Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Music in the theater: essays on Verdi and other composers

1995; Association of College and Research Libraries; Volume: 32; Issue: 07 Linguagem: Inglês

10.5860/choice.32-3820

1943-5975

Pierluigi Petrobelli,

Theater, Performance, and Music History

Well-known for having generated new interest in Verdi as a subtle and elaborate musical thinker, Pierluigi Petrobelli offers here penetrating explanations of how musical theatre works. Why is it that only a few operas constitute the standard repertory of all opera houses throughout the world? What makes these operas as effective today as they were at the time of their creation? Is there a governing principle in their organization and structure? In this collection of essays, many appearing in English for the first time, Petrobelli answers such questions by analyzing specific operas, mainly by Verdi, in terms of historical context, musical organization, and dramatic conventions. From the exploration of stylistic models, the essays move to the study of Verdi's compositional processes as revealed by sketches for Alzira, I due Foscari and Rigoletto. Unifying musical devices are discussed in essays on Il trovatore and Macbeth. Using Aida and La forza del destino, Petrobelli builds a theory based on three elements of communication within opera: the dramatic structure; the libretto and its metrical arrangement; and the score. The volume culminates with the application of these analytic tools to the opening of Gluck's Alceste and the making of Bellini's I puritani.