I due Foscari
- Petrobelli, Pierluigi. “Osservazioni sul processo compositivo in Verdi.” AM 43
(1971): 125–142.
Examines draft fragments forI due Foscariand the sketch for Rigoletto,to
explain Verdi’s specific changes in the final versions of both works. Concludes
that the sketch is a concentrated nucleus of the musical ideas; those ideas
expand into the revised score. Petrobelli supplemented these observations in
“L’abbozzo di Busseto e la creazione musicale in Verdi,” Biblioteca ‘70 3
(1973): 17–32.
Ernani
Although Ernani “has provoked the most scholarly study of any of Verdi’s earliest
operas” (Harwood), none of the opera guide series has yet covered it.
- “Ernani” ieri e oggi: Atti del Convegno Internazionale di Studi, Modena,
Teatro San Carlo, 9–10 dicembre 1984.Ed. Pierluigi Petrobelli. In Verdi 4
(1987).
The conference papers take up this issue of Verdi. One of them is a genesis
study: “Gli anni di Ernani,” by Gustavo Marchesi, 19–42.
See also #1879.
- Gossett, Philip. “The Composition of Ernani.” In Analyzing Opera(#416),
27–55.
An Italian translation appeared in #1876. Genesis, with revisions described
and alterations in the autograph score. Various clues point to the nature of the
closing trio in the original version (not extant). - Parker, Roger. “Levels of Motivic Definition in Verdi’s Ernani.” 19thCM 6
(1982–1983): 141–150.
The evident attempt by Verdi to underscore certain moments of love and
honor with melodic motives was not fully successful. The reason is that the
motives are neither sufficiently distinctive nor repeated often enough to estab-
lish themselves in the drama. However, motives do help to unify a part of act 1.
Parker finds internal coherence in the use of a “recurring melodic contour, the
rising sixth from dominant to mediant.” He feels it is “unfortunate that a good
deal of the close analytic work of recent years has concerned itself with the
contentious topic of overall key relationships” instead of motivic study. - Conati, Marcello. “Ernanidi Verdi: Le critiche del tempo—alcune consider-
azioni.” In “Ernani” ieri e oggi(#1876), 207–272.
Prints 31 reviews from 1844 to1847, then lists 200 performances with full
descriptions. The opera was a success from the beginning.
Falstaff
ASO87 (1986), COH 1983, ENOG 10 (1982), Rororo 1986.
Giuseppe Verdi 351