“MAD SCENE” IN OPERA: DEFINITION ISSUES
Operatic mad scenes in European musicology have long been the subject of scientific reflection. Dozens of publications by both musicologists and scientists of other specialties (culturologists, philosophers, psychiatrists) are devoted to this phenomenon. A different picture is observed in Russian musicology, where the theme of opera madness qualified as terra incognita . A limited terminology base is a peculiarity of foreign works. Meanwhile, their conclusions are not universal, but are applicable to specific historical epochs and national traditions, in particular, to Italian operas of the first half of the 19th century. Due to the complexity of constructing a music-based typology of insanity, scientists focus on the study of verbal sources, namely, the texts of the libretto.