The story of Giuseppe Verdi : Oberto to Un ballo in maschera / Gabriele Baldini ; edited by Fedele d'Amico ; this ed. translated and edited by Roger Parker.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Baldini, Gabriele, 1919-1969.

Contributor:

D'Amico, Fedele.

Parker, Roger, 1951-

Standardized Title:

Abitare la battaglia. English

Language:

English

Italian

Subjects (All):

Verdi, Giuseppe, 1813-1901. Operas.

Verdi, Giuseppe.

Physical Description:

xx, 296 pages : portrait ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge [Eng.] ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1980.

Summary:

Abitare la battaglia, Gabriele Baldini's study of the operas of Verdi from Oberto to Un ballo in maschera, has, since its posthumous publication in 1970, received much critical acclaim both in Italy and elsewhere. Its lack of technical language makes it easily accessible to the general music lover, but its original and sometimes controversial ideas have stimulated a great deal of discussion among Verdi specialists. The book's central concern is to present an analysis of Verdi the musical dramatist, and its conclusions constitute a radical reassessment of the vexed relationship between opera and literary form, between words and music. As Julian Budden says in his Foreword: 'It blows a breath of fresh air into the weary platitudes of traditional Verdian criticism.'

This English translation, The Story of Giuseppe Verdi, includes some new editorial additions, bringing various factual matters into line with recent Verdi scholarship. But the book's discussion of the music is always left to speak for itself. While many of the comments may offend the purists, they are always based on a profound knowledge and love of Verdi's operatic masterpieces as seen on the stage. They rarely fail to stimulate the reader into thinking more deeply about this immensely rich repertoire.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Le Roncole and Busseto 3

Chapter 2 The Milan Conservatorio 13

Chapter 3 Milan and Lavigna 22

Chapter 4 Margherita Barezzi 31

Chapter 1 Oberto and Un giorno di regno 39

Chapter 2 Nabucco and I Lombardi alla prima crociata 49

Chapter 3 Ernani to Attila 69

Chapter 4 Macbeth and I Masnadieri 109

Chapter 5 Jerusalem to La battaglia di Legnano 135

Chapter 1 Luisa Miller 157

Chapter 2 Rigoletto 170

Chapter 3 La Traviata 184

Chapter 4 Biographical interlude 203

Chapter 5 Il Trovatore 209

Chapter 6 I vespri siciliani and Aroldo 231

Chapter 7 Un ballo in maschera 245

Chapter 1 The later Verdi 275

Chapter 2 (unfinished) La forza del destino 278.

Notes:

Translation of Abitare la battaglia.

"The operas of Verdi": p. 289-290.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0521229111

OCLC:

7068459