Synopses & Reviews
Abramo Basevi published his study of Verdiandrsquo;s operas in Florence in 1859, in the middle of the composerandrsquo;s career. The first thorough, systematic examination of Verdiandrsquo;s operas, it covered the twenty works produced between 1842 and 1857andmdash;from Nabucco and Macbeth to Il trovatore, La traviata, and Aroldo. But while Baseviandrsquo;s work is still widely cited and discussedandmdash;and nowhere more so than in the English-speaking worldandmdash;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 Baseviandrsquo;s work.and#160;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 todayandrsquo;s readers a unique window into many aspects of operatic culture, and culture in general, in Verdiandrsquo;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and detailed glossary by editor Stefano Castelvecchi, this translation illuminates Baseviandrsquo;s musical and historical references as well as aspects of his language that remain difficult to grasp even for Italian readers.and#160;Making Baseviandrsquo;s important contribution to our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.
Review
"The depth of thinking, the richness of prose, and the surprising angles of inquiry in these essays make them useful not only for obtaining information about Verdi's life and works, but also for learning meaningful ways to question musicological and historical method, . . . and perhaps above all, for understanding the attitudes and trends of musicology at the end of the twentieth century."--Notes
Review
The depth of thinking, the richness of prose, and the surprising angles of inquiry in these essays make them useful not only for obtaining information about Verdi's life and works, but also for learning meaningful ways to question musicological and historical method, . . . and perhaps above all, for understanding the attitudes and trends of musicology at the end of the twentieth century. Notes
Review
and#160;and#8220;Baseviand#8217;sand#160;Studio sulle opere di Giuseppe Verdiand#160;represents an extraordinary testimony to a new and important way of writing music criticism in mid-nineteenth-century Italy, and Baseviand#8217;s terminology and expressions have served as the foundations for influential analytical methods. This translation is polished, elegant, and eminently accessible to a modern reader. Castelvecchi provides a strong introduction, a wealth of explanatory notes, and a glossary that together make The Operas of Giuseppe Verdi a thoroughly engaging and vastly informative book, granting access to a fundamental nineteenth-century source for opera students and lovers.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Basevi had much to say that was novel about how Verdi dealt with issues of melodic construction, orchestration, and form. Schneider and Castelvecchi have done an excellent job in making the text correspond well to the sense of the original, using intelligent and very readable English, and the critical apparatus is superb. The glossary is particularly helpfuland#8212;readers can better understand what these terms meant to Basevi and how those meanings can differ from todayand#8217;s usage. This book will be important for scholars in any field of music.and#8221;
Synopsis
In these essays, Roger Parker brings a series of valuable insights to bear on Verdian analysis and criticism, and does so in a way that responds both to an opera-goer's love of musical drama and to a scholar's concern for recent critical trends. As he writes at one point: "opera challenges us by means of its brash impurity, its loose ends and excess of meaning, its superfluity of narrative secrets." Verdi's works, many of which underwent drastic revisions over the years and which sometimes bore marks of an unusual collaboration between composer and librettist, illustrate in particular why it can sometimes be misleading to assign fixed meanings to an opera. Parker instead explores works like
Rigoletto, Il trovatore, La forza del destino, and
Falstaff from a variety of angles, and addresses such contentious topics as the composer's involvement with Italian politics, the possibilities of an "authentic" staging of his work, and the advantages and pitfalls of analyzing his operas according to terms that his contemporaries might have understood.
Parker takes into account many of the interdisciplinary influences currently engaging musicologists, in particular narrative and feminist theory. But he also demonstrates that close attention to the documentary evidence--especially that offered by autograph scores--can stimulate equal interpretive activity. This book serves as a model of research and critical thinking about opera, while nevertheless retaining a deep respect for opera's continuing power to touch generations of listeners.
Synopsis
"Parker's wit and high irony pervade every page. In a sense, his central aim (though never self-identified as such) is to brandish a new 'tone' or attitude toward scholarship--and toward Verdi--in the postmodern 1990s. The book is immensely engaging throughout: verbal surprises and astonishing suggestions lurk around every corner. Leonora's Last Act is a joy to read even as it seeks mischievously to unsettle our views of this composer."--James Hepokoski, University of Minnesota
Synopsis
In these essays, Roger Parker brings a series of valuable insights to bear on Verdian analysis and criticism, and does so in a way that responds both to an opera-goer's love of musical drama and to a scholar's concern for recent critical trends. As he writes at one point: "opera challenges us by means of its brash impurity, its loose ends and excess of meaning, its superfluity of narrative secrets." Verdi's works, many of which underwent drastic revisions over the years and which sometimes bore marks of an unusual collaboration between composer and librettist, illustrate in particular why it can sometimes be misleading to assign fixed meanings to an opera. Parker instead explores works like
Rigoletto, Il trovatore, La forza del destino, and
Falstaff from a variety of angles, and addresses such contentious topics as the composer's involvement with Italian politics, the possibilities of an "authentic" staging of his work, and the advantages and pitfalls of analyzing his operas according to terms that his contemporaries might have understood.
Parker takes into account many of the interdisciplinary influences currently engaging musicologists, in particular narrative and feminist theory. But he also demonstrates that close attention to the documentary evidence--especially that offered by autograph scores--can stimulate equal interpretive activity. This book serves as a model of research and critical thinking about opera, while nevertheless retaining a deep respect for opera's continuing power to touch generations of listeners.
Synopsis
"Parker's wit and high irony pervade every page. In a sense, his central aim (though never self-identified as such) is to brandish a new 'tone' or attitude toward scholarship--and toward Verdi--in the postmodern 1990s. The book is immensely engaging throughout: verbal surprises and astonishing suggestions lurk around every corner. Leonora's Last Act is a joy to read even as it seeks mischievously to unsettle our views of this composer."--James Hepokoski, University of Minnesota
About the Author
Abramo Basevi (1818andndash;85) was a composer, music promoter, scholar and critic who played a major role in the cultural life of nineteenth-century Florence. He published extensively on music and philosophy, and founded the periodical Landrsquo;armonia, where his study of Verdiandrsquo;s operas first appeared.and#160;Edward Schneiderstudied music at Oxford and has translated several books on music and cooking. He was an editor at United Nations Headquarters.
Table of Contents
| Acknowledgments | |
Ch. 1 | On Reaching the Beguiled Shore | 3 |
Ch. 2 | "Va pensiero" and the Insidious Mastery of Song | 20 |
Ch. 3 | "Insolite forme," or Basevi's Garden Path | 42 |
Ch. 4 | Leonora's Last Act: La forza del destino | 61 |
Ch. 5 | Falstaff and Verdi's Final Narratives | 100 |
Ch. 6 | Reading the livrets, or the Chimera of "Authentic" Staging | 126 |
Ch. 7 | Lina Kneels; Gilda Sings | 149 |
Ch. 8 | Leonora's Last Act: Il trovatore | 168 |