Portrait of Giuseppe Verdi, 1886, by Giovanni Boldini (National Gallery of Modern Art, Rome)
In the 1840s, Italian composers Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini commanded full attention on the opera stages of Europe. Giuseppe Verdi was the inheritor of their established traditions. The young composer accepted this gift—and then began to transform it.
In a 6-session series, Saul Lilienstein demonstrates how myriad structural elements of the bel canto style evolved under Verdi’s restless musical imagination and his desire to achieve a striking dramatic urgency. Each session is highlighted by audio and video recordings comparing the heritage of the first generation of bel canto masters with the achievements of Verdi, now recognized as the greatest of Italian composers.
Oct. 9 The Aria
Early 19th-century audiences came for the thrill of spectacular solos and for the prima donnas and tenors who delivered them. Verdi would give them plenty of that, but he also carved out a dramatic foundation for these showpieces, creating arias with deeper characterizations.
Oct. 16 The Love Duet
Rossini and Donizetti usually avoided overt sexuality in their romantic duets, which are models of formal beauty. In the later years of the century, though, the opera public craved more onstage passion. In Verdi’s later works, he opens up the duet form and turns on the heat.
Oct. 23 Duets and Trios of Dramatic Confrontation
Bellini was an early master of scenes of heightened drama, but Verdi expanded the possibilities with unforgettable moments between fathers and daughters and among death-destined rivals.
Oct. 30 Large Ensembles
No one wrote more beautiful ensembles than Donizetti, and none filled the stage with more joyful crowds than Rossini—but Donizetti’s are dramatically static and Rossini was creating intricate games with music. In Verdi’s maturity, the action goes on as the music for grandly massed voices unfolds.
Nov. 6 Orchestration
Rossini orchestrated his works masterfully, particularly in decorative passages for woodwinds. In Donizetti and Bellini, the orchestra is mainly at the service of the singers. Gradually, Verdi developed an orchestral voice as important as Richard Wagner’s, one that was a source of emotional power.
Nov. 13 Comedy
Verdi most often deployed comedy judiciously, using it at the beginning of Rigoletto and throughout A Masked Ball as an essential contrasting element to tragic denouements. And then there is his final work, Falstaff—a full, warm-hearted parting gift of joyful humor to his audiences.
6 sessions
