Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I VERSIFICATION AND MELODIC AESTHETICS
- Part II FRENCH MELODY IN VERDI'S OPERAS
- 3 Jérusalem and its influence on the subsequent Italian operas
- 4 Les Vêpres siciliennes and its influence on the subsequent Italian operas
- 5 Don Carlos and after
- Appendix: Principal theoretical texts cited (arranged in chronological order by date of publication)
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
4 - Les Vêpres siciliennes and its influence on the subsequent Italian operas
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I VERSIFICATION AND MELODIC AESTHETICS
- Part II FRENCH MELODY IN VERDI'S OPERAS
- 3 Jérusalem and its influence on the subsequent Italian operas
- 4 Les Vêpres siciliennes and its influence on the subsequent Italian operas
- 5 Don Carlos and after
- Appendix: Principal theoretical texts cited (arranged in chronological order by date of publication)
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Scribe and Verdi discussed the Vêpres project as early as 1853 and may have met in person before rehearsals began on November 16, 1854. Evidence regarding Verdi's prosodic concerns, however, is limited to a few extant letters, which also debunk the long-standing assumption that the composer, with his supposedly inferior knowledge of French, readily accepted Scribe's verses without requesting changes. In fact, the letters portray a composer actively involved in structuring the libretto – from its dramatic pace down to details of poetic meter and accentual rhythm – and a librettist aware of Verdi's talent and graciously complying with his wishes.
On at least three occasions, Verdi requested regularly accented verses. Two of these requests refer to choral sections, and in both cases the composer was looking for meters corresponding with two of the most regularly accented Italian equivalents, the vers de sept syllabes (corresponding to the Italian ottonario) and the vers de cinq syllabes (corresponding to the Italian senario). In a letter of June 7, 1854, Verdi elaborated:
I come to ask your kindness for a small change in the second act. I would need the chorus “O bonheur! O délice!” to have verses of eight instead of verses of seven, as for example [the highlighted syllables reflect Verdi's intentions]
O marty̲r de la patri̱e
Pour brise̱r la tyranni̱e
You can keep – if it suits you – the same ideas, the same rhymes, only be so good to change the rhythm to verses of eight.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Verdi and the French AestheticVerse, Stanza, and Melody in Nineteenth-Century Opera, pp. 121 - 181Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008