Mature Operas
(Osher-RIT Spring 2016)
Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) composed some of the greatest and most famous of all operas. His works spanned 54 years during which he wrote 29 operas, several of which were revised by him for new productions. A previous course given in the Fall 2014 term covered five of his early operas. This course will cover five more operas from his middle and late careers.
Verdi’s life and music are intimately tied to the political history of his homeland during the late 19th century. At the time of his birth Italy did not exist as a country. He was born in Busseto, near Milan in Lombardy which was then a province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
At an early age Verdi became involved in a movement to gain political independence for Italy. This became embedded in the plots of many of his operas. For example, his third opera Nabucco (1842) depicted the Babylonian captivity of the Hebrews. This was seen by his audience as a reference to Lombardy’s “captivity” by Austria.
It is not surprising that Verdi had frequent and contentious disputes with Austrian censors who closely scanned his libretti for subversive plot elements and story lines. At the same time the Catholic Church also sought to censor plot elements they thought to be anti-clerical. We will discuss some of the extensive and often silly plot changes imposed by the censors.
If the censors had their way Verdi’s operas would have been banned outright. They failed because of the cultural significance of opera in Italy and because of Verdi’s enormous fame and popularity.
The operas for this class were written between 1851 and 1871 and were chosen in part because of the controversy they stirred and the fierce battles Verdi had with government and church censors.
See the Posts Section for previews of individual classes.