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E-book Verdi in Victorian London

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Penilaian

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Giuseppe Verdi’s first success was Nabucco, given in Milan on 9 March 1842. Although this was Verdi’s third opera,1 the composer referred to it as the first milestone in what would become a life-long, successful career. “With Nabucco,” he declared to Count Opprandino Arrivabeneyears later, “my career can be said to have begun.”2 However, when Verdi made his first appearance as the young Italian composer with the necessary talent to forge an international reputation, Italian opera was said to be in a state of decadence. Gioacchino Rossini, already a classic, had long quit the composition of operas to devote himself to smaller works and chamber music. Gaetano Donizetti, whose first works bear witness to the Rossinian influence, would die in 1848, but his last operas—Don Pasquale, Maria di Rohan,Dom Sébastien—premiered in 1843. Vincenzo Bellini, who had pushed traditional Italian opera towards a more dramatic style, passed away in 1835. Contemporary critics often remarked on Bellini’s innovative use of canto declamato, and some were preoccupied with the alarming turn taken by modern vocal composition. Under the influence of Bellini’s works, proper vocalisation was all too often sacrificed on the altar of dramatic poignancy, they believed, a choice that revealed the younger generation’s limited talent. Saverio Mercadante, who outlived most of his colleagues and died in 1870, never attained the popularity of either Donizetti or Bellini. Having abandoned the bel canto style for the highly declamatory singing styleadopted by Bellini, Mercadante for many years was said to be the only Italian composer to stand comparison with Verdi. However, although his operas were produced internationally, they were rarely revived and soon forgotten. In a contribution appearing in the Gazzetta Musicale di Milano on 30 January 1842, the author elaborated on the sad state of Italian opera and listed Giovanni Pacini, Federico and Luigi Ricci, Pietro Coppola and Alberto Mazzucato as the only representatives of the younger generation who were worth mentioning in the same breath as Bellini, Donizetti and Mercadante.3 Although their names mean little or nothing to modern operagoers, their works enjoyed a certain degree of popularity in the first half of the nineteenth century. In a letter published in the Gazzetta Musicale di Milano on 6 February 1842 (one month before the premiere of Nabucco), the Belgian music critic François-Joseph Fétis summarised the reasons for the diminished state of Italian opera: “An exaggerated preference for the declamatory style, the shouting of the actors (I dare not call them singers), and a noisy instrumentation have become a necessity for the Italians; they no longer understand dramatic music but in this form.

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Ketersediaan

Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

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No. Panggil

781.5 ZIC v

Penerbit

London : Open Book Publishers., 2016

Deskripsi Fisik

362 hlm

Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

9781783742134

Klasifikasi

781.5

Tipe Isi

text

Tipe Media

computer

Tipe Pembawa

online resource

Edisi

-

Subjek

Kinds of Music

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

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Versi lain/terkait

Lampiran Berkas

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