{"id":{"repo_id":"de-montfort","oai_identifier":"oai:dora.dmu.ac.uk:2086/25024"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/de-montfort/oai:dora.dmu.ac.uk:2086/25024","repository":{"repo_id":"de-montfort","name":"De Montfort University","base_url":"https://dora.dmu.ac.uk/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"The opera house and cultural policy: the post-war politics of La Scala, Milan","abstract":"This is a study of La Scala, the opera house in Milan, and its relationship with cultural policy-making and political power, since the end of the Second World War. The study provides an original interpretation of Gramsci 's writings in relation to cultural policy analysis, and applies this interpretation to the study of the cultural institution. The research is based on primary sources from the archives of La Scala (including the board minutes) and the Civic Archives in Milan that had ne er been utilised before. Together with in-depth interviews of key figures, they pro ide insights into the political life of La Scala that had previously remained largely hidden. This study is not a history of La Scala since 1945. Its focus is on elements of change in the relationship of the opera house with political power. It thus examines in close detail what can be defined as 'turning points' in this relationship: the effort to break with the I·ascist past in the post-Liberation period the attempts to democratise the institution in the late 1960s and privatisation in the 1990s. The post-war period is studied in historical context through a preliminary reconstruction of the key turning points in the r lationship between the opera house and political power in Milan since the seventeenth century, including the cultural reform of the opera house in 1898, the creation of the Ente Autonomo in 1920 and the Fascistisation of the theatre in the 1930s. The case study chosen aims to provide a robust and transferable method of analysis that can be applied to the opera houses of Europe and b yond, as well as to other cultural institutions. The thesis argues that La cala has been the site of ignificant political struggles that can be interpreted a attempts to construct a ne hegemonic project. These attempts have led, under changing historical circum lances to the development of a cultural politics of the institution autonomous from national cultural policy-making. However, political control at La cala has tended to be un table and provisional. The thesis examine the reasons for thi historical pattern.","abstract_html":"This is a study of La Scala, the opera house in Milan, and its relationship with cultural policy-making and political power, since the end of the Second World War. The study provides an original interpretation of Gramsci 's writings in relation to cultural policy analysis, and applies this interpretation to the study of the cultural institution. The research is based on primary sources from the archives of La Scala (including the board minutes) and the Civic Archives in Milan that had ne er been utilised before. Together with in-depth interviews of key figures, they pro ide insights into the political life of La Scala that had previously remained largely hidden. This study is not a history of La Scala since 1945. Its focus is on elements of change in the relationship of the opera house with political power. It thus examines in close detail what can be defined as 'turning points' in this relationship: the effort to break with the I·ascist past in the post-Liberation period the attempts to democratise the institution in the late 1960s and privatisation in the 1990s. The post-war period is studied in historical context through a preliminary reconstruction of the key turning points in the r lationship between the opera house and political power in Milan since the seventeenth century, including the cultural reform of the opera house in 1898, the creation of the Ente Autonomo in 1920 and the Fascistisation of the theatre in the 1930s. The case study chosen aims to provide a robust and transferable method of analysis that can be applied to the opera houses of Europe and b yond, as well as to other cultural institutions. The thesis argues that La cala has been the site of ignificant political struggles that can be interpreted a attempts to construct a ne hegemonic project. These attempts have led, under changing historical circum lances to the development of a cultural politics of the institution autonomous from national cultural policy-making. However, political control at La cala has tended to be un table and provisional. The thesis examine the reasons for thi historical pattern.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Merli, Paola"],"institution":"De Montfort University","degree_name":"PhD","degree_level":"Doctoral","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2007,"date_issued":"2007-08","date_published":"2007-08","updated_at":"2026-07-24T06:18:37Z","subjects":[],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":["https://dora.dmu.ac.uk/bitstreams/8dd3d011-f822-4660-8175-f58ecdcc2342/download"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":null,"outbound_label":null,"outbound_source":null},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Merli, Paola"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2007-08"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["Faculty of Arts, Design and Humanities"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["De Montfort University"]},{"key":"dc:relation.isreferencedby","label":"Dc Relation Isreferencedby","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/2086/25024"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis or dissertation"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["Doctoral"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["PhD"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["https://dora.dmu.ac.uk/bitstreams/8dd3d011-f822-4660-8175-f58ecdcc2342/download"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://dora.dmu.ac.uk/bitstreams/13f7d1cd-ccaa-484b-ad07-bf064e8039a2/download"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This is a study of La Scala, the opera house in Milan, and its relationship with cultural policy-making and political power, since the end of the Second World War. 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The post-war period is studied in historical context through a preliminary reconstruction of the key turning points in the r lationship between the opera house and political power in Milan since the seventeenth century, including the cultural reform of the opera house in 1898, the creation of the Ente Autonomo in 1920 and the Fascistisation of the theatre in the 1930s. The case study chosen aims to provide a robust and transferable method of analysis that can be applied to the opera houses of Europe and b yond, as well as to other cultural institutions. The thesis argues that La cala has been the site of ignificant political struggles that can be interpreted a attempts to construct a ne hegemonic project. These attempts have led, under changing historical circum lances to the development of a cultural politics of the institution autonomous from national cultural policy-making. However, political control at La cala has tended to be un table and provisional. 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