Verdi arias v. operas

Who's with me on this? An individual aria of a Verdi opera can be emotionally effective by itself, as long as you don't consider it as a part of the opera that surrounds it. At least from today's understand of what works as theatre, one might never understand how Verdi and his librettists came up with the plots of his operas. Cases: "La forza del destino" and "Giovanna d'Arco"

Verdi's output

For a few weeks now, I've been listening to Verdi operas from the earliest of his output, at least as available in CDs from the library. The most recent listening has been the Lorengar performance of La Traviata (1853) under Maazel (Berlin 1968). I just picked up La Battaglia di Legnano (1849), available just a bit out of order.

The operas available excluded only the two earliest (Oberto of 1839 and Un giorno di regno of 1840) and a couple others of the output before Rigoletto: Alzira (1845), Il corsaro (1848), and Stifellio (1850). Since early March, I've listed to these operas several times each:

• Nabucco (1842)
• I Lombardi alla prima crociata (1843)
• Ernani (1844)
• I due Foscari (1844)
• Giovanna d'Arco (1845)
• Attila (1846)
• Macbeth (1847)
• I masnadieri (1847)
• Jérusalem (1847)
• La battaglia di Legnano (1849)
• Luisa Miller (1849)
• Rigoletto (1851)
• Il trovatore (1853)
• La traviata (1853)

Fifteen down, eight to go. I'll miss out on hearing the Paris versions of Le trouvère (1857), Macbeth (1865), Don Carlos (1867), and La force du destin (1881). I expect that their greatest difference from the originals is the addition of ballet in the third act. That, in my opinion, is no great loss, as Verdi's modifications of I Lombardi into Jérusalem were not compelling.

My favorites of the list are Giovanna (despite it's non-historic plot), Luisa, Rigoletto, and La traviata. I had high hopes for I masnadieri with its basis in Schiller's Die Räuber. But I was disappointed, as I was with Macbeth.

What I found surprising are these observations:

1. Verdi was more an imitator than I had thought. His melodic lines are seldom innovative, orchestration mundane, and harmony pandering. Generally pleasing, I'll give you that. It's little wonder that his popularity was so strong. I remember some wag's observation that the public were humming Verdi's tunes as they went into his operas.
2. I suspect that Verdi worked quickly and perhaps overbooked his commitments to produce new operas—and rework established hits—for European stages. His schedule left little opportunity to reflect on improving what he was considered a master at.
3. Of his output through 1853, great acclaim is misplaced for Il trovatore. The book is overly complex, the score is full of tunes but devoid of provoking music. What could have become a masterful tale of doubles, discovery, and damnation was squandered in petty melody.
4. Most striking is Verdi's dependence on recitative, even through Il trovatore and La traviata. Though the half-generation of great Italian opera composers before him—Donizetti, Bellini, Rossini—also used recitative, the practice had whithered elsewhere. Wagner was writing Der fliegende Holländer and on the way to leaving the set-piece and recitative entwined in a shallow grave.

Toward a comprehensive music analysis

While writing an analysis of Verdi's cavatina D'Egito là sui lidi, I've come to realize ways to make musical analysis more exact, more thorough. I consider these points to be important in understanding an example of a composer's work, and I present them for critical comment by musicologists, students, conductors, performers, and listeners.

