Verdi in Performance - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198167350 ISBN 13: 9780198167358

Publisher: OUP Oxford, 2001

Synopsis

The number of Verdi's works in the current repertories of the world's opera houses is greater than at any time since the composer's death a century ago. Yet, those responsible for staging and performing these works are faced with many difficult decisions, not least of which is how to make the operas relevant to modern audiences while respecting the composer's intentions. First written for an international conference at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, these lively and stimulating essays by leading Verdi scholars, music and stage practitioners reflect current thinking on matters such as 'authentic' staging, performance practice, Verdi's approach to the ballet, and the role of critical editions. With a chronology of the composer's life and times and also a list of his works, this anthology is essential reading for anyone interested in the performance of Verdi's operas in the new millennium.

About this title

Review

Verdi in Performance is an exceptionally good read, and its greatest assets are the intelligence of the questions it asks, and the welcome clarity of its jargon-free prose. It will serve us well for a very long time. (Nineteenth-Century Music Review)

... asks many important, grass-roots questions. Those questions and the responses to them constitute a unique opportunity to eavesdrop on an engaging and learned conversation among an elite assembly of theorists and practitioners, performing instrumentalists, conductors, and editors, all with an active point of view. This diversity is key to the success of this book, and lifts it out of a potential mire of academic speculation into reality. (Nineteenth-Century Music Review)

Verdi in Performance establishes parameters, vocabulary, typologies, and methodologies for future discussion of opera in performance in general. It is exceptionally well integrated, and it is clear from the richness of the position papers and the considered responses of its participants that there was great unanimity of purpose in putting this collection together. (Nineteenth-Century Music Review)

Verdi in Performance makes a timely and welcome contribution; for its freedom from the academic apparatus that might prove daunting to a general reader makes thought-provoking controversies and debates accessible to a broad audience. Yet its content is provocative enough to interest the critical scholar. (Journal of Musicological Research)

... a collection of instructive and perceptive essays that bridge the gap between scholarship and practice. The dual benefits of the scholarly expertise and the professional experience of its authors, the accessible style in which it is presented, and the information it provides make the book a valuable source that will serve to enlighten readers about significant issues affecting the operatic experience today. (Journal of Musicological Research)

Impressive volume ... as a Professor of music history, I would require graduate students, both performers and incipient musicologists, to read extensively from this volume, with full confidence that it would open their minds to the myriad problems inherent in editing and performing music and engender lively, thoughtful discussion. (The Opera Quarterly)

Much of the material is clearly applicable to modern performance of a wide range of music ... Verdi in Performance provides state-of-the-art discussion not only of Verdi scholarship as related to performance, but stimulating presentation of universal music performance concerns by some of the leading scholars, directors, and conductors currently active. The discussions present a myriad of viewpoints and considerations, and both the format of the volume (statement and responses) and the contents encourage further open-ended discussion. (The Opera Quarterly)

A book short in length but rich in intellectual stimulation. (BBC Music Magazine)

Anyone who minds about Verdi will find much here of interest. (Opera)

Edition details

• Publisher: OUP Oxford
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0198167350
• ISBN 13: 9780198167358
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 216
• Editor: Latham Alison, Parker Roger