“Ma chi è il Direttore?”
Conductor(s) in Federico Fellini’s Prova d’orchestra
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19084163 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Malika Combes (corresponding author) |
| Translators | Maggie Jones (0000-0002-7148-487X) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Volume | 5 |
| Publication date | 2015-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Transposition (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2110-6134 • E-ISSN: 2110-6134 |
| Publisher | OpenEdition (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.4000/transposition.1352 |
| OpenAlex | W2201145489 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 7 |
In the year 1979, Federico Fellini’s film Prova d’orchestra came out both in cinemas and on television (it was originally made for the “small screen”). The film follows an Italian symphonic orchestra rehearsing under the direction of a foreign guest conductor who can only find fault with everything around him. The rehearsal is being recorded for television and interrupted by interviews, which only adds to the mounting tension and escalating power struggle, until the musicians finally turn against the conductor. Chaos ensues, until eventually the conductor regains control and is able to resume the rehearsal. As the film draws to a close, he is heard again rebuking the orchestra even more harshly, switching to German as his tone reaches a dictatorial intensity. Prova d’orchestra sparked considerable controversy in the politically charged context in Italy at the time, a period known as the “years of lead”. Here we will attempt to show that the situation in the music world—which was the true inspiration for the film—is not just a pretext for a political fable: using the figure of the “orchestra dictator”, Fellini also offers insight into his own work as an artist in a fast-changing world
Art · Art history · Dictator · Humanities · Movie theater · Performance art · Physics · Political science · Politics · Pretext · Symphony · Visual arts · Communism, Protests, Social Movements · Eastern European Communism and Reforms · History · Italian Fascism and Post-war Society · Law
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |