protagonists of this world. Figures closely linked by friendships, such as Verdi and Morelli; affectionate ties, such as the one recounted between Bellini and Giuditta Pasta; collaborations, such as the one between Hayez and the Brera Academy and La Scala Theater or the one between Coghetti and Donizetti portrayed in Rome by his friend; salons, such as that of Casa Branca or the Countess Maffei or the Belgiojoso family; rivalries, such as between Donizetti and Bellini; affections, at times touching; continuous correspondences, made up of letters and cards; meetings, such as the one between Rossini and Hayez friends since their youth; public commitment, Giuseppe Verdi was a senator of the Kingdom of Italy; popularity, especially destined for singers and female singers, real stars in a modern key. A group of people who met continuously, for work and leisure, who shared moments between pleasure and commitment, between salons, theaters and artists’ ateliers.

Theset design, curated by Federica Parolini, intends to make visible some of the mechanisms of opera, trying to reveal the differences between the two-dimensionality of a painting and the three-dimensionality of a theater performance, also thanks to a path that, in each room, arouses an experience. The audience becomes an active participant, thanks to musical listening, going through sets such as the reconstruction of the facade of the Donizetti Theater in Bergamo, is involved in video installations also dedicated to the Angelo Mai Library, or thanks to a photo collage that creates a landscape of invention, or the reconstruction of an artist’s dressing room. One will be able to cross a curtain, access, through projections, scores and scores, but above all admire works of art being able to better understand the dynamics and inspirations that animated an exceptional moment in our history.

The itinerary includes eight sections(The Lombards at the First Crusade; The Universal Flood; Composers, Singers, Painters. The protagonists of melodrama; Portraits on stage; Torquato Tasso; The history of Venice; Anne Boleyn and Mary Stuart; Romeo and Juliet) as well as an important chapter of portraits of composers, singers, set designers, intellectuals and self-portraits. The catalog is published by Skira and is edited by Elena Lissoni, Fernando Mazzocca, and M. Cristina Rodeschini. There is also an audioguide with the voice of Drusilla Foer, actress, singer and author, to accompany the public in the discovery of Tutta in voi la luce mia. Audioguides are available at the ticket office, with the possibility of listening via your smartphone as well. On the occasion of the exhibition, Accademia Carrara is also launching a participatory communication campaign. Thanks to the involvement of the many people who, in different capacities, collaborate with the museum and are committed, every day, to making the institution greater and greater, Tu )e( LA CARRARA has been launched, which is oriented to the public with a photo wall set up in the museum that invites visitors to take pictures of themselves, posting their image on social networks and telling about their experience. There is also no shortage of educational activities, proposed by Carrara’s Educational Services department to discover the exhibition explore the interdisciplinary nature of melodrama by activating relationships with entities and institutions between art, music, literature, society and fashion, dedicated to schools, families, adults and tourists. The season dedicated to melodrama opens with a special collaboration with the Bergamo Territorial School Office. Actors in this initiative are schools with a musical address of Bergamo and province and students of the G. Donizetti Conservatories who will play in the museum rooms some arias from the works on display: an invitation to discover opera as a living heritage close to us. The educational proposal, dedicated and designed for schools of all levels, leads students to discover the multidisciplinary character of melodrama. The activities and itineraries, presented on the website by Accademia Carrara in the education section, also involve children from Kindergarten to whom a new space is dedicated with tables, seats and custom-made toilets. In the year of Bergamo Brescia Italian Capital of Culture, special attention is given to the discovery of the city’s events and monuments: melodrama, with its protagonists, is an opportunity to learn about the history of Bergamo in the 19th century, with visits to discover both the exhibition and the city. Tutta in voi la luce mia is also present in the calendar Che spettacolo il 2023!, an agenda dedicated to the new generations, the first family friendly program created for Bergamo Brescia 2023 by a co-design between the entities of the two territories that deal with theater and multidisciplinary cultural offerings and the Bergamo and Brescia Departments of Culture.

