- Cone, Edward T. “The Old Man’s Toys: Verdi’s Last Operas.” In Music: A
View from Delft(#65), 114–133.
Stravinsky said that in Otelloand Falstaffsubtlety has replaced melodic inspi-
ration; Falstaffis “a meaningless puppet show, written for an old man’s
amusement.” Cone disagrees, finding in the late works “not less invention, but
more.” Melodies no longer repeat themselves into arias but develop and recur
in the orchestra as needed. In fact, Verdi’s early works have arias that are
“diluted,” “containing much less music than their own space. So he learns
concentration.” As in Wagner, these are orchestral arias, not sung; but sung
phrases contribute to the unfolding of the complete dramatic line. This is a
principle of late Beethoven as well. - Hepokoski, James A. “The Compositional History of Verdi’s Falstaff: A Study
of the Autograph Score and the Early Editions.” Ph.D. diss., Harvard U., - 2v.
- Girardi, Michele. “Fonti francesi del Falstaff: Alcuni aspetti di drammaturgia
musicale.” In Arrigo Boito(#599), 395–430.
A French translation of the Shakespeare plays seems to have been Boito’s
source for the Falstafflibretto. His copy of the translation, by François-Victor
Hugo, shows underlined passages that occur in the libretto, plus annotations
indicating how the two relevant plays might be related in shaping the character
of Sir John. - Parker, Roger. “Falstaffand Verdi’s Final Narratives.” In Leonora’s Last Act
(#1808), 100–125.
A kaleidoscopic presentation of “an opera that constantly plays with ambigu-
ous, multivalent musical gestures.” - Sabbeth, Daniel Paul. “Principles of Tonal and Dramatic Organization in
Verdi’s Falstaff.” Ph.D. diss., City U. of New York, 1976. 234p.
Some of this work had been anticipated in Sabbeth’s article in Atti(#1802),
v.3. He finds that the final fugue is a unifying motive of the opera and that the
entire work possesses three levels of tonal organization. Tonal movement is
diatonic, and large-scale motions take the place of traditional numbers.
La forza del destino
ASO126 (1989), ENOG 23 (1983). Verdi 2 (1961–1966) has several articles on the
work (two are cited below).
- Marchesi, Gustavo. “Gli anni della Forza del destino.” Verdi2–4/5/6 (1961–
1966): 17–42; 713–744; 1,505–1,542.
Genesis and first performance, focused on Verdi letters. - Holmes, William C. “The Earliest Revisions of La forza del destino.” Studi
verdiani6 (1990): 55–98.
Reconstructs the revisions from materials in the Kirov Library in the city of the
premiere, St. Petersburg, and a score Verdi prepared for another performance, in
Madrid. Most revisions were minor, but in act 3 there were extensive changes.
352 Opera