Dante and Performance

The Italian Cultural Institute of Washington and the Department of Italian Studies and the Global Medieval Studies Program at Georgetown University, College of Arts and Sciences, present a conversation on "Dante's performance: music, dance and drama in the Commedia" a book by Professor Francesco Ciabattoni.

Join us, the author, and Professor Kristina Olson of George Mason University to discover more about the role of music in the Divina Commedia, complemented by the musical interpretations of Dr. Riccardo Pratesi.

Professor Ciabattoni’s book explores Dante Alighieri’s Divina Commedia under a new light by revealing elements inspired by processions, pageants, liturgical drama, psalm singing, and dance performance. The manuscript showcases the influence of medieval theories of performing arts on Dante’s work and offers an interpretation of Dante’s frame of mind in presenting his literary journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven to his contemporaries.

LOCATION

Embassy of Italy
3000 Whitehaven Street, NW
Washington DC 20008

REGISTRATION REQUIRED

PLEASE NOTE: RESERVATIONS ACCEPTED EXCLUSIVELY THROUGH EVENTBRITE.COM. NO PHONE OR EMAIL RSVP AVAILABLE.

Please note that all registered guests must provide their full legal name for accurate event records. Duplicate or incomplete registrations will be rejected.

Please

ABOUT FRANCESCO CIABATTONI

Francesco Ciabattoni is the Term Professor in Italian Literature in Georgetown College, and a specialist in medieval Italian literature. He received his Laurea in Lettere from the Università degli Studi di Torino and his PhD in Italian Studies from Johns Hopkins University. Dr Ciabattoni’s research focus lies on Dante and the middle ages, Petrarch, Boccaccio, and the interplay of music and literature. Prof. Ciabattoni has published three monographs: Dante’s Performance Music, Dance, and Drama in the “Commedia” (Berlin, De Gruyter, 2024); “La citazione è sintomo d'amore. Cantautori e memoria letteraria.” (Rome, Carocci, 2016); and, “Dante’s Journey to Polyphony” (Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2010), in addition to several edited volumes among which “L'Editio Princeps della Commedia” (Foligno 1472)” (edited by Francesco Ciabattoni & Alessandro Scarsella, Milan: Biblion, 2022) and “Dante Alive: Essays on a Cultural Icon” (edited by Francesco Ciabattoni & Simone Marchesi, Routledge, 2022). Prof. Ciabattoni has also published a collection of original poems (Paradosso terrestre, Il filo, 2008) as well as individual poems in such journals as Gradiva, In forma di parole, Breviario poetico, and Poesia. Prof. Ciabattoni is also the founder and director of https://theitaliansong.com/, the first bilingual website on Italian songwriters, with critical commentaries and translations.

ABOUT KRISTINA OLSON
Kristina Olson is Associate Professor in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages, in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at George Mason University.
Her training is in medieval Italian literature, specifically on the "tre corone" (the "three crowns") of Italian literature: Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio. Her teaching approach focuses on understanding medieval conceptions and her essays explore the later reception of Dante and Boccaccio in artistic and literary adaptations and translations. Among her published work there are the following: (University of Toronto Press, 2014), a monograph on Dante’s influence on Boccaccio through the lens of "cortesia" (chivalry, courtesy) in the late medieval period; , II edition*, edited with Christopher Kleinhenz, of the series on Approaches to Teaching World Literature (New York, Modern Language Association, 2020); *, edited with Francesco Ciabattoni and Elsa Filosa (Ravenna: Longo Editore, 2015); and, “Open City: Seven Writers in Post-War Rome”, edited with William Weaver (South Royalton, VT, Steerforth Press, 1999).

Professor Olson is Editor-in-Chief of and an Associate Editor of Digital Dante, and aothor of an Audible Original Book on Boccaccio’s Decameron which is part of the Great Courses "Books That Matter" series. Finally, Professor Olson created and taught an original Italian language course program for the Teaching Company (Great Courses) titled "Learning Italian: Step by Step and Region by Region," .

ABOUT RICCARDO PRATESI

Riccardo Pratesi graduated in Physics from the University of Florence and received his PhD in History of Science from the University of Pisa. His research has focused on Dante’s traces in the history of science, with particular attention to Galileo’s studies on Dante’s Inferno. On Galileo and Dante he published the book . For two decades he collaborated with the Museo Galileo in Florence on issues related to the dissemination of the history of science. His profound knowledge of the Divine Comedy, which he knows completely by heart, makes him one of the best reciters of Dante’s verses, appreciated on many official occasions in Italy and abroad. Dr Pratesi teaches mathematics at the Antonio Meucci institute in Florence.

Host or Publisher Italian Cultural Institute in Washington