$pp.695-702 Verdi

If "Otello" was the consummation of Italian tragic opera, ____ holds a parallel place in comic opera.

"Fallstaff" (Milan, 1983)-->comic opera

What did these operas begin with? Like which was the first?

"Luisa Miller" (Naples, 1849)

BUT his next opera, "___", was a triumph and launched Verdi as a star composer.

"Nabucco" (1842)

What was his first great success?

"Nabucco" (Milan, 1842), on the biblical story of Nebuchadnezzar...

He soon returned to Milan, aiming for a career composing operas. The success of his first, "___", won him a contract for three more operas.

"Oberto"

After the failure of his first comic opera, ________, which followed the deaths of his young children and wife Margherita, it was more than 50 years before he wrote another comedy, ____.

"Un giorno di regno" (1840) failed "Falstaff" (1893) was the next comedy he wrote over 50 yrs later.

By 1859, his name had become a nationalist rallying cry: "__________!" to Italian patriots stood for "VIVA Vittorio Emanuele Re D'Italia!"--Long live Victor Emmanuel, king of Italy.

"Viva Verdi!"

Then he retired from the stage, focusing on his farm and living off royalties from his music, until he was persuaded to write two last operas:

-"Otello" (1887) -"Falstaff" (1893)

This period culminated in:

-"Rigoletto" (1851) -"Il trovatore" (1853) "La traviata" (1853) These quickly became part of the permanent opera repertory.

After "___", Verdi slowed his production of new operas, writing only ___ in the 16 years from "Les vepres siciliennes" (1855) to "Aida" (1871).

-After "La traviata" -only 6 operas

Verdi's EARLY operas built on the conventions of:

-Rossini -Bellini -especially Donizetti

He wrote fewer operas than who?

-Rossini -Donizetti

Collaborating closely with his librettist, Verdi planned the sequence of musical forms to make sure each singer had opportunities for ____, ____, and _____.

-arias -dramatic duets -larger ensembles

But his craft did not stop at melody. He had comprehensive training in ____ and _____, a wide knowledge of the music of his _____, and a keen ear for ______ that adds color, atmosphere, and drama without overpowering the singers.

-comprehensive training in counterpoint and harmony -a wide knowledge of the music of his predecessors -a keen ear for orchestration

years?

1813-1901

Italians under foreign rule found immediate relevance in the oppressed characters and tyrants who populated Verdi's operas of the _____s, including "Nabucco" (Nebuchadnezzar, 1842), "Giovanna d'Arco" (Joan of Arc, 1845), and "Attila" (1846).

1840s

Verdi experienced phenomenal success in his own lifetime. By the ____s, his operas were performed more often than those of any other Italian composer.

1850s

In ____, they settled on a nearby farm, where they lived for the rest of their lives, with frequent sojourns to Paris, Milan, and other cities. They married in secret in 1859.

1851

In the ___ century, even his operas that had not been performed in decades were revived, and in recent decades there have been more operas in the permanent repertory by Verdi than by any other composer.

20th

how many operas?

26 operas, including: -Nabucco -Macbeth -Luisa Miller -Rigoletto -Il trovatore -La traviata -Les vepres sicilennes -Simon Boccanegra -Un ballo in maschera -La forza del destino -Don Carlos -Aida -Otello -Falstaff

The first of his ___ operas was produced in ___ when he was 26, the last in 1893 when he was 80.

26 operas; first one produced in 1839

Instead of recitative punctuated by the orchestra, the scena presents a complete musical texture in the orchestra, a skipping melody in ___-measure phrases, over which Violetta and her maid engage in recitative-like dialogue.

4-measure phrases

Now famous and well off, Verdi could afford to work even more carefully, writing only __ new operas in the next two decades.

6 new operas

The following cantabile, in which Alfredo and Violetta look forward to life together as she recovers her health, is almost as simple and direct as a popular song, both in its form (_______) and in the tunefulness of its A section.

AA'BB with coda

Many use a simple form such as _____, making them easy to follow, and combine regular phrasing and plain harmony with an intriguing ___ and ___ motive that captures the listeners' attention.

AABA; intriguing rhythmic and melodic motive

Verdi was the dominant figure in Italian music for the fifty years after _____...

Donizetti

Commissioned for the Cairo opera, "Aida" was on an ___ subject, giving Verdi opportunity to introduce exotic color and spectacle.

Egyptian

Verdi supported and became identified with the _________ early in his career.

Italian Risorgimento

...he was as central to ___ opera as Wagner was to German opera.

