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Marian Smith recaptures a rich period in French musical theater when ballet and opera were intimately connected. Focusing on the age ofGiselleat the Paris Opéra (from the 1830s through the 1840s), Smith offers an unprecedented look at the structural and thematic relationship between the two genres. She argues that a deeper understanding of both ballet and opera--and of nineteenth-century theater-going culture in general--may be gained by examining them within the same framework instead of following the usual practice of telling their histories separately. This handsomely illustrated book ultimately provides a new portrait of the Opéra during a period long celebrated for its box-office successes in both genres. Smith begins by showing how gestures were encoded in the musical language that composers used in ballet and in opera. She moves on to a wide range of topics, including the relationship between the gestures of the singers and the movements of the dancers, and the distinction between dance that represents dancing (entertainment staged within the story of the opera) and dance that represents action. Smith maintains that ballet-pantomime and opera continued to rely on each other well into the nineteenth century, even as they thrived independently. The \"divorce\" between the two arts occurred little by little, and may be traced through unlikely sources: controversies in the press about the changing nature of ballet-pantomime music, shifting ideas about originality, complaints about the ridiculousness of pantomime, and a little-known rehearsal score forGiselle.

Well-known for leading audiences to a new appreciation of Verdi as a subtle and elaborate musical thinker, Pierluigi Petrobelli here turns his attention to the intriguing question of how musical theater works. In this collection of lively, penetrating essays, Petrobelli analyzes specific operas, mainly by Verdi, in terms of historical context, musical organization, and dramaturgical conventions. Originally published in 1995. ThePrinceton Legacy Libraryuses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

In these essays, Roger Parker brings a series of valuable insights to bear on Verdian analysis and criticism, and does so in a way that responds both to an opera-goer's love of musical drama and to a scholar's concern for recent critical trends. As he writes at one point: \"opera challenges us by means of its brash impurity, its loose ends and excess of meaning, its superfluity of narrative secrets.\" Verdi's works, many of which underwent drastic revisions over the years and which sometimes bore marks of an unusual collaboration between composer and librettist, illustrate in particular why it can sometimes be misleading to assign fixed meanings to an opera. Parker instead explores works likeRigoletto, Il trovatore, La forza del destino, andFalstafffrom a variety of angles, and addresses such contentious topics as the composer's involvement with Italian politics, the possibilities of an \"authentic\" staging of his work, and the advantages and pitfalls of analyzing his operas according to terms that his contemporaries might have understood. Parker takes into account many of the interdisciplinary influences currently engaging musicologists, in particular narrative and feminist theory. But he also demonstrates that close attention to the documentary evidence--especially that offered by autograph scores--can stimulate equal interpretive activity. This book serves as a model of research and critical thinking about opera, while nevertheless retaining a deep respect for opera's continuing power to touch generations of listeners.

\"Luisa Miller,\" dating from 1849, four years before \"Il Trovatore,\" is often said to have introduced a new, more intimate style of Verdian opera, primarily because of its heroine. She has a scene involving a letter with prominent clarinet, like the one \"La Traviata,\" yet the opera also resembles \"Il Trovatore,\" which recalls Verdi's earlier, more grandiose style. Indeed, \"Luisa Miller\" has so much in common with Verdi's famous trio of middle-period operas (\"Rigoletto\" is the third) that, given its quality, it ought to be ranked among them. Derived from Schiller, it tells a Romeo and Juliet-like story, although [Luisa Miller]'s lover Rodolfo is the son of the local lord, Count Walter, who misuses his authority to oppress Luisa and her father. Mario Martone's production emphasizes tyranny by means of Sergio Tramonti's decor, which contrasts Luisa's forest abode with an austere, tribunal-like room, symbolizing power, for scenes with Walter. Mr. Martone's direction of the principals could use more of the detailed, hands-on approach that distinguishes Mr. [Tcherniakov]'s work, but the action convincingly unfolds as Verdi conceived it. Apart from the curse, Mr. [Piero Pretti] excels with a sensitively phrased \"Quando le sere al placido,\" the opera's most famous aria, and brings hearty tone to its cabaletta, a precursor of Manrico's \"Di quella pira.\" Tamar Iveri graces Luisa's music with limpid, resonant tone that disappoints only with a few harsh high notes.

OPERA LUISA MILLER THE BARBER OF BAGHDAD BUXTON FESTIVAL LUISA Miller is a turning point in Verdi's early maturity, transcending formal conventions and hitting a new depth of emotional urgency in the grippingly intense denouement. A performance as good as the Buxton Festival's leaves one wondering why such a musically rich and psychologically powerful opera isn't staged more often. TRATING[thorn][thorn][thorn][thorn][thorn] Luisa Miller TRATING[thorn][thorn][thorn][thorn][thorn] The Barber... Rupert Christiansen

The most accomplished singing came from John Bellemer's Rodolfo, whose \"Quando le sere al placido\" (the most famous number in the score) rang out sweetly and sincerely.

Launching a series of eight operas, Buxton Festival, now in its 32nd year, is surely the most ambitious opera festival in the UK. The first of the rarely performed works in which it specialises, one of two productions created for the delightful little Derbyshire theatre, is Verdi's [Luisa Miller]. It's a rum plot, loosely based on a watered-down version of a Schiller play, sung here in Italian with small surtitles. The love between Luisa, daughter of the army veteran Miller, and Rodolfo - the Count's son in disguise - is frustrated by a dastardly conspiracy. The Count and his steward, a nasty piece of work called Wurm, threaten Luisa, on her father's life, to renounce Rodolfo.

After the interval, things improved somewhat. Anne Sophie Duprels ([Luisa Miller]) is not a true Verdi stylist - her phrasing is flat-footed and she makes little of the text - but she is an engaging performer who gives her all and produces intermittent evidence of genuine vocal talent (perhaps verismo rather than bel canto should be her goal). An over-stretched Alan Oke (Rodolfo) ploughed his way valiantly through \"Quando le sere\". [Olivia Fuchs]'s staging began to make a bit more sense, and Peter Robinson's stalwart conducting found a flow of energy.

Nor does the image of the distressed [LUISA MILLER] pouring her dad a cup of tea quite hit the intended note of noble self-sacrifice. Anne Sophie Duprels, nevertheless, is wonderful in the title role, floating lines freighted with ardour and heartfelt sorrow, shaping and colouring them with the heroine's anguish. Mark Holland is impressive as Luisa's father, Miller, while Richard Angas puts his gravelly bass to good use as a menacing [Walter]. Paul Reeves' baleful Wurm and Pippa Longworth's Federica complete the cast.