There exists, under various names and guises since the late nineteenth century,  a common subject position constructed among Western gay men that engages power, agency, embodiment, sexual experience and marginalized identity in a way that sheds light on the essence of Wagner’s musical idiom and its lasting force in Western culture. Through analysis and close reading of instrumental passages from the end of the opening prelude to Lohengrin and the prelude to Act II of Die Walküre, this article constructs a non-essentialist gay-male subjectivity to explain the emotional force that Wagner’s use of tonality, harmony, theme, form and timbre achieve from this particular viewpoint. More specifically, the article traces the various teleologies of Wagner’s compositional practice and the ways in which these musical teleologies reinforce the explicit textual and dramatic centralities of sex and power in Wagner’s work, themselves dependent on these same centralities in contemporary culture.

Building on work by Karol Berger, this chapter analyses the lengthy final scene of Act 1 from Wagner’s Die Walküre (starting at Sieglinde’s re-entry right before ‘Schläfst du, Gast?‘) through the lens of the formal pattern common in Italian operas of the first half of the nineteenth century and known as la solita forma. The model not only serves to identify the various formal types Wagner uses over the course of this scene but also reveals an intense interaction between form and drama: the formal cues of the different stages of la solita forma, each with its specific dramaturgical implications, are shaped by the shifting dynamics in the game of seduction and recognition between the enamoured siblings Siegmund and Sieglinde.

Chapter 5 introduces a series of more concentrated studies on specific seasons of the feste di ballo. By the secondo Settecento, the feste were an annual characteristic spectacle within Neapolitan theatrical life. The initial years of the reign of Ferdinando and Maria Carolina witnessed an unprecedented breadth of artistic patronage with the migration of theatrical performances (tragic and comic) and the feste di ballo to the Reggia di Caserta, the opulent palace rivaling even Versailles in expanse and splendor. In particular, during the period of 1769–71, multiple feste were organized annually for the newly finished court theater at Caserta. Surviving archival documents in the Casa Reale Antica (fasc. 2221–2224) provide copious details of the transformation of the space into a vast area for dancing, including the contractual agreements with artistic personnel, financial summaries of the considerable expenses, and ephemera about these events. The archival sources convey in greater detail many of the broad references found in contemporary notices appearing in the Diario Ordinario and Notizie del Mondo. Taken together, these materials illuminate the far-reaching resonance and reception of the carnevale seasons at Caserta.

The findings of the present study are detailed in the concluding Chapter 8. They underline the place and prestige of the feste di ballo within the considerable artistic landscape of early modern Naples. The chapter briefly revisits and summarizes the significant larger social, political, and artistic contexts that promoted the growth and proliferation of the feste tradition. It also considers their resonance as emblems of Neapolitan aristocratic identity prior to the rise of Napoleon and the Republican ideals that dominated the continent at the end of the century. Finally, it situates the feste di ballo as a form of historical soundscape, placing emphasis on sonic frameworks within documentary accounts of Naples and its environs.

Chapter 1 offers a précis of the feste di ballo in Naples from the ascension of Carlo di Borbone in 1734 to the long reign of his son Ferdinando IV, whose Austrian consort, Maria Carolina, remained a significant patron in local artistic life. It considers the Neapolitan milieu against the backdrop of the wider European diffusion and patronage of social dance, especially in Paris (Carlo’s great-grandfather was Louis XIV), Milan, and Rome. The contemporary letters of Alessandro and Pietro Verri provide firsthand insights into the existence of similar feste di ballo, and their influence and social resonance in these cosmopolitan cities. The deep interest of Ferdinando and Maria Carolina from the very beginning of their reign in the second half of the eighteenth century encouraged their active engagement in the programming of feste di ballo. Their well-known passion for social dancing extended from the direct planning thereof to taking center stage in the public performance of the minuet and contradance, as well as requiring the study of dance for their children. These circumstances were meticulously documented in the contemporary periodicals Gazzetta Universale and Notizie del Mondo, and in the personal correspondence and diaries discussed here.

Chapter 4 focuses on treatises by Giambattista Dufort, Il Trattato del Ballo Nobile (1728), and Gennaro Magri, Trattato teorico-prattico di ballo (1779). Given the intentionally didactic nature of Dufort’s treatise and its concentration on the minuet, the presentation of the fundamentals, mechanics of the genre, and how to execute the mandatory steps are the primary points for discussion. Magri’s later treatise is a much broader reflection on the contemporary dance environment of Naples (including ample reference to the pantomime and grottesco traditions), and it mirrors the preference for the contradance that emerged in the latter part of the century. Accordingly, Magri concentrates on this more intricate social dance, not only providing the reader with detailed explanations of its content but also devising specific graphic notation paired to original music. This approach provides unprecedented insight into contemporary social dancing and its place within the aristocratic culture of Naples. Given Magri’s career as a primo ballerino in the grottesco tradition, the narrative references ongoing polemics with Charles LePicq (student of Noverre and principal exponent of pantomime style). Finally, Magri’s role at the royal festivities in the capital city and in Caserta is considered.

The sixth chapter covers a broader expanse of time, yet provides equally detailed descriptions of the feste, as the tradition returned to the Teatro di San Carlo in 1774. Responding to criticisms of both Carlo di Borbone (now king of Spain) and the Neapolitan Secretary of State Bernardo Tanucci (who provided the Spanish sovereign with detailed complaints about the lifestyles of his son and consort), the feste di ballo returned to the capital city and the royal theater. In the period 1774–86, the feste take on greater significance, not only as an instrumentum regni projecting positive images of sovereignty, but also as a financial bulwark against the significant losses incurred in virtually every opera season (meticulously detailed in memoranda contained in the fondo Archivio Farnesiano). Surviving financial documents, personnel rosters, and ledgers provide important details about the annual feste, ranging from fundamental questions about the physical transformation of the theater into a dance space to the retention of key artistic and managerial personnel. These sources relate closely to and often confirm many of the observations found in the historical accounts of Sara Goudar and Magri’s treatise Trattato teorico-prattico di ballo (1779), among others.