1. Of special importance is the historical context of the composition and performance. Some composers are innovative, some culminative, and some merely imitative. Providing the background of the composer's own development to the point of composition is necessary, and the background is of more use if little is said of later artistic development. But it's also imperative to provide information about the contemporaries in the same country and of nearby regions that might have had an influence on the composer's work.
2. Related to the historical facts are observations on the work's particular style and form, and how those aspects relate to musical history to the time of the composition. For example, Verdi, in writing his operas even through 1855, used a clearly distinct recitative style to move the plot forward, some 50 years after the height of that form. Although Schubert, Donizetti, Rossini, Meyerbeer, and other composers of opera also used the recitative, the use dwindled through 1830. Thus it becomes an observation worth noting that Verdi continued the form while his contemporary Richard Wagner moved toward through-composing his operas.
3. It is always important to cite the basics of key, time signature, tempo, form, and orchestration.
4. It's also useful to cite the number of measures, the approximate performance time, and any aspects that may allow for variance from the performance time.
5. For works with solo voices, it is important to cite the range and to describe the tessitura in terms of the comfortable tessitura v. the extremes of high- and low-voice tones. I find it useful to count notes to quantify where the tessiturae lie. And two means of identifying tessitura issues are possible:
1. Simply dividing the vocal range into thirds to determine whether the vocal line fits well into a standard voice or fach.
2. Counting each of the tones required, and assigning to contiguous a group of, say, 75% of the pitches a "comfort" tessitura. From this, one can quantify and describe the approaches to tones above and below the comfort tessitura.
3. Counting the number and size of leaps down and up from one note to another, including between phrases that may have intervening rests.
4. Observing whether long stretches ask for declamation on one pitch or on a limited range of pitches. Obviously, this is important in recitative and plainchant, but it may also be important in discussing works from the 20th and 21st Centuries.
6. For works with voices and text, it is useful to quantify the text relationship to the vocal line(s).
1. One concern is how the number of notes in the line relates to the syllables in the text. For example, plainchant and recitative might have a low ratio of notes to syllables; a more florid vocal line would have a higher ratio of notes to syllables.
2. Another concern is how repetitive the text of the vocal line is in comparison to the source text. For example, arias in the Baroque era typically repeated text almost at will to follow a florid vocal line; in contrast, arias in the verismo style tend to use the text without repetition.
3. Yet a third concern aims more toward literary analysis, where the goal is to compare rhyme schemes, alliteration, internal rhyme, and motivic use of words to similar aspects of the music composition.
7. A rigorous analysis not only identifies themes and sub-themes, but also delineates motivic elements and clarifies their relationship to the themes and form.

Are other aspects of analysis available? Very likely. I plan to add to this posting as I come across new needs for analyzing music or as readers offer their opinions.

D'Egitto là sui lidi

D'Egitto là sui lidi - Cavatina
      a portion of No. 2 from Part I : Jerusalem of Nabucco, an opera in Italian by Giuseppe Verdi
      Libretto : Temistocle Solera (English translation)

Let's begin with the summary provided by The Aria Database. 

• Role : Zaccaria, the High Priest of the Hebrews
• Setting : the Temple of Solomon, ancient Jerusalem
• Synopsis : The Assyrian army led by Nabucco has defeated the army of the Hebrews and is now poised to enter the city and defeat the Israelites once and for all. The Hebrews are scared of what is to come and begin to pray for deliverance. Zaccaria comes along, though, and revives their hope by telling them that Nabucco's daughter is their prisoner. Besides, he goes on to sing, didn't the Lord bring them out of Egypt safely? Likewise, God will defeat this army with the same power and might.
• Translation and/or Aria Text : Libretto entered by Robert Glaubitz.
• Recordings : Complete Opera  Excerpts from Opera
• Where to Find It : Buy complete score online at Sheet Music Plus.
• Voice Part : bass   Fach : lyric bass
• Range : A2 to F4. Tessitura : E3 to E4

Click the link to read other aria analysis from Tom Kohn.

Overall, this first scene of the opera shows Zaccaria supporting the Hebrews at their immanent defeat by the Assyrians. Following a complex of emotions from a chorus of Hebrews, Zaccaria encourages their hope with a recitative Sperate o figli.that has three distinct segments. Zaccaria's aria D'Egitto là su i lidi is a cavatina that has a form of A, B, A, B, Coda-cadenza.




Composed for performance in 1842, the scene uses accompanied recitative and chorus, much like cantatas by Bach (1685-1750) and operas by Mozart (1756-1791). Verdi was composing solidly in the shadow of Donizetti (1797-1848), Bellini (1801-1835), and Rossini (1792–1868)—and hoping for a success to bring his craft to light. And indeed, Nabucco was Verdi's first great success. It followed his first opera Oberto (1839), which was a moderate success, and his second opera Un giorno di regno (1840), which was a disaster. Nabucco established Verdi's reputation and catapulted him to the ranks of Donizetti, Bellini, and Rossini.

Of the three Italian composers, only Donizetti was still producing works for the opera house in 1842. In Germany, Richard Wagner had just premiered his third opera Rienzi in 1840 and was completing his Der fliegende Holländer for premiere later in 1842. In France, Meyerbeer's grand opera Les Huguenots (1836) may have had great influence on Verdi's developing style. Works for the Opéra Comique by Auber (Le domino noir of 1837 and Les diamants de la couronne of 1841) and Adolphe Adam (La rose de Péronne of 1840 and La main de fer, ou Un mariage secret of 1841) may have been noticed by Verdi.

