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Année après année, Giuseppe Verdi reste le compositeur d’opéras le plus joué dans le monde. Pourtant, peu d’études musicologiques sur son style ont été publiées à ce jour, et encore moins en français. En fait, ce livre, véritable guide d’analyse opératique, est le premier dans toutes les langues qui traite de façon systématique du langage musical du compositeur. En s’appuyant sur les 23 opéras en italien et en mettant en lumière leurs conventions et leurs principes sous-jacents, l’auteur examine méthodiquement les personnages et leurs intrigues au regard de l’écriture musicale et brosse ainsi le portrait d’une oeuvre grandiose. À l’aide de plusieurs exemples, il décrit avec brio la forme musico-dramatique d’un compositeur dont le style unique est, ultimement, au service de la théâtralité. Steven Huebner est musicologue à l’école de musique Schulich de l’Université McGill et titulaire de la chaire James McGill.

Throw away those opera glasses and enjoy a night at the cinema. The legendary magic and tradition of La Scala (Teatro alla Scala), the most famous opera house in history,...

Artistic Director Victor DeRenzi, in his 18th season in Sarasota, is now running the company with new Executive Director Susan Danis, who was hired last spring to replace the retiring Deane Allyn. The obvious friction that existed between DeRenzi and Allyn has been replaced by a mutually supportive attitude. The season opens with the first Sarasota production of a Richard Wagner opera, \"The Flying Dutchman,\" which will be followed by Gioacchino Rossini's \"The Barber of Seville,\" Georges Bizet's \"The Pearl Fishers\" and another rarely performed opera by Giuseppi Verdi, \"Alzira.\" \"The Flying Dutchman\" is the first of Wagner's well-known operas \"and was written early in his career, so the orchestra is not as big as in some of his later works, which we cannot do because of the size of our orchestra pit,\" DeRenzi said. Wagner's most famous operas require as many as 100 musicians \"and we don't do operas with reduced orchestrations,\" he said.

This rare quality was most evident in the opening choral lines of the closing \"[Libera] me,\" delivered in digitally precise diction at a delicate pianissimo pleading of \"deliver me, O Lord, from eternal death on that awful day\". This was offset with thunderous declarations of \"a day of wrath, that day of calamity and misery\" sung by the full chorus and lone soprano soloist, underscored by the orchestra with pounding bass drum and timpani. Although one could add in the factor that the exquisite \"Libera me\" had been written earlier for the funeral of Gioachimo Rossini and the rest of the piece subsequently built in front of it, the soloists might just as well have been reading economic theory for the all passion they conveyed. The same went for Fornier, although one must admit he has to be a competent choral conductor to get a volunteer chorus to sing with such moments of luminous transparency along with the subtle shading of the tenor and oboe duet in the \"Ingemisco\" section of the Dies irae.

The 74th season of the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra closed with both vibrancy and delicacy Saturday night. The DECC was filled like a carefully balanced scale, with more than 250 people on the stage sharing the \"Messa da Requiem\" by Giuseppi Verdi with 2,000 listeners out front. This was a major concerted effort by the DSSO, the DSSO chorus, the University of Wisconsin-Superior A Cappella Choir, and four exceptional soloists. Guest soprano Michele Capalbo appeared to have unlimited breath, as she began phrases softly and let them blossom into full power, only to back off again. Her control was most incredible. Meanwhile, mezzo-soprano Stacey Eckert dominated the drama with her power. When she and Capalbo shared duets, as in the \"Recordare\" section, and the \"Agnus Dei,\" it was as if Capalbo was a shimmering harmonic overtone to the rich, deep tone from Eckert.

Giuseppi Verdi's tragic-comedy opera, Un Ballo in Maschera, inspired this year's event. But guests are urged to leave cares at home and, instead, dress up and bring a mask, the more elaborate the better. Celebrating half a century of lavish productions, the Toledo Opera has made its 2008-2009 season a Verdi extravaganza. The opening production, Nov. 8, 14, and 16, will be Verdi's tragedy, Rigoletto. Its annual gala, Feb. 14, 2009, is dubbed Viva Verdi! The remainder of the season will include Richard Strauss's over-the-top Salome on March 14, 20, and 22, and Leonard Bernstein's Candide May 2. Save for the final production and the Gala, both of which will be in the Toledo Museum of Art Peristyle, all other operas will be presented in the Valentine Theatre. Above: A butterfly inspires a mask designed by Holly Metzger. Right: An elaborate creation by the Culp Sisters. Face Jug Mask (Homage to Southern Folk Potters): [Mark Nafziger], Brush Creek Pottery at Sauder Village. Lion Mask: [Vanessa Snyder],, Toledo Zoo.

  Did You Know?* Before \"La Traviata\" became a beloved Italian opera, in 1853, it was a smash hit -- as a French novel in 1848, then as a hit on the French stage, in 1852. But the tragic tale of the frail courtesan [Alexandre Dumas] called Marguerite Gautier -- and [Giuseppi Verdi] renamed Violetta Valery -- was just beginning.* Dumas' \"La Dame Aux Camelias\" became \"Camille\" for its Engish- speaking admirers, and 16 versions played on Broadway over the years. In one form or another, the story was adapted to the screen. And it partly inspired the movies \"Pretty Woman\" and \"Moulin Rouge.\"* Starring in the 20 or so movies based on Dumas' story were many of the greats: Sarah Bernhardt; Theda Bara; Greta Garbo; Isabelle Huppert and others.* The Marguerite/Violetta role attracted stage stars, too, among them Lillian Gish, Eleonora Duse, Tallulah Bankhead, Eva Le Gallienne, Isabelle Adjani and, again, The Divine Sarah.-- Research by Laura Stewart

`It's paying off now,' [Lester Lynch] said last week before afternoon rehearsals for the Dayton Opera's next production, Rigoletto, in which Lynch plays the title character. (The production opens Saturday evening at the Benjamin and Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center.) `Some baritones never sing this role.' Rigoletto marks his fourth appearance here, and Lynch credits Dayton Opera - and the artistic direction of [Tom Bankston] - with helping him progress as a performing artist. Now that he's doing the part, he recognizes that Bankston was right. He was ready. Lynch also commends Dayton Opera's Bankston for casting - and Dayton Opera audiences for accepting - colorblind ensembles in its stagings. While black opera singers have traditionally faced being shut out of certain roles because of their race, Lynch said Dayton is a place where a singer is recognized for the quality of his or her voice, rather than skin color. `Some houses wouldn't hire a black Rigoletto and a white Gilda,' he said. `It's wonderful to be here in this situation, especially so close to Cincinnati, where there has been so much unrest.'

\"We are extremely excited because this is a Toronto premiere. It's been done with pianos as a concern version, (but) it's the first time this opera has been fully staged in the history of Toronto,\" said Dwight Bennett, artistic director of the Royal Opera Canada and orchestra conductor of Nabucco. [Kathleen McCalla] sings for La Scalla, one of the top five opera houses that \"people die\" to perform at in Italy, Bennett said. Italian Mauro Augustini, who is also a La Scalla singer, plays the part of King Nabucco. The valuable wardrobe for Nabucco were produced by Canadian costume designer Nicola Benoia and Bennett said that Royal Opera Canada is using the same set that was originally designed for Nabucco at La Scalla.