The subject cannot fail!' exulted Verdi, when recommending Victor Hugo's play Le Roi s'amuse to his librettist. But the censors made every effort to stop it, and the baritone was not easily convinced that a hunchback role would suit him. Jonathan Keates gives a vivid insight into the composition of a masterpiece. Verdi long afterwards thought it his best work, and Roger Parker explains why. Peter Nichols, author of several bestselling books in Italy, picks out some of the peculiarly Italian attitudes and characters in the opera which make it timeless - and incredibly modern.Contents: Introduction, Jonathan Keates; Musical Commentary, Roger Parker; The Timelessness of 'Rigoletto', Peter Nichols; Rigoletto: Text by Francesco Maria Piave after Victor Hugo's 'Le Roi s'amuse'; Rigoletto: English translation by James Fenton

A renowned Verdi authority offers here the often-astounding first history of how Verdi's early operas -- including one of his great masterpieces, Rigoletto -- made their way into America's musical life.

Discusses the background of the opera, synopsis of the plot, music, survey of performances, chronology and major compositions by Verdi.

Based upon a play by Victor Hugo, author of THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE-DAME and LES MISERABLES, Giuseppe Verdi's 1851 opera RIGOLETTO is a tragedy of Shakespearean caliber set to music. The time is the Renaissance, the place the Italian city of Mantua. The bitter court jester of a libertine Duke fails tragically to shield his innocent daughter from the Duke's advances. Verdi's great score, composed at the start of his prime, includes three of the most famous numbers in Italian opera: "La donna e mobile," "Caro nome," and the Quartet. Audio and video recordings of RIGOLETTO have involved some of the most celebrated operatic conductors, singers, and stage directors of all time: Solti, Sutherland, Pavarotti, Domingo, Gobbi, Callas, Siepi, Ponnelle, and a great many more. Through detailed reviews of the best of these recordings, VERDI'S "RIGOLETTO" A SELECT DISCOGRAPHY WITH COMMENTARY traces the performance history of this riveting and tuneful opera since the 1940s. Illustrated with photographs and Renaissance-themed paintings.

A translation of Baldini's acclaimed study of verdi's operatic masterpieces, with new editorial additions.

Now a byword for beauty, Verdi’s operas were far from universally acclaimed when they reached London in the second half of the nineteenth century. Why did some critics react so harshly? Who were they and what biases and prejudices animated them? When did their antagonistic attitude change? And why did opera managers continue to produce Verdi’s operas, in spite of their alleged worthlessness? Massimo Zicari’s Verdi in Victorian London reconstructs the reception of Verdi’s operas in London from 1844, when a first critical account was published in the pages of The Athenaeum, to 1901, when Verdi’s death received extensive tribute in The Musical Times. In the 1840s, certain London journalists were positively hostile towards the most talked-about representative of Italian opera, only to change their tune in the years to come. The supercilious critic of The Athenaeum, Henry Fothergill Chorley, declared that Verdi’s melodies were worn, hackneyed and meaningless, his harmonies and progressions crude, his orchestration noisy. The scribes of The Times, The Musical World, The Illustrated London News, and The Musical Times all contributed to the critical hubbub. Yet by the 1850s, Victorian critics, however grudging, could neither deny nor ignore the popularity of Verdi’s operas. Over the final three decades of the nineteenth century, moreover, London’s musical milieu underwent changes of great magnitude, shifting the manner in which Verdi was conceptualized and making room for the powerful influence of Wagner. Nostalgic commentators began to lament the sad state of the Land of Song, referring to the now departed "palmy days of Italian opera." Zicari charts this entire cultural constellation. Verdi in Victorian London is required reading for both academics and opera aficionados. Music specialists will value a historical reconstruction that stems from a large body of first-hand source material, while Verdi lovers and Italian opera addicts will enjoy vivid analysis free from technical jargon. For students, scholars and plain readers alike, this book is an illuminating addition to the study of music reception.