Many appointments reserved for children. Museum on stage! brings nineteenth-century theater, with its music and its protagonists, to the Accademia Carrara: between curtains and sets we venture on a path from the exhibition to the museum that leads to learn about artists and composers such as Hayez and Donizetti (interactive guided tour, for ages 6-11, duration 90 minutes in Exhibition + Pinacoteca, Dates: Sunday, Oct. 8, 4 p.m. / Sunday, Nov. 5, 4 p.m.). Don’t make a scene! Do you know what melodrama is? is intended instead to be a moment of encounter between music, words and art. An itinerary that dresses the exhibition and the museum in a fairy tale and will let young participants discover singers, actors, musicians and artists, protagonists of the 19th century (interactive guided tour, for ages 3-5, duration 90 minutes in Exhibition + Art Gallery. Dates: Sunday, Oct. 22, 4 p.m. / Sunday, Nov. 19, 4 p.m. / Sunday, Dec. 17, 4 p.m.). For adults, however, there will be thematic tours conducted with expert guides who can tell the story of melodrama in dialogue with the works in the museum by interweaving it with Bergamo and its heritage of stories. Reservations for exclusive visit or for a group: call center +39 035 4920090. Collected tours are also available every weekend: +39 328 1721727 prenotazioni@lacarrara.it To delve into the many stories related to opera, Educational Services has woven a dialogue with the Donizetti Foundation and Museo delle Storie: during the months of the exhibition, on a regular basis, visits will be complemented by discovery tours of museums and theaters to open the curtain on opera.

Opening hours: Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Tuesdays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturdays, Sundays and holidays 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Special evening openings every last Friday of the month until 11:00 pm. Last admission 45 minutes before closing. Museum + exhibition tickets: full 15 euros, concessions (over 65, 18 - 25 year olds, groups booked by call center, military members of the Army and Law Enforcement, Art History teachers from secondary schools, people with disabilities) 13 euros, open museum + exhibitions 16 euros, concessions 14 euros. Reduced special children and youth 6-17 years old 5 euros. Free for children 0-5 years old; ICOM (International Council of Museums) members; Carrara Card holders; Abbonamento Musei Lombardia holders; Artigiano Card holders; members of the Associazione Amici della Carrara; participants in the “Io Volontario nel mio Museo” Project and Accademia Carrara trainees; teachers and students of the Academy of Fine Arts of Bergamo; EU tour guides with professional license; Italian and foreign journalists; Group escorts (No. 2 for Schools; No. 1 for Adult Groups); accompanying person with disabilities; special Family: third child (6-17 years old); fathers on Father’s Day; mothers on Mother’s Day; on their own birthday. Conventions: 13 euros (Fidelitas S.p.a. employees; Ronda Service S.r.l. employees; PwC Italia employees; SKIRA Club; Bergamo Order of Architects; F.A.I - Fondo Ambiente Italiano; Touring Club Italiano; ADSI - Ass. Dimore Storiche; ARCI Bergamo; ACLI - Molte Fedi; CRAL Banca Intesa; CRAL BPER; Società DANTE ALIGHIERI; order of Physiotherapists of Bergamo; Trenord “io viaggio” subscribers; Artsupp card holders; ticket holders of museums part of the Rete dell’800 Lombardo; ATB and TEB subscribers; Italian Design Institute; Donizetti Theater Foundation subscribers), 12 euros (CRAL Banco BPM; Piedmont Museums Subscription holders), 10 euros (Raffa in the sky and Donizetti opera ticket holders; visitors to Fondazione Brescia Musei, showing a Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo or Santa Giulia ticket at the ticket office; unions: UIL, CISL with ANTEAS, CGIL with TERZA UNIVERSITÀ; Manager Italia; ATB and TEB employees), €8 (Humanitas Gavazzeni and Castelli employees; citizens residing in the municipalities of Bergamo, Castione della Presolana, Clusone, San Pellegrino, Scanzorosciate), €5 (Colombo Design employees).