Italian opera

(Like or unlike?) other opera composers, he devised ways to side-step the ever-present threat of government censorship by:

LIKE other opera composers He camouflaged patriotic messages in historical dramas

What does "VIVA Vittorio Emanuele Re D'Italia!" mean?

Long live Victor Emmanuel, king of Italy.

An important influence was French grand opera, especially _____.

Meyerbeer

In 1879, Verdi's publisher Giulio Ricordi, eager for another opera, proposed adapting Shakespeare's "Othello". Verdi began "Otello" in 1884, and it was finally produced in _____ in 1887.

Milan

Role of orchestra?

Orchestra remains subordinate to the singers, yet Verdi often uses contrasting colors of winds or brass to heighten the effect, doubling a vocal melody, providing punctuation, highlighting a dramatic moment onstage, or building momentum to a climax.

Other works besides his operas?

Requiem and other Latin sacred choral works

Verdi's music has been called the epitome of ____ drama and passion.

Romantic

Verdi wrote only ___ more operas after "Aida", highly individual masterpieces based on plays by his favorite dramatist, _______. Both feature librettos by poet and composer Arrigo Boito (1842-1918).

Shakespeare

Did Verdi focus on tragic or comedic plots?

Verdi focused on tragic plots and shied away from comedy

Have theirs or Verdi's been performed more frequently?

Verdi's have been far more frequently performed than theirs ever since.

Is the focus on singing, as in earlier Italian operas?

YES!

Did his strategy work?

YES, although he wrote fewer operas than Rossini or Donizetti.

Did Verdi write with the original singers in mind?

Yes, he always wrote with the original singers in mind, suiting his music to their voices in order to create the best possible effect.

So did orchestration usually occur before or after rehearsals had begun?

after!

In a seductive, lyrical song the Duke romances a new lover, Maddalena, who coquettishly laughs at his insincerity; meanwhile, listening outside the tavern walls, Gilda sings in dramatic style of her pain at his betrayal, while Rigoletto, bent on revenge, asks in ___ if she has heard enough.

arioso

Verdi wrote "Les vépres siciliennes" (The Sicilian Vespers, 1855) as a grand opera, for Paris, to a libretto by Meyerbeer's collaborator Eugéne Scribe, blending ___ and ___ elements.

blending French and Italian elements

In several operas, including "Il trovatore" and "La traviata", Verdi replaced the overture with a ________ that sets the scene and introduces important themes to come.

briefer prelude

These emotions intensify in the ____, where Violetta bewails her ironic misfortune and Alfredo begs her to calm herself.

cabaletta

The singers are not free to embellish and improvise as they would be in a Rossini opera of a generation earlier, and Verdi wrote out even the ____.

cadenzas

In the final act, Verdi captures the Duke's charming but shameless nature in the aria "La donna è mobile", where his claim that women are fickle rings truer about himself, yet his captivating melody in a carefree ___ rhythm makes him seem irresistible.

carefree waltz rhythm

One of his most effective tools, and a prime reason for his enduring popularity, was his ability to capture ____, ___, and ____ in memorable melodies that sound both fresh and familiar.

character, feeling, and situation

He introduced ____ roles in "Un ballo in maschera" (A Masked Ball; Rome, 1859) and in "La forza del destino" (The Force of Destiny, 1862, revised 1869), composed for the imperial Russian opera in St. Petersburg.

comic roles

Like Donizetti before him, Verdi often sought ____ in music and action, and here he realized it most completely, through reminiscence motives in the orchestra and in the unbroken flow of music within each act.

continuity

After the failure of the revolutions and reforms of 1848-9, Verdi turned from historical subjects to ____ centered on:

dramas centered on interpersonal conflict and finer psychological portrayer of character

He used that time to calculate the most effective setting to enhance the opera's _____ impact on the audience, increasing its chances for a successful first run and a permanent place in the repertory.

dramatic impact

The scene follows the structure Rossini had standardized for ____--scena (accompanied recitative), tempo d'attaco (opening section), slow cantabile, tempo di mezzo (contrasting dramatic section), and fast cabaletta--yet each element is in a new style characteristic of Verdi.

duets

Rather, he approached it more deeply in "Simon Boccanegra" (1857, revised 1881), "Don Carlos" (1867, revised 1884), and "Otello" (1887), which explore complex rulers and the personal consequences of:

ego and power

...the Hebrew slaves' unison chorus "Va pensiero" became an emblem of Italian opposition to ______.

