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OPERA FOR THE PEOPLE

VERDI: THE MAN AND HIS MUSIC, by Carlo Gatti, translated from the Italian by Elisabeth Abbott; Victor Gollancz, English price 21/-. "HE chapter headings of Carlo Gatti’s biography of Verdi are almost all the titles of his operas. And that is as it should be, for opera, its composition and its production, was the life of Giuseppe Verdi. From the first performance of Oberto in 1839, when the composer was twenty-six, to his’ masterpiece Falstaff, given at Milan 54 years later, Verdi lived feverishly from one opera to another. There were brief respites for a string quartet, the Requiem and a few other odds and ends of music, but these were eddies in the main stream that took along with it even Verdi’s private life. Twelve operas in seven years and sometimes several in a year represents an’ astonishing output. Obviously this was no ivory tower, art for art’s sake approach to music. This was Verdi’s profession. To make a success of it, he not only brought to the composition of every work the full battery of his musicianship, but he kept his finger firmly on the pulse of the Italian public. He wrote in a_ special sense for the people, an Italian citizen for his compatriots. ‘ Tumultous acclaim, equally vehement criticism, intrigues, quarrels, a passionate enthusiasm anticipating every new opera-to the New Zealander for whom obdera is no more than an exciting episode- once or twice in a decade, Verdi's world is an almost incredible one. Gatti’s book is a biography. It makes no musical analysis of the operas. But it is so well documented that it must stand as the authoritative life of Verdi. From it emerges one of the really great musical figures of the 19th century.

O.

J.

This article text was automatically generated and may include errors. View the full page to see article in its original form.I whakaputaina aunoatia ēnei kuputuhi tuhinga, e kitea ai pea ētahi hapa i roto. Tirohia te whārangi katoa kia kitea te āhuatanga taketake o te tuhinga.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19560420.2.22.4

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

New Zealand Listener, Volume 34, Issue 872, 20 April 1956, Page 13

Word count
Tapeke kupu
296

OPERA FOR THE PEOPLE New Zealand Listener, Volume 34, Issue 872, 20 April 1956, Page 13

OPERA FOR THE PEOPLE New Zealand Listener, Volume 34, Issue 872, 20 April 1956, Page 13

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