Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Verdi and the undoing of women

2006; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 18; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1017/s0954586706002072

1474-0621

Joseph Kerman,

Diversity and Impact of Dance

For a brief period in his career, Verdi wrote operas about compromised or ‘fallen’ women, women condemned for their sexuality: not only Lina in Stiffelio and Violetta in La traviata , but also – if we take into account the way their men regard them – Lida in La battaglia di Legnano , Luisa in Luisa Miller and Leonora in Il trovatore . These women suffer or die. Gilda also dies, in Rigoletto , ultimately a victim of her sexual availability. This essay examines Verdi's contribution to ‘the undoing of women’ and relates it speculatively to his experience as Giuseppina Strepponi's lover around the same time.