Settecento: Italy and France

“What Makes It Italian?” 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 has also guided listening at Bard LLI and Riverdale Y; acted as maestro del coro for opera in Italy; instructed music at The New School; and directed Underworld Productions.
Please email ginacrusco@gmail.com to confirm your attendance and receive an invitation link.

While the French reveled in the playful decorative aspect of the Rococo, the Italians emphasized its potential for elegant grandeur.

Italian pairing: Composer Giuseppe Tartini (1692 – 1770) and painter Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696 – 1770)

French pairing: Composer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745 – 1799) and painter François Boucher (1703 – 1770)

What seems indescribable in music is often easy to name in the visual arts. So each session in this series we explore four works: a pairing of an Italian painting with a musical work, and a similar pair from outside of Italy. Discovering riches from painters like Sandro Botticelli, Guido Reni, Francois Boucher, and Vanessa Bell, and composers like Girolamo Frescobaldi, Joseph Bologne, Edward Elgar and Dominick Argento, we define more clearly “What Makes it Italian.”