Although Verdi was an inheritor of the bel canto style, his roles typically require a heavier tone to compete with the weightier orchestration. Perhaps to support the requirement for vocal production, both the recitative and aria hold to a limited tessitura and allow bravura high tones and low only in a few instances.

Recitative accompagnato

Page 21: recitative and chorus

Page 22: recitative and chorus

Zaccaria's Cavatina follows a chorus that ends in an E-major expression of fear of the Assyrians. His rejoinder to hope in God starts with a recitative that moves from E major (pages 21 and 22) through B major, C-sharp, D major, and G major, which becomes the dominant seventh to his aria in C-major. The orchestration moves from brass domination at the end of the chorus toward the aria that has a gentler string orchestra mixture.

page 21—Recitative di Zaccaria: "Sperate o figli! Iddio del suo poter die segnol ei trasse inpoter mio un prezioso pegno; del re nemico prole, pace apportar ci puo." Chorus: "Di lieto giorno un sole forse per noi spunto!"

Key

The recitative begins in E major and progresses over ten measures through four tone centers (B, C-sharp, D, and G) to C major.

Tempo

The recitative remains in common time throughout, though the bass has great opportunity to vary his declamation as needed, with and opening three measures unaccompanied followed by five paired measures of accompaniment that allow great freedom of expression. Only when the chorus interjects its hope does a conductor take charge, for a mere four measures. The bass resumes his soloist line to begin a small cadenza that includes the only points in the recitative where a single syllable of text has several tones—first with a C-major scale, and finally with an outline of the dominant seventh.

Length

The recitative has 24 measures, including a two-measure repetition of the tonic in the orchestra before the primary declamation starts. A typical performance takes less than two minutes.

Range

The recitative range spans A2 through E4.

Tessitura

The recitative holds primarily to a limited tessitura of G3 to B3 until it reaches the codetta. The codetta begins with a single tone above (C4) and few tones below the middle tessitura (A2 to C3). Most contours in the cadenza are of steps or of small leaps of a third or fourth.

The highest tessitura is reached over five measures, starting at F3, scaling from C3 to C4, then reaching D4, stepping to C4 and dropping to G3, and making a leap of a sixth to E4 before the line drops into the middle register again to outline the dominant seventh and end on C3.

Contour

The initial declamation holds strongly to repeated tones or to stepwise movement, with exceptions at the end of two phrases. The codetta has some larger leaps mixed with stepwise movement and small leaps of a third. The table provides a count of all movement other than repetitions and steps.

Interval	Number of leaps up	Number of leaps down
Third	3	3
Fourth	2	3
Fifth	2	1
Sixth	2	0
Seventh	1	1
Octave	1	2
Ninth	0	0
Tenth	0	0
Eleventh	0	0
Twelfth	0	0
Thirteenth	0	0
Fourteenth	0	0
Double octave	0	0

The phrase lengths average two measures until the codetta, where each phrase is more expanded to three measures.

Cavatina

Page 22: recitative and aria

Chorus "Va pensiero"

Zaccaria's cavatina is a dialog with the chorus. The orchestration begins with a pizzicato bass underneath a flowing upper string melody that exchanges thematic elements with Zaccaria's line. All is set off by an occasional brass and woodwind commentary. Very subtly, the melody has inflections that will become clear later in Part 3 of the opera, with the famous chorus Va, pensiero sull'ali dorate, when the Hebrews have been made slaves to the Assyrians.





page 22—Zaccaria: "Freno al timor! Freno al timor! v'affidi d'Iddio l'eterna aita." Andante maestoso "D'Egito là sui lidi ...(Curb your fears! Place your trust in God's eternal help. There on the shores of Egypt...)

Page 23: aria A and B sections, with
bassoon arpeggiation

Zacccaria continues to express his belief and to urge the Hebrews to keep their hope. But a bassoon arpeggio joins him in the B section, as if to mock Zaccaria's assertion that God will support them, if their trust is pure.

page 23—"Egli a Mosè diè vita; di Gedeone i cento invitti ei rese undi... Chi nell' estremo evento fidando in Lui, in Lui peri? (... He procured Moses his life; once he made the hundred men of Gideon invincible. Who, trusting in him, has ever perished in the hour of extremity?)

