"Pasculli 100": oboe performance practice and repertoire in 19th Century. The sources, the instruments, the contexts

Lugano, Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana, Aula Magna
20-22 September 2024

The University School of Music of the Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana is pleased to announce a symposium that aims to explore some of the main aspects of nineteenth-century performance practice by comparing historical and theoretical knowledge on the one hand, and practical needs on the other. At the centre of the symposium is the figure of Antonino Pasculli (Palermo, 1842 - 1924), an oboist and composer from Palermo whose death anniversary falls in 2024. Starting with some of his compositions and his unpublished Raccolta progressiva, the symposium will touch on important issues related to the praxis of the 19th-century Italian repertoire for oboe and wind ensemble, which was profoundly linked to contemporary operatic culture. Of particular interest will be the possibility of transferring knowledge of operatic vocal practice to the instrumental repertoire in a context dominated by bel canto culture (Zicari, 2022). In fact, while much has been written on instrumental music and the interpretative codes related to it, with particular reference to the oboe (Haynes, 2001), and a strong interest has been registered on the front of the historically informed interpretation of symphonic works (Elliot Gardiner and Roger Norrington, among others), the 19th-century Italian instrumental repertoire has not been the subject of attention comparable to that dedicated to the corresponding German symphonic repertoire, or to the instrumental repertoire of the 17th and 18th centuries.

The symposium will be of particular interest to oboists, but all researchers and performers of 19th century music are cordially invited.

Languages of the symposium: Italian and English