Il Trovatore: English National Opera Guide 20 (English National Opera Guides) - Softcover

Verdi, Giuseppe

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0714538779 ISBN 13: 9780714538778

Publisher: Oneworld Classics, 1983

Synopsis

English National Opera Guides are ideal companions to the opera. They provide stimulating introductory articles together with the complete text of each opera in English and the original. "If I were not afraid of being called Utopian, I should be tempted to say that to reach perfection in a musical work a single mind should create the verses and the music" - not Wagner, but Cammarano to Verdi as he worked on the libretto of Il Trovatore. Marcello Conati of the Institute for Verdi Studies points out that, although audiences have always adored it, critics are only now coming to see that it represents a step forward, and by no means a step back, from the revolutionary drama of Rigoletto, completed a year before. Professor D.R.B. Kimbell, an expert on Verdi's music, clarifies the story and takes us through the score, while Professor Donald Shaw examines the unusual symbolism of the Spanish Romantic movement. Il Trovatore may cry out to be approached just as a theatrical experience, but these essays give brief and valuable insights into the type of drama it is, and the way it works.

About this title

From the Publisher:

Here are two more of the world's best loved operas bringing the popular Black Dog Opera Library to a total of 12 titles. Each includes world-class recordings of the complete operas on two CDs bound in protective sleeves inside the covers of an informative full-color 144-page book.

About the Author:

Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi; October 9 or 10, 1813 – January 27, 1901) was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers in the 19th century. His works are frequently performed in opera houses throughout the world and, transcending the boundaries of the genre, some of his themes have long since taken root in popular culture - such as "La donna è mobile" from Rigoletto, "Va, pensiero" (The Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves) from Nabucco, and "Libiamo ne' lieti calici" (The Drinking Song) from La traviata. Although his work was sometimes criticized for using a generally diatonic rather than a chromatic musical idiom and having a tendency toward melodrama, Verdi’s masterworks dominate the standard repertoire a century and a half after their composition.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oneworld Classics
• Publication date: 1983
• ISBN 10: 0714538779
• ISBN 13: 9780714538778
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 84
• Editor: John Nicholas