The Serenata of Baroque Period at the Court of the Austrian Habsburgs in the Context of Italian Cultural Expansion

Abstract

Relevance of the study. Contemporary performance has recently increasingly turned to ancient music, striving for historical authenticity in musical interpretations. In this regard, important questions arise, related both to the technical side of interpretation and deepening into the historical processes that influenced the emergence of certain genres, as well as the context of the creation of baroque works. «Archaeological excavations» are becoming justified, aimed at understanding the historical processes that influenced the formation of the baroque genre system, as well as the development of European musical culture in general. Of particular importance is the study of the specifics of such works as serenatas, which are difficult for genre identification due to their similarity with other works established in the genre coordinate system, such as opera and cantata.
 Main objective(s) — to analyze the historical and cultural processes that influenced the emergence and popularization of the baroque serenata at the Habsburg court, to identify the characteristic features of the genre, to show the significance of the serenata for the formation and development of musical art in Vienna.
 Methodology the methodology is based on cultural-historical and structural-functional analysis, which allow for a comprehensive consideration of the issues of art and politics and provide for highlighting among the colorful life of the Viennese aristocrats important trends that were related to the trends of the era and had a certain influence on the musical environment. Genre analysis was used to determine the specific features of works "in occasione".
 Results/findings and Conclusions. The article considers the musical and theatrical genre of the Baroque era, the serenata, popular in the aristocratic environment. The characteristic features inherent in the works of the serenate type are revealed, which makes it possible to identify them as a separate genre. The fate of the serenata at the Vienna court of the Habsburg emperors is traced, starting from the first third of the 17th to the middle of the 18th centuries, the historical and political context of the life of the Austrian sovereigns is highlighted. It is shown that the spread of the serenata genre in Vienna occurred as a result of the Italian cultural expansion associated with the prolongation of the Counter-Reformation and the frequent marriages of emperors with princesses of influential Italian houses. It is indicated that the consequences of the Italian expansion influenced the further fate of the development of musical art in Vienna. On the example of the compositions of A. Bertali, M. A. Cesti, G. Bononcini, A. Caldara and others, the place of compositions in occasione at court is shown, the variety of their genre definitions associated with certain circumstances of their performance is revealed.