Fülszöveg
La traviata, II trovatore, Rigoletto, Aida, Otelló, Falstaff: these, and the Requiem are household names. More are familiar to the cognoscenti: Nahucco, Ernani, Macbeth, Simone Boccanegra, Un ballo in maschera, Laforza del destino, Don Carlos and the Four Sacred Pieces. But what of Verdi's fifteen other major works (excluding the String Quartet) that are now creeping back into the repertoire, largely through the eíTorts of the smaller Opera Groups and Companies? The names of several are known on account of, perhaps, one fine aria that has achieved concert-hall popularity, but by and large they have been neglected in this country, though many of them contain much fine music. How many people today have heard Un giorno di regno, Alzira, II corsaro. La battaglia di Legnano or / vespri sicilianil Charles Osborne has attended stage performances of every one of the operas he describes in this book.
Mr Osborne's method is to discuss each opera from four different points of view. He first...
Tovább
Fülszöveg
La traviata, II trovatore, Rigoletto, Aida, Otelló, Falstaff: these, and the Requiem are household names. More are familiar to the cognoscenti: Nahucco, Ernani, Macbeth, Simone Boccanegra, Un ballo in maschera, Laforza del destino, Don Carlos and the Four Sacred Pieces. But what of Verdi's fifteen other major works (excluding the String Quartet) that are now creeping back into the repertoire, largely through the eíTorts of the smaller Opera Groups and Companies? The names of several are known on account of, perhaps, one fine aria that has achieved concert-hall popularity, but by and large they have been neglected in this country, though many of them contain much fine music. How many people today have heard Un giorno di regno, Alzira, II corsaro. La battaglia di Legnano or / vespri sicilianil Charles Osborne has attended stage performances of every one of the operas he describes in this book.
Mr Osborne's method is to discuss each opera from four different points of view. He first describes Verdi's life at the time the opera was written, thus providing a biographical thread which runs right through the book. He then gives the story, which he links to the major musical features, rather in the manner of an extended programme note, and follows this with information about the libretto, the librettist, Verdi's relations with the latter, and a detailed examination of the sources of the libretto. Finally we have a thorough musical analysis, complete with many music examples and, where necessary, extracts from the libretto (in Italian with literary translations). This treatment of each opera is preceded by a list of characters and details of first performance.
The book therefore serves a two-fold purpose: it becomes in effect a musical biography of the man. And it is an invaluable aid for the listener or the enthusiast who seeks out performances of rare works, for the average operagoer who is already keen about the more frequently [please turn to back flap
63/-
performed operas and wishes to know more, and for the casual radio listener who, impressed by a fine but totally unfamiliar aria, is interested to investigate the work from which it came.
Giuseppe Verdi is certainly the most popular, and one of the most prolific, of all opera composers. He has been the subject of a number of biographies, and his major works have been the subject of more than one previous book. But until now the only book that has even mentioned every one of his operas has been Francis Toye's Verdi which was written at a time when that author could have heard only the more popular works. Where Toye dismisses the lesser known works with a paragraph or so, Osborne gives full treatment from every point of view—he devotes almost as much space to Attila as he does to Aida. And, in addition, he deals with the Requiem, the string quartet, the early songs and the other miscellaneous works. This then is the first truly complete analysis of Verdi's music and as such is as essential to the general music lover as it is to the expanding opera public.
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