Giovanni Pozza e il «Corriere della Sera»: rassegna bibliografica dei suoi scritti di critica musicale

Abstract

Giovanni Pozza and the «Corriere della Sera»: a bibliographical review of his writings as music critic

Giovanni Pozza (Schio 1852-Sanremo 1914) emerges as one of the most authoritative figures in the panorama of music criticism of the early twentieth century, appreciated not only by the public but also by the artists who were active in the XIX and XX centuries.
Starting from the few available biographical notes and from considerations of the general structure and style of his articles – some of which are analysed in detail given their particular significance – this paper retraces what was a period of unequivocal importance in the history of Italian music, and in particular opera, prelude to a crisis that a few years later would be fully apparent in all its inevitable dramatic consequences.
The years that saw Pozza head of music criticism at the «Corriere della Sera» – which, under the direction of Luigi Albertini, was undergoing a decisive change in editorial policy – were in fact the beginning of a century, the twentieth, which was rich in creative ferments barely understood by a public still firmly rooted in the old operatic style of the nineteenth century. The second part of this paper offers a rich and detailed bibliographical account of the activity of Pozza at the Via Solferino newspaper from 1900 until his death.