foreign oppression

Carried along a nimble, endlessly varied orchestral background, the comedy speeds to its climaxes and finales of the second and third acts, culminating in a ___ for the entire cast on the words "All the world's a joke. We are all born fools."

fugue

All the traits of his mature style appear in "Aida" (1871), which unites the heroic quality of ____ with vivid character delineation, pathos, and a wealth of melodic, harmonic, and orchestral color.

grand opera

...____ become more daring...

harmonies

Rigoletto, a hunchback court jester at odds with the courtiers around him, sings in a ______ style and lacks a real aria, while the superficiality of his employer the Duke of Mantua is shown in tuneful arias that stick to predictable formal conventions...

he sings in a declamatory arioso style

This also signaled a return to ____ subjects with political ramifications, coinciding with renewed interest in Italian unification.

historical subjects

Many features of Verdi's ____ works are embodied in "La traviata".

mature

What position did he take in Busseto?

music director

The traditional scheme of declamatory and lyrical solos, duets, ensembles, and choruses is still present, but the units are arranged in a larger scene--complexes, and the orchestra develops themes in a more symphonic manner, often ____ of the voices.

often independent of the voices

...and the ____ is treated with great originality.

orchestra

Even after unification, Verdi never really abandoned his interest in _____ as a theme.

politics

A high point of the opera is the ___ from Act III, where four characters sing, each in a different style to convey their individual personalities and moods.

quartet

Both its setting and its subject--a woman trapped between her livelihood as a courtesan, her desire to escape that life and be loved as an equal, the social mores that keep her in her place, and the tuberculosis that threatens her life--link the opera to the contemporary trend of:

realism in literature and art

Verdi often uses _____ motives, as Donizetti had done in "Lucia di Lammermoor", recalling at crucial points in the drama distinctive themes from earlier scenes in order to reinforce connections and deepen the dramatic impact.

reminiscence motives

What kind of income could he depend on from later productions and sales of the published scores?

royalty income

Verdi could afford to take more time to compose than his predecessors because he was better paid for each new opera and, thanks to improved copyright laws, could count on royalty income from:

royalty income from later productions and sales of the published scores

...and Gilda--Rigoletto's daughter, who is in love with ____--moves between the two extremes.

she's in love with the Duke

In these operas, the action is more continuous; ____, ___, and ___ are more freely combined...

solos, ensembles, and choruses

He preferred stories that had succeeded as ______, drawing on plays by authors like Shakespeare, Friedrich Schiller, and Victor Hugo.

spoken dramas

Mirroring contemporary developments in ______, he expected fast action, striking contrasts, unusual characters, and strong emotional situations from his librettos.

spoken theater

After studying privately in ___, he returned home and took a position as music director is Busseto, where he married Margherita Barezzi in 1836.

studied privately in Milan

Verdi usually chose the opera's ____ himself.

subject

When Alfredo enters, their conversation is set not as recitative but as a tuneful song (_________) in which they alternate phrases.

tempo d'attacco

YET unlike composers of the bel canto era he demanded that:

that singers remain subordinate to the composer and the work.

BUT here the ___ is most important and the ___ is in control.

the drama is most important and the composer is in control

While Verdi reshaped dramatic lyrical melody for "Otello", for "Falstaff" he transformed that characteristic element of opera buffa:

the ensemble

What was the final step?

the orchestration, usually completed after rehearsals had begun and he heard how the singers sounded in the theater.

Verdi's operas are first and foremost works of ____, whose impact depends on vivid characterization, sharp contrasts, and a fluid and concise dramatic and musical structure.

theater

Musical characterization, dramatic unity, and melodic invention unite in "Rigoletto" (Venice, 1851), in which the central characters are delineated by:

their contrasting styles of singing and relation to musical convention

Once the libretto was complete, Verdi wrote out a draft with the vocal melodies and essential accompaniment, then a:

then a skeleton score with more of the elements filled in

This was one of the first ___ operas to be set in the present rather than in the historical past.

tragic

In "Rigoletto" and his next two operas, "Il trovatore" (The Troubadour; Rome, 1853) and "La traviata" (The Fallen Woman, Venice, 1853), Verdi reached new heights of dramatic compression, and all three have remained among the most popular operas ever composed. T/F?

true

So aware was Verdi of the appeal of his melodies that he strove to keep a new opera's best tunes from being leaked to the public before the premiere. T/F?

true

T/F? Verdi still used traditional forms but often reshaped them to suit the dramatic situation.

true

The son of an innkeeper in a village near Busseto in northern Italy, Verdi studied music as a child, and by age nine was:

was a church organist