Petrobelli Pierluigi, *18 October 1932 Padua, †1 March 2012 Venice, Italian musicologist. Between 1952 and 1956, he studied composition with A. Pedrollo at the Liceo Musicale in Padua; in 1957, he graduated from the University of Rome with a thesis entitled Contributi alla conoscenza della personalità e dell’opera di G. Tartini, written under the supervision of L. Ronga. As a Fulbright and American-Italian Society scholar, he studied musicology under O. Strunk, A. Mendel, M. Babbit, L. Lockwood, and J.M. Knapp at Princeton University (obtained his diploma in 1961); then, thanks to an Italian-American Fellowship, he conducted research on Tartini at Harvard University in Cambridge and the University of California in Berkeley. In 1963–64, he taught music in Italian secondary schools, in 1964–69 he was an archivist at the Istituto Nazionale di Studi Verdiani in Parma, and in 1980 he became its director. From 1968 to 1972, he lectured on music history at the University of Parma (based in Cremona); from 1970 to 1973, he was librarian at the conservatory in Pesaro. From 1973 to 1976, he was a lecturer and, from 1977 to 1980, an associate professor of musicology at King’s College London; from 1981 to 1983, he was a full professor at the University of Perugia, and from 1983, he taught music history at La Sapienza University in Rome. As a visiting professor, he lectured at the University of California, Berkeley in 1988 and at Harvard University in 1996. From 1968 to 1972, Petrobelli was editor of “Rivista Italiana di Musicologia”, and from 1973 he collaborated with the editorial staff of Répertoire International des Sources Musicales. He was active in the International Musicological Society. Petrobelli was the editor-in-chief of “Studi verdiani” which he founded in 1982, and a member of the Accademia Filarmonica Romana, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, American Musicological Society, and Royal Musical Association. After his death, his library collection was transferred to the Fondazione Giorgio Cini and the Istituto Nazionale degli Studi Verdiani.
Petrobelli is one of the most outstanding musicologists of the Italian post-war generation. He was the organizer of many international conferences and research projects, as well as the president and founder of prestigious musicological institutions. His academic interests were very broad, covering various musical eras from the Middle Ages to the present day. His focused mostly on composers such as Tartini, Verdi, Mozart, Haydn, Gluck, Dallapiccola, and Busoni. He devoted most of his work to 18th-century Italian music, mainly opera and instrumental music. His list of publications includes over 80 articles, mainly in conference proceedings, commemorative books, and music magazines.
Literature: Verdi–Studien. Pierluigi Petrobelli zum 60. Geburtstag, eds. S. Döhring, W. Osthoff, A. Jacobshagen, Munich 2000; Pensieri per un Maestro, Festschrift, eds. S. La Via, R. Parker, Turin 2002; G. Pestelli, Per Pierluigi Petrobelli, “Studi verdiani”, XXII, 2010-2011; Giuseppe Verdi. Dalla musica alla messinscena: in ricordo di Pierluigi Petrobelli, eds. F. Piperno, D. Mastrangelo, M. Rita, Parma 2015.
Writings:
Tartini, le sue idee e il suo tempo (a collection of articles from 1962–72), Lucca 1992
L’Ermiona di Pio Enea degli Obizzi e i primi spettacoli d’opera veneziani, “Quaderni della Rassegna Musicale” no. 3, Florence 1965
F. Manelli. Documenti e osservazioni, “Chigiana” XXIV, 1967
G. Tartini, le fonti biografiche, Milan 1968
Some Dates for Bartolino da Padova, in: Studies in Music History, Festschrift for O. Strunk, ed. H. Powers, Princeton 1968
Music in the Theater. Essays on Verdi and Other Composers (a collection of articles from 1969–92), Princeton 1994
L’Alceste di Calzabigi e Gluck e l’illuminismo e l’opéra, “Quadrivium” XII, 1971
Un cantante fischiato e le appoggiature di mezza battuta. Cronaca teatrale e prassi esecutiva alla metà del ’700, in: Studies in Renaissance and Baroque Music, Festschrift for A. Mendel, ed. R.L. Marshall, Kassel 1974
La musica nelle cattedrali e nelle città, in: Storia della cultura veneta. Il Trecento, eds. G. Folena and M. Berengo, Vicenza 1976
„Don Giovanni” in Italia. La fortuna dell’opera e la sua influenza, “Analecta Musicologica” XVIII, 1978
Mozart in Italy, “Mozart-Jahrbuch” 1978/79
Haydn e lo „Sturm und Drang”, “Chigiana” XXXVI, 1979
Music in the Theatre, à propos of „Aida” (act III), in: Drama, Dance and Music, ed. J. Redmond, Cambridge 1980
J. Dowland e la musica a Firenze alla fine del ’500, in: Firenze e la Toscana dei Medici nell’Europa del ’500, vol. 2, ed. G. Garfagnini, Florence 1983
„Il re pastore”, una serenata, “Mozart-Jahrbuch” 1984/85
Pergolesi and Ghezzi Revisited, in: Music in the Classic Period, Festschrift for B. Brook, ed. A.W. Atlas, New York 1985
Goldoni at Esterhaza. The Story of His Librettos Set by Haydn, in the proceedings of the International Haydn Congress, ed. E. Badura-Skoda, Munich 1986
„Il re pastore” von J.A. Hasse, in: Dresdner Operntraditionen, ed. G. Stephan, Dresden 1986
La cultura di L. Mozart e la sua „Violinschule”, “Mozart-Jahrbuch” 1989/90
On Dante and Italian Music. Three Moments, “Cambridge Opera Journal” II, 1990
Tre poemi, in: Studi su L. Dallapiccola, ed. A. Quattrocchi, Lucca 1993
Dallapiccola e Busoni, in: Dallapiccola. Letture e prospettive, ed. M. De Santis, Lucca 1997
Mozart e l’opera buffa, “Analecta Musicologica” XXXI, 1998
Donizetti e i classici viennesi, «Atti dei Convegni Lincei» CLVI, Rome 2000
La musica in Italia nel Settecento, in: Italienische Instrumentalmusik des 18. Jahrhunderts. Alte und neue Protagonisten, ed. E. Careri, Laaber 2002
Editions:
W.A. Mozart „Il rè pastore”. Kritische Berichte, with W. Rehm, in: Neue Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke II/5, vol. 9, Kassel 1985
Editions:
A Thematic Catalogue of a Manuscript Collection of Eighteenth Century Italian Instrumental Music in the University of California, Berkeley, Music Library, with V. Duckles and M. Elmer, Berkeley 1963
Studi corelliani, the proceedings of the congress in Fusignano from 1968, with A. Cavicchi and O. Mischiati, «Quaderni della “Rivista Italiana di Musicologia”» III, Florence 1972
Nuovissimi studi corelliani, the proceedings of the congress in Fusignano from 1980, with S. Durante, «Quaderni della “Rivista Italiana di Musicologia”» VII, Florence 1982;
Carteggio Verdi–Ricordi, vol. 1, 1880–1881, with M. Di Gregorio Casati and C.M. Mossa, Parma 1988
Storia della musica al Santo di Padova, with S. Durante, Vicenza 1990
Studi corelliani IV, the proceedings of the congress in Fusignano from 1986, with G. Staffieri, «Quaderni della “Rivista Italiana di Musicologia”» XXII, Florence 1990
Messa per Rossini. La storia, il testo, la musica, with M. Girardi, Milan 1988
La realizzazione scenica dello spettacolo verdiano, with F. Della Seta, Parma 1996
