Week of Sound | Flying Dragons, Mythical Battles and Transforming Carriages

Spectacular visual effects were no less popular on the early modern stage than they are in Hollywood movies today. Local audiences and international tourists flocked to Italian opera houses not only to hear the top star singers and latest compositions but to watch scenes such as Hercules subdue Cerberus with a club at the gates of the Underworld, Roman empress Poppea making a grand entrance on a crocodile chariot and a triumphal carriage transforming into an amphitheatre. In 1699, opera director Andrea Perrucci wrote: ‘Today, the art of stage effects has reached such a degree of excellence that we see what our eyes can hardly believe, and it’s done with such care and skill that it seems to happen by magic.’

This talk will explore the astonishing art of early eighteenth-century stage spectacle, the main types of effects, how they worked and how they were used. It will examine the role of stage effects in the competition between opera houses for ticket sales and for international reputation. Finally, it will take a dive into the cultural context and the reasons for the early modern audience’s fascination with and continuous demand for ever more elaborate stage effects.

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Host or Publisher Edinburgh College of Art