Operatic Airwaves

Antonio Gramsci noted that fascism was torn between American Fordism and tradition, ruralism and modernization. Nowhere was this struggle between tradition and modernity more audible than in broadcasts of Italian opera, in which the operatic canon (associated with an established, albeit constructed, history in which the nation maintained a measure of dominance over European culture) intersected with modern technology. At a time when distance was the primary barrier to the fascist regime’s policies of bonifica (the preferred term for the regime’s projects of agricultural and human reclamation) and “going to the people,” opera broadcasts proved to be a key tool for fostering a national identity.

Drawing on archival sources as well as recent scholarship on transnational fascism, this paper demonstrates that opera broadcasts were, from the inception of Italian radio in 1924, central to fascism’s global project. With more broadcasting hours in the first decade of Italian radio than jazz, popular and folk music combined, opera played an outsized role in shaping the Italian radio network and its programming. By 1930, network officials were under significant pressure to expand their transmission of Italian culture, both to those of Italian descent (so-called “Italians abroad”) and to listeners who, driven by a love for opera, might be moved to sympathize with fascist political ideals. Despite the unique challenges they presented, due in part to the centrality of images to the operatic experience, opera broadcasts offered unparalleled value for cultural education that could appeal to listeners both within and beyond national boundaries. Fascist officials argued that radio broadcasts had the power to transport listeners into the heart of the Italian opera house, regardless of their actual location. This illusion aimed to foster a shared musical and cultural experience among listeners, reinforcing the ideology of Italian cultural unity across the globe.