Verdi in the age of Italian romanticism / David R. B. Kimbell.
| Author/creator |
Kimbell, David R. B. |
| Format | Book and Print |
| Publication Info | Cambridge [England] ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1981. |
| Description | ix, 703 pages : music ; 24 cm |
| Subject(s) |
Click here for more information about this title
| Contents | Part I. The setting. Verdi's Italy -- Theatrical censorship -- The operatic experience -- Dramatic principles and musical form in early ottocento opera -- Part II. A documentary history of the early operas. Launching a career -- The genesis of an opera: Ernani -- Two overcrowded years -- Verdi the idealist: the Florence Macbeth -- Opera as a business -- Collaboration with Cammarano -- Bouts with the censor -- Giuseppina's operas: Il Trovatore and La Traviata -- Part III. The development of Verdi's musical language. The first operas: Oberto and Un Giorno di regno -- Italian grand opera: Nabucco and I Lombardi Prima Crociata -- The early "galley" operas: Ernani to Attila -- Macbeth and its satellites -- Verdi à la parisienne: Jérusalem and La Battagalia di Legnano -- Luisa Miller and Stiffelio -- "The popular trilogy": Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, La Traviata -- Part IV. The operas. Nabucco: a risorgimento opera -- Verdi and French romanticism: Ernani -- Byronismo: I due Foscari and Il Corsaro -- The impact of Shakespeare: the Florence Macbeth -- La Battaglia di Legnano: the opera of the revolution -- Essays with Schiller -- The originality of Rigoletto -- Verdi and "realism": La Traviata. |
| Abstract | This book is a study of the first fifteen years of Verdi's composing career, the still little-known era that culminated in the trio of masterpieces, Rigoletto, Il Trovatore and La Traviata. For the greater part of that period Verdi lived and worked in Milan, an acknowledged leader of the peculiar brand of Romanticism that flourished in Italy in the 1830s and 1840s. The author introduces the reader to that strange and generally unfamiliar world, and shows how Verdi's musical character was conditioned by the politics, social customs and literary tastes of his Italian contemporaries, and how in his reaction to these things he began to transform the conventions of Italian opera handed down by his predecessors Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti. Part I describes those aspects of the Italy of Verdi's youth that seem to have most bearing on his work as a composer. Part II, a documentary history of the early operas, shows the kind of life a successful composer of the period led, and fills in many fascinating details about the genesis of the operas: the commissions and contracts, the relations between Verdi and his librettists and singers, his attitudes and the way he worked. In Part III the author describes Verdi's musical language, and shows how, both in overall formal principles and in details of style, he slowly transformed traditional Italian values and assumptions during the first fifteen years of his career as an opera composer. These various aspects are drawn together in Part IV, a critical study of selected operas from the period which show Verdi at his best at each stage of his development. This major study will not only make a substantial contribution to the literature on Verdi, but will also be valuable to those interested in Italian Studies and Comparative Literature. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 692-695) and index. |
| LCCN | 80040723 |
| ISBN | 0521230527 |
| ISBN | 9780521230520 |
| ISBN | 0521316782 (pbk.) |
| ISBN | 9780521316781 (pbk.) |
Available Items
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions | |
| Music | Music Stacks | ML410.V4 K5 1981 | ✔ Available | Place Hold |