Ottocento: Italy & Austria

High Romanticism leaves the idealized world behind: passion and violence erupt in Verismo opera, and dark visions emerge from German-speaking Europe.
Italian pairing: Puccini writes Tosca, one of his most Verismo scores, and Giovanni Fattori paints in the open air, defying the Academy.
Austrian pairing: Gustav Mahler’s “Songs of a Wayfarer” and Gustav Klimt’s paintings escort us to the afterlife.

What Makes It Italian? Studies in Contrast is a music listening and discussion group that meets online on the Zoom platform and is open to everyone.

Participation is free.

The group is led by Gina Crusco, who guides listening at Bard LLI and Riverdale Y, and who has been music instructor at The New School and director of Underworld Productions.

Please email ginacrusco@gmail.com to confirm your attendance and receive an invitation link.

What seems indescribable in music often becomes easy to name in the visual arts. So this series for the first time offers much to see as well as to hear. Each week an Italian pairing of music and art is held up against a similar pairing from elsewhere. Noting how the Italianate aesthetic contrasts with England, Spain, France, the Low Countries, Austria and the US will help us define more clearly “What Makes it Italian.”