The Operas Of Verdi

Abramo Basevi published his study of Verdi’s operas in Florence in 1859, in the middle of the composer’s career. The first thorough, systematic examination of Verdi’s operas, it covered the twenty works produced between 1842 and 1857—from Nabucco and Macbeth to Il trovatore, La traviata, and Aroldo. But while Basevi’s work is still widely cited and discussed—and nowhere more so than in the English-speaking world—no translation of the entire volume has previously been available. The Operas of Giuseppe Verdi fills this gap, at the same time providing an invaluable critical apparatus and commentary on Basevi’s work. As a contemporary of Verdi and a trained musician, erudite scholar, and critic conversant with current and past operatic repertories, Basevi presented pointed discussion of the operas and their historical context, offering today’s readers a unique window into many aspects of operatic culture, and culture in general, in Verdi’s Italy. He wrote with precision on formal aspects, use of melody and orchestration, and other compositional features, which made his study an acknowledged model for the growing field of music criticism. Carefully annotated and with an engaging introduction and detailed glossary by editor Stefano Castelvecchi, this translation illuminates Basevi’s musical and historical references as well as aspects of his language that remain difficult to grasp even for Italian readers. Making Basevi’s important contribution to our understanding of Verdi and his operas available to a broad audience for the first time, The Operas of Giuseppe Verdi will delight scholars and opera enthusiasts alike.

Now a byword for beauty, Verdi’s operas were far from universally acclaimed when they reached London in the second half of the nineteenth century. Why did some critics react so harshly? Who were they and what biases and prejudices animated them? When did their antagonistic attitude change? And why did opera managers continue to produce Verdi’s operas, in spite of their alleged worthlessness? Massimo Zicari’s Verdi in Victorian London reconstructs the reception of Verdi’s operas in London from 1844, when a first critical account was published in the pages of The Athenaeum, to 1901, when Verdi’s death received extensive tribute in The Musical Times. In the 1840s, certain London journalists were positively hostile towards the most talked-about representative of Italian opera, only to change their tune in the years to come. The supercilious critic of The Athenaeum, Henry Fothergill Chorley, declared that Verdi’s melodies were worn, hackneyed and meaningless, his harmonies and progressions crude, his orchestration noisy. The scribes of The Times, The Musical World, The Illustrated London News, and The Musical Times all contributed to the critical hubbub. Yet by the 1850s, Victorian critics, however grudging, could neither deny nor ignore the popularity of Verdi’s operas. Over the final three decades of the nineteenth century, moreover, London’s musical milieu underwent changes of great magnitude, shifting the manner in which Verdi was conceptualized and making room for the powerful influence of Wagner. Nostalgic commentators began to lament the sad state of the Land of Song, referring to the now departed "palmy days of Italian opera." Zicari charts this entire cultural constellation. Verdi in Victorian London is required reading for both academics and opera aficionados. Music specialists will value a historical reconstruction that stems from a large body of first-hand source material, while Verdi lovers and Italian opera addicts will enjoy vivid analysis free from technical jargon. For students, scholars and plain readers alike, this book is an illuminating addition to the study of music reception.

A translation of Baldini's acclaimed study of verdi's operatic masterpieces, with new editorial additions.

An analysis of Verdi's entire operatic output done in great depth and detail and based on exhaustive research in European archives. The first volume of this monumental study is a reissue. Two additional volumes are in preparation.

This is the first full-length study of all of Verdi's operas. This work of the British music critic Charles Osborne covers Verdi's complete operatic oeuvre--including the missing choral works, songs, a string quartet, and the Messa da Requiem. The operas of Shakespeare's Falstaff and Othello show how the legendary composer added both depth and dignity to the Italian operatic repertoire. In this volume, every Verdi opera is explored from four points of view: 1) Verdi's life at the time each was written; 2) the story, and the way it links with the music; 3) the libretto and librettist, and Verdi's relations with his publishers; 4) and the music itself, analyzed with examples from the score.

"This book presents a great deal of new material. It also presents new interpretations of materials discussed earlier and elsewhere. As the editors point out in the introduction, discussion of opera has only in recent years taken on an analytical dimension. The scholars represented in this volume are among those at the forefront of the new critical and analytical movement. What they write is perhaps at times controversial, but it is always important."--William C. Holmes, University of California, Irvine "The editors' introduction to this collection. . . speaks eloquently for a richer and more varied approach to the analysis of opera. . . . The contributors are among the most accomplished scholars in nineteenth-century music studies. . . . More impressive is the depth and range of scholarship and analysis displayed. . . to the end of changing the historical and analytical stance toward the operas of Verdi and Wagner, by eschewing the partisan quarrels of the past and by the application of similar rigorous standards to each composer's music. . . . This volume will have a wide influence upon scholarly and analytical approaches to the music of Verdi and Wagner."--Richard Swift, University of California, Davis "This book presents a great deal of new material. It also presents new interpretations of materials discussed earlier and elsewhere. As the editors point out in the introduction, discussion of opera has only in recent years taken on an analytical dimension. The scholars represented in this volume are among those at the forefront of the new critical and analytical movement. What they write is perhaps at times controversial, but it is always important."--William C. Holmes, University of California, Irvine