Last summer the first ever Summer Humanities Academy allowed 15 students and two professors to spend five weeks in Italy studying the language and music. Our home base was the college's Daniel Center villa in Genoa where for 25 years Clemson architecture students have gathered for a semester of study and travel during the school year. However, this summer was new in that it was during the summer AND featured classes outside of architecture.
Remi Lanzoni from the Department of Languages, assisted by his wife Kristen, taught Italian language courses for both beginners and intermediate students, and I taught Music Appreciation -with an emphasis in Italian music of the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Baroque-and Italian Opera.
I chose places for the music students to visit for their general historical value as well as for their musical history. In Venice, the home of Baroque composer Antonio Vivaldi, we visited St. Mark's Square and Cathedral, shopped along the narrow streets, and took gondola rides. We also attended a riveting performance of Vivaldi's Four Seasons in a centuries-old church, which added greatly to our understanding and enjoyment of the music.
In Parma we met Stefano Rabaglia, Director of Orchestras at the Parma Conservatory (where Toscanini earned his diploma in cello performance). Mr. Rabaglia showed us around Parma proper and also took us to outlying areas to visit Verdi's birthplace, his estate, and the theatre that was built in his name. We also attended a performance by the conservatory orchestra in the courtyard of its medieval abbey home. Earlier that day, as I attended the rehearsal and toured the Toscanini museum, my students ran off to Modena to visit the Ferrari factory and showroom! On the last day our host drove some of us to Cremona, home of Stradivarius and other great violin makers.
Rome was the destination of our third and final trip. One highlight was attending a performance of Rossini's Barber of Seville in the beautiful Rome Opera House. We had studied the opera beforehand so, even though the performance was in Italian (with no English subtitles!), we managed to understand and enjoy most it. We had our own box and, although it was quite warm inside the theatre, we had a most memorable evening. On the way back from Rome we spent a relaxing day in Florence visiting and shopping.
Although we had fun traveling, this accounted for only 12 days of our five week stay. For the remaining time we had classes, studied, and got to know the city of Genoa. Our study of Italian music was supplemented with three two-hour excursions. Clemson architecture professor Dr. Joe Burton, himself finishing up two years as resident professor in Genoa, took all 15 students on tours of the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque parts of town, just as my students studied these periods in their Music Appreciation classes. Everyone attended a performance of Verdi's La Traviata right in Genoa and, on another evening, my students and I attended a concert by the local professional orchestra.
Not only was this the first time in Europe for many of the students, it was my first time as well, and I am eager to return. The opportunity to experience the culture of Italy and the context in which the music we studied was created added a wonderful dimension to the adventure.