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Verdi’s Aida

Verdi’s Aida: The History of an Opera in Letters and Documents

Collected and translated by HANS BUSCH
Copyright Date: 1978
Edition: NED - New edition
Published by: University of Minnesota Press
Pages: 744
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5749/j.cttts4k6
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  • Book Info
    Verdi’s Aida
    Book Description:

    "This is a detailed account of the creation and production of the opera Aida as revealed in he letters and documents of the composer Guiseppe Verdi and his associates. Aida was given its European premiere at La Scala in 1872, and the correspondence concerning its extends from 1868 to 1891. The letters and documents record a drama set against a background of politics and backstage intrigues, revolving around Verdi with five other major personalities as principal actors: August Mariette, Camielle Du Locle, Antonio Ghislanzoni, Paul Draneht, and Giulio Ricordi."

    eISBN: 978-0-8166-6173-2
    Subjects: Performing Arts

Table of Contents

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  1. Front Matter
    (pp. i-vi)
  2. Table of Contents
    (pp. vii-viii)
  3. PREFACE
    (pp. ix-xx)
    Hans Busch
  4. PERMISSIONS AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
    (pp. xxi-xxii)
  5. EDITORIAL NOTES
    (pp. xxiii-xxvi)
  6. ABBREVIATIONS
    (pp. xxvii-xxx)
  7. LIST OF THE LETTERS
    (pp. xxxi-l)
  8. INTRODUCTION
    (pp. li-lvi)

    “This opera is certainly not one of my worst,” Verdi wrote² with admirable modesty following the European premiere ofAidaat La Scala in 1872. A hundred years later this noble work is still one of Verdi’s greatest gifts to all whose lives are enriched by his art.

    Thomas Mann observed that some humans have an instinctive sense of their own longevity and, therefore, take more time for their achievements than their less fortunate fellows. Certainly Verdi took a remarkably long time to achieve artistic maturity. His early works are permeated with the characteristics of the so-called bel canto opera...

  9. LETTERS
    (pp. 3-430)

    Genoa, 19 February 1868

    Dear Du Locle,

    I am very glad to have just received your letter from Thebes and to know that you are safe and sound and pleased with your voyage. I am writing to you immediately in Paris so that if you arrive on the 20th, as you say you will, this letter of mine may be among the first to reach you; let me cordially take your hand and tell you welcome home. When we see each other, you must describe all the events of your voyage, the wonders you have seen, and the beauty and...

  10. DOCUMENTS
    (pp. 431-624)

    Even if we can accept some of Edouard Mariette’s story only with great reservations, it does seem to suggest that, despite striking similarities,Aidais not related to Pietro Metastasio’s dramaNittetior to any of its offspring, as suspected by Mary Jane Matz and assumed by Charles Osborne (Mary Jane Matz, “An ancestor for Aida,”Opera News, 1955, 20, no. 8, pp. 4–7, 26–28, and Charles Osborne,The Complete Operas of Verdi[New York: Knopf, 1970], pp. 377–82). Matz and Osborne seem to base their theory on a hypothesis formulated by Matteo Glinski in the review...

  11. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
    (pp. 627-656)
  12. A BRIEF CHRONOLOGY OF VERDI’S LIFE AND WORKS
    (pp. 659-662)
  13. A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
    (pp. 665-672)
  14. INDEX TO THE LETTERS
    (pp. 675-685)
  15. ADDENDA AND ERRATA
    (pp. 686-688)
    H.B.