Page 24: aria B section, chorus answer

When the chorus answers Zaccaria with "Di lieto giorno un sole forse per noi spunto!" (The sun of a more propitious day has perhaps arisen for us!) their foreboding is lightened with a continuing woodwind run, but cross-relations abound in shifts that aim toward both E minor in the winds over a steady C major in the string orchestra. At the return of the A section, the full melody in the chorus makes the relationship to Va, pensiero even more explicit, though still veiled.

page 24—"chi nell' estreno, estreno evento fidando in Lui peri? fidando in Lui, chi fidando in Lui peri?" Chorus: "Di lieto giorno un sole," Zaccaria: "Freno al timor!"

Page 25: aria A' section, with chorus
also voicing the primary theme

The return of the A section continues and provides an opportunity to repeat text from the recitative to this tune.

page 25—Chorus: "...di lieto giorno un sole," Zaccaria: "Freno al timor!" Chorus: "...di lieto giorno un sole," Zaccaria: "...v'affidi d'Iddio...

Page 26: end of A' with B'

As the A' section closes, the bassoon arpeggiation returns, along with Zaccaria's expression of his belief and urgings to keep their hope.

page 26—"l'eterna aita." Chorus: "...forse per noi spunto!" Zaccaria: "chi nell' estremo, estremo evento fidando in Lui peri?" Chorus: "per noi spunto!" Zaccaria: "chi nell' estremo,

Page 27: area of the flat third and a series
of soft cadences to C major, with G7cadenza

As if the chorus needs to understand how extreme the circumstance can become for them, Verdi jumps suddenly to a C-minor chord and then to a cadence of the dominant seventh and tonic of E-flat before he resolves in favor of C major.

Zaccaria offers many times his exhortation "Curb your fears!" ending with a final mini-cadenza before the last cadence.

page 27—"estremo evento fidando in Lui peri? fidando in Lui, fidando in Lui, chi fidando in Lui peri?" Chorus: "per noi spunto!" Zaccaria: "Freno al timor!" Chorus: "per noi spunto!" Zaccaria: "Freno, freno al timor"

Page 28: final tonic

The aria ends on its tonic, but with the added insecurity of the woodwind choir swirling around the third and fifth of the scale.

page 28—final tonic of C major that immediately shifts to A minor for Ismaele to announce the coming of the Assyrian king, Nabucco.

Key

The cavatina begins in C major and remains in the same key with two repeated moments of tonal uncertainty. One moment occurs in E-flat major, for two measures that lengthen and soften a cadence that closes the B section. The other moment occurs in E major, for a swirling mordant that marks the recapitulation of the A section.

Tempo

The cavatina is marked Andante maestoso in common time throughout, though each quarter note has a triplet figure in opposition to a dotted eighth. Thus, the overall effect is primarily 12/8.

Length

The cavatina has 42 measures, including a two-measure "vamp" in the orchestra before the primary motive occurs. At a rate of quarter = 60, the cavatina may be performed in less than five minutes.

Range

The range spans G2 through F4.

Tessitura

Aria vocal line for Zaccaria

The aria at first holds to a tessitura of E3 to C4, and the opening motive outlines this range. Most of the aria lies comfortably centered on G3 through C4, which account for almost 75% of the tones.

The higher tessitura (D4, E4-flat, and E4) is exercised only for the tops of nine phrases through the middle parts of the aria, and the highest note (F4) occurs only once, in the cadence at the aria's end.

The lowest tessitura (G2 through D3) is used hardly at all, accounting for less than 10% of the tones. These low notes occur shortly after the highest note, in the final cadence.

Form

Zaccaria's aria D'Egitto là sui lidi is a cavatina that has a form of
A, B, A, B, Coda-cadenza
The two-phrase A section (mm. 163-170) is followed by a three-phrase B section (mm. 171-180). The A section and B section repeat with slight modifications. The coda-cadenza contains one phrase.

The primary motive is first stated in the orchestra as an introduction, then twice by Zaccaria. In the return of the A section, the motive is voiced four times by the chorus, and Zaccaria joins in part of the line only in the fourth occurrence. The first motive of the B section occurs only once each time the B section occurs.

Aria motif A

The motivic structure of the aria depends greatly on a leaps of a third up and a sixth up. Indeed, the characteristic phrase is the opening statement, motif A, which consists of leaps of a third down, a sixth up, a sixth down, and a third up before a stepwise close.

