MUSICOLOGY

Alessio Olivieri is a Ph.D. candidate in Musicology at the University of California Riverside, where he also serves as a Graduate Teaching Assistant and Associate Instructor, teaching an array of music classes.

 

His dissertation focuses on realism and verismo in the Spanish musical theater at the crossroads of the 19th and 20th centuries, with particular emphasis on the Spanish realist operas informed by Italian verismo.

His research is funded by the following awards/grants: Dissertation Research Grant (University of California, Riverside, 2020-21), Manolito Pinazo Memorial Award (University of California, Riverside, 2019), Gluck Fellowship for the Arts (University of California, Riverside, 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21), Dean’s Distinguished Fellowship (University of California, Riverside, 2016-19). 

 

Other interests include the Italian chamber romances (art songs) of the 19th century —with his book Le romanze da salotto di Michele Bellucci. Le edizioni a stampa e i manoscritti autografi (2010). His graduate thesis, titled “Il Tenebrismo: la chitarra della noche oscura da Manuel de Falla ad Angelo Gilardino,” introduced the concept of “tenebrism” as a new poetic in the 20th century guitar repertoire.

 

Mr. Olivieri is a member of the American Musicological Society, the Società italiana di musicologia, the Sociedad española de musicología, and College Music Society. He served as Student Representative at the National Council for the AMS Pacific-Southwest Chapter and was a member of the AMS National Committee on Technology. 

 

 

Visit Mr. Olivieri's Page on Research Gate

New perspectives on the contemporary repertoire for guitar. Tenebrism: the Guitar of the "Noche Oscura" from Manuel de Falla to Angelo Gilardino.

With the composition, in 1920, of the Homenaje pour le tombeau de Claude Debussy, Manuel de Falla indicated a new path for the modern guitar. Deeply inspired by the dark essence of the Andalusian traditional cante jondo, de Falla established an innovative compositional current -antithetical to the entertaining classical guitar of the 19th century – based on a new poetic: the guitar is an instrument with duende, and its deep essence is being an instrument of the night, the night of the soul.
In the following decades, few composers dedicated music to the guitar with this perspective. From the non-guitarists, such as Ohana, Britten, Petrassi, Martin, to the guitarist-composers, like Dodgson, Bogdanovich, and, most of all, Angelo Gilardino, the world-renowned guitarist-composer who dedicated his whole production to this new poetic, that he labeled “tenebrism.” This research is a journey from  Falla’s cante jondo evocation to the so-called poetic of the shadow by Angelo Gilardino.

Le romanze da salotto di Michele Bellucci. Le edizioni a stampa e i manoscritti autografi

Bellucci was one of the most illustrious citizens in the history of the city of Manfredonia (Apulia). He was a composer, historian, and lawyer and worked in several southern Italy locations, leaving many musical compositions, most of which are still unpublished.
The book is configured as a monography that, by deeply analyzing and rewriting the biographical sketch of Bellucci as a composer – specifically through the analysis of manuscripts and printed editions of twelve romances (art songs) for voice and piano – contextualizes the author and his production in the complex landscape of nineteenth-century art song.
The book includes a CD featuring seven romances, performed by soprano Elisa Ramon and pianist David Osellame, representing the world premiere recording of Bellucci’s compositions.
The publication is part of a much larger project sponsored by the F. Chopin Cultural Association in Manfredonia, aiming to disclose and promote the local musical heritage and make it widely accessible, especially outside the regional area.
The book is distributed for free (upon availability), and it is also available for consultation in the major conservatories, academies, and musical institutions in Italy.

“He brought life back to a microcosm of music that is not only pride of Manfredonia, but also of the whole Apulia. I hope Alessio Olivieri’s work will set an example for other scholars .”
Francesco Sanvitale

Publications

  • Olivieri, Alessio. “Le romanze da salotto di Michele Bellucci: edizioni e autografi.” In Intellettuali di capitanata: la famiglia Bellucci: atti del Convegno di studi, Foggia, 10-11 dicembre 2014, edited by Antonio Caroccia, 143–61. Foggia: Claudio Grenzi, 2015. [peer–reviewed]
  • Olivieri, Alessio. Le romanze da salotto di Michele Bellucci: le edizioni e i manoscritti autografi. Borgoricco (PD): Tipografie grafiche Gemma, 2010.
  • Olivieri, Alessio. “Musica e terapia, tra magia e razionalità. Breve excursus delle applicazioni terapiche del suono nel corso dei secoli.” Risveglio Musicale 4/5 (2010).
  • Review: Magnus Andersson’s guitar concert at “Gran Teatro La Fenice,” Venice, Italy. Chitarre magazine, no. 263 (2008).

Research Thesis

  • “Il Tenebrismo. La chitarra della ‘noche oscura’ da Manuel de Falla ad Angelo Gilardino” [Tenebrism. The Guitar of the Noche Nscura from Manuel de Falla to Angelo Gilardino], Cesare Pollini Conservatory. Padua, Italy, 2008.
    Thesis reviewed in the Italian magazine Suonare News
  • “Il Manoscritto n.223 della Biblioteca dell’ Accademia Filarmonica di Verona” [The Manuscript n.223 from Library of the Accademia Filarmonica in Verona], Cesare Pollini Conservatory, Padua, Italy, 2004

Presentations

  • Paper presenter, “Towards a Spanish Verismo Opera: Tomás Bretón’s La Dolores and the Discourse on Ópera Española around 1900.” 2020 Annual Meeting of the American Musicological Society. Virtual. November 5-8, 2020.
  • Paper presenter, “The Confluence of Italian, German, and Spanish Elements in the Genesis of Spanish National Opera Around 1900: The Case of Tomás Bretón.” 7th Annual GAMuT Conference. University of North Texas, Denton TX, February 1, 2020.
  • Paper presenter, “Towards a Spanish Verismo Opera: Tomás Bretón’s La Dolores and the Discourse on Ópera Española around 1900.” (Paper finalist at the 2019 Ingolf Dahl Award competition). 2019 Joint Conference of the Pacific-Southwest and Northern California chapters of the American Musicological Society. University of California, Riverside, April 28, 2019.
  • Paper presenter, “Tenebrism: Manuel de Falla, and the Guitar of Noche Oscura.” Symposium:  Spain and the Construction of Music Exoticism. Melbourne VIC, Australia, Nov 30-Dec 1 2018
  • Paper presenter, “Le Romanze da salotto di Michele Bellucci: edizioni e autografi” Symposium: “Intellettuali di Capitanata: la famiglia Bellucci,” Società Italiana di Musicologia, Foggia, Italy, December 10-11, 2014
  • Presentation, “Bande Musicali e Musicoterapia” (Musical Bands and Music Therapy). National Congress on ANBIMA – Roma, Italy, September 10, 2010
  • Presentation, “Introduzione alla Musicoterapia” (Introduction to Music Therapy). Lions International, Manfredonia FG, Italy, December 11, 2010