Description

This anthology of essays by leading Verdi scholars and practitioners, which grew out of an international conference, is essential reading for anyone interested in the way Verdi’s operas are performed. It is a lively debate on ‘authentic’ staging, performance practice, Verdi’s ballet scores, and critical editions.

CONTENTS

1 Alison Latham, Roger Parker: The Pains and Pleasures of Liberation
PART I STAGING VERDI2 James Hepokoski: Staging Verdi’s Operas: the Single, ‘Correct’ Performance
3 Andrew Porter: In Praise of the Pragmatic
4 David Rosen: On Staging that Matters
5 John Rosselli: ‘Trust the tale, not the teller’
6 Mike Ashman: Misinterpreting Verdian Dramaturgy: History and Grand Opera
PART II INSTRUMENTAL AND VOCAL PERFORMANCE7 David Lawton: Ornamenting Verdi Arias: the Continuity of a Tradition
8 Clive Brown: On ‘Exactly what is written’
9 Mark Elder: The Rubber Band
PART III VERDI AND THE BALLET10 Knud Arne Jurgensen: Verdi and the Ballet
11 Kathleen K Hansell: Ballet in Italy: the Background to Verdi
12 Gunhilde Oberzaucher-Schuller: Milan and Paris: a Lastin Dialogue
13 Jose Sasportes: A Conflict of Interests
14 Marian Smith: Drawing the Audience in: the Theatre and the Ballroom
15 Maribeth Clark: The Feminization of Ballet
16 Rebecca Harris-Warrick: ‘Reading’ Ballet
PART IV EDITIONS AND PERFORMANCE17 Philip Gossett: Critical Editions and Performance
18 Francesco Degrada: Critical Editions and Critical Performance
19 Gabriele Dotto: With Real Bullets in Tosca
20 Stefano Castelvecchi: The ‘Textualization’ of Opera
APPENDIXList of Works
Alison Latham: Chronology of Verdi’s Life and Times