Operatic Reform at Turin’s Teatro Regio. Aspects of Production and Stylistic Change in the 1760s

Margaret Ruth Butler explores innovations that occurred in Turinese opera during the mid-eighteenth century. Operas produced at Turin during this decade illustrate the interest on the part of the theater’s directorship in revolutionary stylistic changes occurring at operatic centers elsewhere in Europe at the time — an interest commonly assumed not to have been shared by Italian theaters. The discussion focuses on four operas that clearly demonstrate this interest, and treats aspects of their music, libretto, scene design, and dance. Drawing on archival material produced by the theater’s administrative body, multiple copies of printed libretti, and largely unexplored collections of manuscript musical materials from in and around Turin, this study examines operatic production at the Regio during a critical decade in the history of opera.