82: Lydia Carlisi

My guest today is Professor of Music Theory, Lydia Carlisi.

She studied in Rome (Università di Roma 2/Tor Vergata) completing in 2010 a Bachelor Thesis on Leonardo Leo's Partimenti under the direction of Professor Giorgio Sanguinetti.

In 2015 she completed a Master in Music Theory in the class of Prof. Dr. Ludwig Holtmeier at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg (DE) with a thesis on Gaspare Selvaggi's «Trattato di armonia» (1823). During this time she was awarded a DAAD scholarship.

She worked at creating the Neapolitan canon project at the university of the arts Bern and she is now professor for music theory at the Conservatorio of Lugano, Switzerland. Her upcoming PhD thesis focuses on the French reception of Partimento.

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1:02 When was the Paris Conservatory founded? 2:39 Was Italian music very influential in France at the time? 3:26 Did France have it’s own music tradition separate from Italy? 4:02 How and why was the Paris Conservatory founded? 4:56 What happened in 1799? 5:47 Emanuele Imbimbo’s background 7:12 Fenaroli’s popularity in France 8:38 On French music theory 8:52 Talking about Honoré Langlé 9:32 Was Niccolò Piccinni the first head of the Paris Conservatory? 10:23 Did the French government send people to Naples to procure Italian music materials? 13:27 Was the Paris Conservatory interested also in German music at the time? 14:10 Gaspare Selvaggi’s massive collection of Neapolitan composers 14:55 Did people like to collect music scores? 15:33 Did the Paris Conservatory copy the Neapolitan model of Solfeggio and Partimenti? 18:02 Was the Paris Conservatory Solfeggio different from the Neapolitan Solfeggio? 19:50 Did other conservatories around the world copy the model of the Paris Conservatory? 20:46 On the separation of subjects within the Paris Conservatory curriculum 21:05 On Luigi Cherubini’s background and training 25:30 Was the word “partimenti” found in any of the French texts 26:18 Did Partimenti get “reborn” in France in the middle of the 19th century? 27:28 How did they learn counterpoint in the Paris Conservatory? 28:07 Did Choron have any influence on the Paris Conservatory? 29:03 Was partimenti viewed as old-fashioned or incomplete according to François-Joseph Fétis at the Paris Conservatory? 30:22 Was the Paris Conservatory approach to harmony similar to the Neapolitan method? 31:02 Were only composers and accompanists the ones who practiced improvisation? 32:00 Who was responsible for the fragmentation of the Neapolitan method in the Paris Conservatory? 33:10 Did accompanists like Debussy learn how to do “partimenti”-like exercises? 34:20 Were accompanists only practicing chords? 35:48 What were the important pedagogical books that the students would use at the Paris Conservatory? 36:40 Did the Charles-Simon Catel book erase the Neapolitan view of harmony? 37:43 What do you teach at the mentiParti? 39:07 How is the Partimenti composition class different from a more orthodox composition class? 39:53 What books can you recommend to people interested in developing their compositional training? 41:08 How do you improve your written counterpoint? 41:26 What are some basics for counterpoint that beginners can use? 43:12 Is renaissance-style counterpoint useful for learning galant music? 43:48 Is partimento counterpoint considered strict? 44:29 Are fugues at the end of the counterpoint study? 45:54 How do you introduce orchestration into composition study? 46:46 What are some common mistakes when learning the Neapolitan tradition? 48:05 Do you have unlearn a lot of information when learning partimento? 48:27 Who are your favorite Neapolitan composers? 49:00 Do you have favorite Partimenti? 49:29 What is the future for Partimento research? 51:06 Did Bach have Durante scores? 51:35 Is Partimento theory applicable for the 21st century? 52:22 If you could reform music education, how would you do it? 53:43 Can you learn to compose as an adult or is it too late? 54:37 Wrapping up