Un’«invisibile piattaforma musicale». Le musiche di scena di Ildebrando Pizzetti per La rappresentazione di Santa Uliva

Abstract

During the first edition of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in 1933, French director Jacques Copeau staged the sixteenth-century La rappresentazione di Santa Uliva in the Florentine cloister of Santa Croce. The show resulted from the collaboration of Ildebrando Pizzetti, who composed the incidental music. Although Copeau’s direction has been often studied throughout the years, the otherwise praised Pizzetti’s compositions have not received scholarly attention. This article
sheds light on the fruitful collaboration between director and composer, through a contextualization of that show and, most importantly, through the analysis of incidental music. This through the continuous comparison between Copeau’s indications and the musical realization of Pizzetti. What emerges is a dramaturgically complex work that is at the same time strongly cohesive. The music’s contribution creates that “secret order” that, in the director’s intention, ought to give cohesion and meaning to the entire mise en scène.