![]() ![]() It is modelled on that of Don Giovanni, an opera which Verdi had remorselessly drummed into him by his teacher Lavigna until he knew it by heart. These forms are themselves bound within the carefully balanced formal pattern of the opera, which although nominally in four acts is actually a two-act structure. Trovatore is the last of Verdi’s operas to be confined by the closed forms of traditional ottocento opera. It is the perfect libretto, because when filled with music it becomes invisible. The text which Verdi wrung from his experienced librettist Salvatore Cammarano is a skilfully constructed scaffolding which allows the music to provide the drama unimpeded. The dramatic themes of Trovatore are elemental in their power: the magnetic attraction in love and hate of long-lost brothers the mother who destroys the child most dear to her the defenceless woman who summons the strength to sacrifice herself for love. It is a lazy critical cliché to repeat Caruso’s maxim that ‘ all Trovatore needs is the four greatest singers in the world’, implying that the plot is so far-fetched and ludicrous that it is best ignored. The paradox of Trovatore is that a story of almost unrelieved darkness is suffused by music of soaring lyricism. ![]() Il trovatore belongs to the night, its prevailing colour midnight blue irradiated from time to time by the flame red of the fire which is its recurring motif. The operas of Verdi are individually recognisable by their distinctive colour or tinta. ![]()
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