Abstract

[Trial. History. Memory. Notes on La sentenza by Giacomo Manzoni (1960)] Traditionally categorized as one of the first examples of musical theatre of the avant-garde post-Weber era in Italy, La sentenza by Giacomo Manzoni (1960) represents a characteristic demonstration of the path taken by the Milan composer to explore the thematic traditions of law and justice systems through research and experimental music. The interpretation taken from Foucault’s material - the idea of heterotopia seen as “another space” that suspends, neutralizes or inverts the relationship that it depicts - endeavouring to analyze some aspects of the opera’s musical dramaturgy by aiming to highlight the complex plot that connects the plurality of individual narratives to the “monopolistic truth” of the law and its foundation. The backdrop of La sentenza expressed the common need of an entire generation to leave behind the horrors of the Second World War and attribute an equal meaning to the anxiety of political renewal and democratic participation which began with the new constitutional order.