Verdi in the Age of Italian Romanticism [Paperback]

Professor Kimbell's classic study illuminates the first fifteen years of Verdi's composing career.Professor Kimbells classic study illuminates the first fifteen years of Verdis composing career, the era that culminated in his trio of masterpieces, Rigoletto, Il Trovatore and La Traviata. Attention is given to individual operas in order to show how Verdi assimilated and developed the Romantic tradition in his work.Professor Kimbells classic study illuminates the first fifteen years of Verdis composing career, the era that culminated in his trio of masterpieces, Rigoletto, Il Trovatore and La Traviata. Attention is given to individual operas in order to show how Verdi assimilated and developed the Romantic tradition in his work.Professor Kimbell's classic study illuminates the first fifteen years of Verdi's composing career, the era that culminated in his trio of masterpieces, Rigoletto, Il Trovatore and La Traviata. Verdi had become an acknowledged master of the peculiar brand of Romanticism that flourished in Italy in the 1830s and 40s; this background is examined in its political, social and literary light, and his consequent transformation of Italian operatic conventions is analysed. The four parts of Professor Kimbell's book range over biographical, documentary, literary and close-analytical ground. Attention is given to individual operas in order to show how Verdi assimilated and developed the Romantic tradition in his work.Preface; Part I. The Setting: 1. Verdi's Italy; 2. Theatrical censorship; 3. The operatic experience; 4. Dramatic principles and musical form in early ottocento opera; Part II. A Documentary History of the Early Operas: 5. Launching a career; 6. The genesis of an opera - Ernani; 7. Two overcrowded years; 8. Verdi the idealist - the Florence Macbeth; 9. Opera as a business; 10. Collaboration with Cammarano; 11. Bouts with the censor; 12. Giuseppina's operas - Il Trovatore and La Traviata; Part III. The Development of Verdi's Musical Langual#L