This primary theme is first stated by the orchestra as introduction, then twice by Zaccaria (mm. 163 and 167). Then at the repetition of the A section, the chorus states it three times more (mm. 180, 182, and 184). Finally, Zaccaria states a portion at m. 185.

Aria motif B

The two-measure answer to the primary theme (mm. 165-166), motif B, also emphasizes the leap of a third.

Aria motif C

The closing answer to the primary theme (mm. 169-170), motif C, carries the voice to the dominant tone, and phrase outline becomes important as a source for the aria's final cadence motif.

Aria motif D

In contrast to the leaps in the primary theme, the secondary theme (mm. 171-173, which coincides with section B in this discussion) is more compact in its use of leaps. The theme begins with a one-measure motif that is subdivided into two exact statements of a germ that incorporates one leap of a third up. The leap up to a sixth is delayed to the second measure, which is then resolved by six steps down.

Aria motif E

The conclusion of a long tone followed by several steps down (motif E, m. 172) is a building block that has several other uses in the vocal line.

Aria motif F

Its importance is noted by a repetition in the closing measure 173-174, motif F. In this use that begins with a leap of a third, we see that the leap of a sixth is not the only impetus for the stepwise resolution.

Aria motif G

Verdi momentarily achieves tone painting with motif G, where ever greater leaps and a sudden excursion to E-flat depict the extremity of events that still should result in confidence in the Hebrew traditions.

Aria motif H

Motif H completes the question of whom to hold confidence in with a set of three rising steps. This motif is curious in comparison to other treatments of the question that has been fundamental to the text. A typical inflection would be a rising phrase, as here. But this instance is uniquely tied to "in Lui peri?".

Aria motif J

The use of the rising inflection serves to extend the melody with three opportunities to answer. First with motif J, which employs a statement of a third leap up, followed by a seventh leap down. The leaps both refer to the germinal element of construction—the third—and the potential destruction of extreme events—as signified by the seventh leap.

Aria motif K

A second answer comes less reservedly in motif K with a third leap up and a stepwise resolution. More certainty is here with the element of construction alone.

Aria motif L

The third and final answer comes most emphatically. Motif L (mm. 179-180) ends the secondary theme with a flowing cadence that relies on the melodic relationship of motif C.

Aria motif M

The chorus of Hebrews takes up the primary theme, but with new text: "Di lieto giorno un sole, forse per noi spunto!" (The sun of a more propitious day has perhaps arisen for us!) In response, Zaccaria has the opportunity to quote his exhortation from the recitative, "Freno al timor! (Curb your fear!)

Aria motif N

and, in motif N (mm. 186-187) "V'affidi d'Iddio l'eterna aiuta." (Place your trust in God's eternal help.)

Aria motif Q

With reference to god's aid, Zaccaria assures the Hebrews again with a repetition of the secondary theme and adds an emphatic charge to curb their fear (motif Q, a postive use of the questioning motif H).

Aria motif R

Reiterated with his cadenza (motif R) to close the aria.

Contour

The initial statement of the melodic motive and its one repetion 

by the bass constitute the primary example of a disjointed melody. The phrase that completes the initial motive has only one upward leap of a third, which is surrounded by steps. The answering phrase

 is slightly more intricate and has the first use of the higher tessitura. The A theme retains a focus on stepwise movement with a few leaps a third up.

In contrast, the B theme revels somewhat in leaps. The theme's first phrase leaps up a major sixth, though the release is a generally stepwise descent to an octave. The leap relates to the minor-sixth leap in the initial motive of the A theme, though it is not emphasized with a second use. 

The second, extended phrase includes leaps down an octave, up an octave, and then down a major tenth, followed by a leap back up the tenth and a release up an additional half step. The larger leaps emphasize the excursion to the most distant tonal center of the aria, to the major flat third. The two-measure excursion to E-flat major coincides with the text that reveals the greatest conflict, where Zaccaria admonishes confidence in the most extreme events.

The table provides a count of all movement other than repetitions and steps.

Interval	Number of leaps up	Number of leaps down
Third	14	11
Fourth	5	7
Fifth	2	0
Sixth	6	2
Seventh	0	2
Octave	2	2
Ninth	0	0
Tenth	2	2
Eleventh	0	0
Twelfth	0	0
Thirteenth	0	0
Fourteenth	0	0
Double octave	0	0

Verdi opera analyses

This article provides sign posts to more detailed articles, which are in plan or actual development. (I plan to analyze first the earliest and then the latest operas.)

