“Se nell’Erebo discendi, / Io ti seguo” The Fortunes of ­Spontini’s La Vestale in Italy

This is the study of the spread in Italy of La Vestale (1807) by Spontini and de Jouy (Paris, Académie impériale de musique), first in its Italian translation (Naples, San Carlo, 1811), then by his epigones, Pacini and Romanelli (Milan, Scala, 1823), Mercadante and Cammarano (Naples, San Carlo, 1840), from a comparative and historical perspective. It looks into the development of the characters, plot and music, and also into versification problems.