"Rinfreschi e composizioni poetiche": The feste di ballo Tradition in Late Eighteenth-Century Naples

This essay studies the emergence of the feste di ballo tradition in late-eighteenth-century Naples. It is based upon the examination of extant music, production records, giornali and Gennaro Magri's treatise, Trattato teorico-prattico di ballo (1779). These diverse sources reveal that the feste di ballo were compelling representations of thriving dance practices, which complemented and rivaled the renowned operatic traditions of the city, whether as theatrical or social modes of spectacle. The tradition of Neapolitan feste di ballo offers, moreover, compelling points of comparison to the contemporary Venetian operatic ball and festino and the Parisian bals publics.