• Nabucco (1842)
• No. 2—Coro d'introduzione e cavatina for Zaccaria, High Priest of the Hebrews, lyric bass, which includes Gli arredi festivo giu cadano infranti for chorus, D'Egitto là sui lidi cavatina, and Come notte a sol fulgente cabaletta
• No. 3—Recitavo e terzetttino for Abigaille, Fenena, and Ismaele, which includes Prode guerrier! and Io t'amava!
• No. 4—Coro Lo vedeste?
• No. 5—Finale primo Viva Nabucco, Tremin gl'insani del mio, Padre, pietade/Tu che a tuo senno, and Questo popl maledetto/Scigurato, ardente affetto

• No. 6—Scena ed aria for Abigaille, dramatic coloratura soprano, Anch'io dischiuso un giorno [INCOMPLETE], for Abigaille and Sacerdote Noi già sparso abbiamo fama, and Salgo già del trono aurato [INCOMPLETE] cabaletta for Abigaille 
• No. 7—Preghiera for Zaccaria, the High Priest of the Hebrews, lyric bass, Tu sul labbro [INCOMPLETE]
• No. 8—Coro di Leviti Che si vuol?
• No. 9—Scena e finale secondo Donna regal! for Abdallo, S'appressan gl'istanti for Nabucco and Abigaille, ensemble
   
• No. 10—Coro d'introduzione—E l'Assiria una regina
• No. 11—Recitativo
• No. 12—Duetto—Donna, chi sei? for Abigaille and Nabucco
• No. 13—Coro di schiavi Ebrei Va, pensiero, sull'ali dorate
• No. 14—Profezia-finale terzo Oh chi piange? for Zaccaria

• No. 15—Preludio, scena ed aria O prodi miei, seguitemi [INCOMPLETE] cabaletta with chorus for Nabucco, the King of Babylon, dramatic baritone, and Dio di Giuda [INCOMPLETE] for Nabucco
• No. 16—Marcia funebre e preghiera O dischius'è il firmamento [INCOMPLETE] for Fenema, one of Nabucco's daughters, mezzo-soprano
• No. 17—Finale quarto Qual grido e questo!

• I Lombardi (1843)
• 7 Arias [incomplete]
• Ernani (1844)
• 11 Arias [incomplete]
• I Due Foscari (1844)
• 12 Arias [incomplete]
• Giovanna d'Arco (1845)
• 9 Arias [incomplete]
• Attila (1846)
• 10 Arias [incomplete]
• Macbeth (1847)
• 11 Arias [incomplete]
• I masnadieri (1847)
• 10 Arias [incomplete]
• Jérusalem (revision of I Lombardi alla prima crociata for Paris, 1847)
• 8 Arias [incomplete]
• La battaglia di Legnano, 27 January 1849
• 7 Arias [incomplete]
• Luisa Miller (1849)
• 8 Arias [incomplete]
• Stiffelio, 16 November 1850
• 8 Arias [incomplete]
• Rigoletto, 11 March 1851
• 8 Arias [incomplete]
• Il trovatore, 19 January 1853
• 12 Arias [incomplete]
• La traviata, 6 March 1853
• 5 Arias [incomplete]
• Les vêpres siciliennes, 13 June 1855
• 7 Arias [incomplete]
• Simon Boccanegra, (Original Version), 12 March 1857
• 5 Arias [incomplete]
• Aroldo (A major revision of Stiffelio), 16 August 1857
• Arias [incomplete]—no listing in the Aria Database
• Un ballo in maschera, 17 February 1859
• 10 Arias [incomplete]
• La forza del destino, 10 November 1862
• 7 Arias [incomplete]
• Don Carlos, 11 March 1867
• 11 Arias [incomplete]
• Aida, 24 December 1871
• 4 Arias [incomplete]
• Simon Boccanegra, (Revised Version), 24 March 1881
• Arias [incomplete]
• Otello, 5 February 1887
• 7 Arias [incomplete]

• Falstaff, 9 February 1893

• L'onore! Ladri! [INCOMPLETE] from Act I, Scene 1 for Sir John Falstaff, a fat knight, baritone-heavy bass

• È sogno? o realtà [INCOMPLETE] from Act II, Scene 1for Ford, a wealthy man, lyric baritone