ùThe exhibition was realized with the support of Fondazione Teatro Donizetti, Donizetti Opera 2023, Biblioteca Civica Angelo Mai and Politecnico delle Arti, and with contributions from PwC Italia, Carvico, Icis, Fine Foods, Iterchimica, LVF, Colombo Design, and the Bergamo Chamber of Commerce.

Statements

“The conviction shared by all the protagonists of this major exhibition project,” says Mayor Giorgio Gori, who is also president of the Fondazione Accademia Carrara, “is that experimenting is almost a duty and that overcoming disciplinary barriers opens up new spaces of expression, which are extremely stimulating and able to involve a wider audience. Personally, I find in it the spirit - made of passion and innovation - that has accompanied our entire 2023 special and, more generally, that which has guided us in these years of work for the city.”

"With Tutta in voi la luce mia," says Councillor for Culture Nadia Ghisalberti, “Carrara tackles, for the first time in such an in-depth and wide-ranging way, the theme of the nineteenth century, and realizes one of the most important projects of the 2023 program schedule. The collaboration with Fondazione Teatro Donizetti and the dialogue between the two directorates that began in the aftermath of the nomination as Capital of Culture gave birth to the idea of the exhibition in a fruitful intertwining of skills and arts. The result is a fascinating account of melodrama and its main protagonists in one of the most glorious phases of Italian history and culture. The uniqueness of the project is in the ’interweaving of painting, music, theater and literature, different art forms expressed at the highest quality level. It is an innovative project that will attract the interest and curiosity of different audiences, from melomaniacs to the painting expert, to fans of the Romantic par excellence. The scientific curatorship is entrusted to the expert knowledge of Fernando Mazzocca and M. Cristina Rodeschini, fine scholars of the artistic production of this historical period, who have chosen the best of 19th-century art, selecting the most fascinating works from national and international museums. The high competence of the curators is complemented by a layout created by set designer Federica Parolini, who has been able to impart to each room that magnificence typical of theatrical work.”

“Surprising throughout the course of the Romantic 19th century are the interferences between what were the two most popular languages of communication of the century: history painting and melodrama,” explains curator Fernando Mazzocca. “Not only did the painters and composers deal with the same themes, derived from common historical or literary sources, but also their way of dealing with them, while taking into account the specificity of two different means of expression, reveals similar intentions and modes. After all, it was the same public that in the major Italian cities, such as Milan, Venice, Turin, Florence, Rome and Naples, the seats of the most important opera houses, flocked to the periodic exhibitions of fine arts, in front of the paintings that proposed the events and characters applauded on the stages.”

“The exhibition,” recalls Maria Cristina Rodeschini, curator and director of the Accademia Carrara, “aims to highlight through a dialogue between painting and music a precise cultural phenomenon that finds among its protagonists Gaetano Donizetti, a free and prolific composer of Italian opera, originally from Bergamo. Donizetti, among the first, succeeded in immersing the audience in a world pervaded by moods permeated by a new emotional sensibility, according to which the historical facts narrated and set to music became witnesses to the existential anxieties of contemporary reality. The Romantic revolution thus projected Italy into modernity and, in music as in painting, found in the heart of the 19th century one of the highest expressions of Italian culture.”

“This project,” points out Gianpietro Bonaldi, general manager of the Accademia Carrara, “stems from a question: what brings painting back to life? Melodrama, theater. The subjects of the paintings shown in this exhibition, thanks to opera, are still staged in the most important theaters around the world. The installation aims to reveal the mechanisms inherent in the theater by evoking its places. Visitors go behind the scenes, walk through the sets, hear the vocals and then the arias, are inside the music and through the curtain. Viewing the works is a personal and immersive spectacle for everyone. Federica Parolini set designer and installation curator Painting, music, history, theater, passions, professions, emotions. We can all find something of ourselves looking into the fascinating and multidisciplinary kaleidoscope of this exhibition-event. A gift for Bergamo, Capital, for a year and forever, of Culture.”

Bergamo, at Carrara an exhibition between painting and melodrama in the 19th century

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