Giuseppe Verdi: Otello / Edition 1

by James A. Hepokoski

Overview

James Hepokoski provides a reliable summary of what is currently known about Otello, along with an interpretation of the significance of the work within Verdi's career. The book begins with a detailed synopsis which interweaves some of the specific stage action from the 1887 Milanese première. There follows a close consideration of how the opera was actually written: Arrigo Boito's derivation of the libretto from Shakespeare and the subsequent textual revisions; Verdi's composition of the opera from 1884 to 1887 and an overview of the revisions of the opera for Venice in 1887 and Paris in 1894. A further chapter outlines Verdi's own ideas for the performance of Otello and this is followed by William Ashbrook's summary of the opera's stage history up to the present. Professor Hepokoski continues by suggesting a new model for understanding the musical structure of Otello. The book concludes with a study of the opera as a work of Shakespearean adaptation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521277495
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	06/18/1987
Series:	Cambridge Opera Handbooks
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.51(d)

Table of Contents

1. Synopsis; 2. Creating the libretto: Verdi and Boito in collaboration; 3. The composition of the opera; 4. Compositional afterthoughts and revisions: Milan, Venice and Paris; 5. Of singers and staging: Verdi's ideas on performance; 6. A brief performance history William Ashbrook; 7. An introduction to the musical organization: the structures of Act II; 8. Shakespeare reinterpreted.

Editorial Reviews

"...a highly original contribution to Verdi research in two respects. First, Hepokoski has discovered important new material. Second, he has developed a provocative theoretical model for analysis of the opera." David Lawton, 19th Century Music

From the Publisher