• Va, vecchio John [INCOMPLETE] from Act II, Scene 1 for Sir John Falstaff, baritone-heavy bass

• Quand'ero paggio del Duca di Norfolk [INCOMPLETE] from Act II, Scene 2 for Sir John Falstaff, baritone-heavy bass

• Dal labbro il canto estasiato vola - Sonneto [INCOMPLETE] from Act III, Scene 2 for Fenton, one of Nannetta's suitors, tenor leggiero

• Sul fil d'un soffio etesio [INCOMPLETE] from Act III, Scene 2 for Nannetta, The Fords daughter, soprano-soubrette

References

References

History

Wikipedia list of Verdi compositions,
Wikipedia discussion of  verismo, Italian opera and German opera.

Musical analysis

Vocal production
Schenkerian analysis of Mozart
Schenkerian analysis sources
Analytic techniques
Cognitive structure techniques
10 difficult arias
Form and analysis
Chicago Opera—Verdi
Full-text musical databases (Irrelevant?)
Aria database
Alban Berg's Wozzeck, part of a collection of music theory
The larger forms of music composition
Changing the score
Tonality and Drama in La Traviata
Musical narrative
Opera Lively-Verdi late operas part of the opera in-depth series
Salome's Kiss aria
Aria and Lied, smaller forms
Full tragedy of Violetta
Melody in Puccini Arias
Berg: Origins of a Method
Maddox: Performance of affect in recitativo from Music Performance Journal
Common-tone tonality in Romantic Opera from  Music Theory Online

Lamenting the end of lyric opera

I've recently been listening to early Verdi operas. So far, my listening has consisted of a few hearings each of his earlier work:

• Nabucco (1842)
• I Lombardi (1843)
• Ernani (1844)
• I Due Foscari (1844). 
• Attila (1846)
• Macbeth (1847)
• I masnadieri (1847)
• Jérusalem (a revision and translation of I Lombardi alla prima crociata for Paris, 1847)
• Luisa Miller (1849)

And with the Met in HD performance of Rigoletto (1851) and the Met Opera radio broadcasts of Don Carlo (1867) and La traviata (1853), each of which I heard once—at least recently. Luckily, the Dayton library has a good selection of other Verdi operas, which are in my listening stack: Rigoletto, (1851), Il trovatore, (1853), La traviata, (1853), Les vêpres siciliennes, (1855), Un ballo in maschera, (1859), La forza del destino, (1862), Don Carlos, (1867), Aida (1871), Otello (1887), and Falstaff, (1893). In the mad rush of producing a new work (or three!) for each season from 1839 (Oberto) through 1857 (Simon Boccanegra and Aroldo), I suspect that Verdi had little interest in forging new paths in composition. I hope to find a different attitude toward composition in his later seven works, which appeared at an average frequency of five years.

I've held that Verdi (1813-1901) was not at all a man of his time, but rather was happy to revel in bel canto techniques of an earlier generation—for example, Donizetti (1797-1848) and Rossini (1792-1868). The art of bel canto wallowed in lyricism, often at the expense of strong narrative linkages between arias. Typically any link was afforded through a recitative, rather than a through-composed music that developed parallel to—and separate from—Verdi, in the German opera. Verdi was disinterested in forging new paths for lyric opera. In fact, Verdi remained more aligned with those born a couple decades before him than his exact contemporary Richard Wagner (1813-1883), who developed his art from Beethoven (1770-1827) and von Weber (1786-1826). But Wagner was not the only possible development from Beethoven and von Weber; consider the directions taken by Mendelssohn (1809-1847), Lortzing (1801-1851), Meyerbeer (1791-1864), Nicolai (1810-1849) , and von Flotow (1812-1883).

Pursuing the lyric mode in opera is no fault. Sadly, true lyric expression in more contemporary opera has succumbed to narrative and dialogue. The dwindling lyricism comes not solely from the direction of music composition, but the less-lyric expression results also from the selection of a subject matter by composers and the development of text and narrative structures by librettists. But what exactly is lyric mode? I've begun a set of parallel analyses of Verdi arias, which will receive occasional addition. (Most recent work includes a completed analysis of D'Egito la sui lidi from Nabucco.)


