Verdi in the Age of Italian RomanticismProfessor Kimbell's classic study illuminates the first fifteen years of Verdi's composing career, the era that culminated in his trio of masterpieces, Rigoletto, Il Trovatore and La Traviata. Verdi had become an acknowledged master of the peculiar brand of Romanticism that flourished in Italy in the 1830s and 40s; this background is examined in its political, social and literary light, and his consequent transformation of Italian operatic conventions is analysed. The four parts of Professor Kimbell's book range over biographical, documentary, literary and close-analytical ground. Attention is given to individual operas in order to show how Verdi assimilated and developed the Romantic tradition in his work. |
Contents
Verdis Italy | 3 |
Theatrical censorship | 23 |
The operatic experience | 33 |
Dramatic principles and musical form in early ottocento opera | 62 |
A documentary history of the early operas | 89 |
Launching a career | 91 |
The genesis of an opera Ernani | 113 |
Two overcrowded years | 137 |
The early galley operas Ernani to Attila | 346 |
Macbeth and its satellites | 363 |
Verdi à la parisienne Jérusalem and La Battaglia di | 385 |
Luisa Miller and Stiffelio | 400 |
The popular trilogy Rigoletto Il Trovatore La Traviata | 418 |
Nabucco a risorgimento opera | 445 |
Verdi and French Romanticism Ernani | 460 |
Byronismo I Due Foscari and Il Corsaro | 485 |
Verdi the idealist the Florence Macbeth | 169 |
Opera as a business | 190 |
Collaboration with Cammarano | 220 |
Bouts with the censor | 253 |
Giuseppinas operas Il Trovatore and La Traviata | 280 |
The development of Verdis musical language | 305 |
The first operas Oberto and Un Giorno di Regno | 307 |
Italian grand opera Nabucco and I Lombardi alla Prima Crociata | 326 |
The impact of Shakespeare the Florence Macbeth | 516 |
La Battaglia di Legnano the opera of the revolution | 561 |
Essays with Schiller | 575 |
The originality of Rigoletto | 623 |
Verdi and realism La Traviata | 642 |
Notes | 671 |
692 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Abbiati Allegro already Alzira aria artist Attila Barezzi Battaglia di Legnano beautiful become Busseto Byron cabaletta cadence Cammarano cantabile Carlo Carnival season censor character chorus coda composer contract Copialettere Corsaro donna dramatic Due Foscari duet emotional ensemble episode Ernani example expressive Fenice finale Flauto formal harmony Ibid idiom Il Corsaro Il Trovatore impresario Italian opera Italy kind La Scala La Traviata Lady Macbeth Lanari Legnano letter librettist libretto Lombardi London Lucca Luisa Miller lyrical maestro Maffei Masnadieri melody Merelli Milan Mocenigo movement Muzio Nabucco Naples Oberto orchestral ottocento passion pattern performance phrase Piave Piave's play poet première Presidenza recitative rehearsals Ricordi Rigoletto risorgimento role Rome Rossini Scala scena scene Schiller score Shakespeare Signor sing singers Solera solo song stage Stendhal Stiffelio Strings style suggest tempo texture theatre theatrical theme things tion Traviata Trovatore Venice Verdi's verses Violetta voice words write wrote