Of parallel interest to me is how 20th-Century Italian opera made its leap beyond Verdi, both in musical style and libretto cohesiveness. The verismo reaction to Verdi in works by Puccini (1858-1924), Mascagni (1863-1945), and Leoncavallo (1857-1919) is persuasive both as drama and as lyric expression. As such, the influence of Wagner is strong, though more perhaps in libretto than music. The works both in verismo and of Wagner mark an ascendance of the librettist, who broke from the set-piece to a more compact poesy. Where the bel canto aria often followed an A B A structure in music, the formal structure became more free—and in words, the aria in the new libretti became less set apart from the expository text. Expository and linking text became more integrated than it had been in the bel canto recitative.

The development continued by another leap further with the operas of Luigi Nono (1924–1990) and Luciano Berio. Perhaps the leaps in Italian opera were supported by the oeuvre of Busoni (1866-1924), and Respighi (1879-1936), whose operas I know little of. Certainly the influence of Schönberg (1874-1951) and Berg (1885-1935) is strong, and the flowering of new techniques of musical composition and libretto writing is fertilized by international infusions from Hans Werner Henze (1926-2012) and Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007). Two other 20th-C Italian opera composers that I have little knowledge of are Luigi Dallapiccola (1904-1975) and Sylvano Bussotti (b. 1931). More listening is in my future.

References

Michael Mizrahi, pianist recital

The pianist Michael Mizrahi performed a recital of Beethoven and 21st-Century composers at the Sears Recital Hall on the University of Dayton campus today. The program included five composers who are new to me, and their works were all written between 2005 and 2011.

The Beethoven pieces included the Rondo Op. 51 No. 1, composed 1796-97 at age 27, and his Eleven Bagatelles Op. 119, composed 1820-1822 perhaps as sources of spare income while he was working on the Missa Solemnis. The Rondo clearly shows the influence of the late classical masters, and its formal organization is straightforward with clear melodies and well-crafted contrasts. The bagatelles are a type unto themselves. Most are miniatures in a strong A-B-A structure, each lasting from 30 seconds to 3 minutes. (Score is available at the International Music Score Library Project.) Though they are small, they belie the meaning of bagatelle (a thing of little importance). The first introduces a nice cross-relation within its first four measures, and this sets up a relative freedom with tonal centers that makes a momentary jolt in almost every piece. —Mind you, this Beethoven guy still works well with a strong sense of cadence and fluid key changes.

Of a pleasant contrast was the selection of new works for piano. The Beethoven Rondo was contrasted by three works by Patrick Burke (b. 1974), John Mayrose (b. 1976), and Mark Dancigers (b. 1981). The Beethoven Bagatelles were contrasted by a set of four short pieces by Ryan Brown (b. 1979). To close the recital with yet another contrast, Mizrahi played a new reconstruction of Chopin's Mazurka in F minor (Op. 68 No. 4) and followed that with a Ballade by Judd Greenstein (b. 1979). The new works are available all together on Mr. Mizrahi's recent CD, The Bright Motion. The constrasts and comparisons to Beethoven and Chopin are generously explored, and none of the new works stray too far afield from a central tonal area. —Mind you, the works lack traditional cadence though the motivic structure keeps one well grounded.

Burke's Unravel (2011) presents a short motif that repeats quite a few times with interspersed echoes before breaking away from the original 3-note germ. Its texture and structure reminds one of Copland's orchestral works once he settled into the most listenable American composer of the mid-Twentieth Century.

Mayrose's Faux Patterns (2009) ruminates on a two-note motif of G-flat and F. The texture gradually, carefully expands and creates its own joy in cross-relations, and then, almost as voices from other worlds, points of tone at the upper and lower reaches of the keyboard add their comment on the half-tone motif.

Dancigers' The Bright Motion first movement (2011) marries Claude Debussy to late Philip Glass in a convincing home scene, including a clear reference to La Cathédrale engloutie and an oblique to other works from the Préludes.

Brown's Four Pieces for Solo Piano (2010) become almost a hearing test for my sixth-decade ears, in which few tones below middle C are struck. His work is much more rhythm-centered, and it merges repetitions that Meredith Monk would be happy to obsess on with clusters and chords that Dave Brubeck and Bill Evans could be glad to expand on.

Greenstein's First Ballade (2008) also explores the highest registers, though the motivic structure drops often into the lower tones as a contrast to what becomes a filigree of way-above-staff figures. Overall, I felt the Ballade to be the most expansive of the pieces from these new composers. —That is not to say longwinded, as this piece seems a bit too short at 8 minutes.