Julian Budden was a British opera scholar, radio producer, and broadcaster. His scholarly work primarily delves into the operas of Giuseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini. Budden's writing is recognized for its insightful analysis of musical dramaturgy and the historical context surrounding these operatic masters. Readers appreciate his ability to make the complexities of the operatic world accessible and engaging.
The second part of a three-volume survey of the operas of Verdi, this study covers those works written during the decadence of the post-Rossinni period. It examines each opera in detail, with an account of its dramatic and historical origins and a critical evaluation.
This is a revised and updated edition of Julian Budden's monumental survey of the operas of Giuseppe Verdi. Hailed on publication for its extraordinary comprehensibility, it examines each of the operas in detail, giving a full account of its dramatic and historical origins and a critical evaluation. The text is supported by a wealth of musical illustrations.
From Don Carlos to Falstaff
Volume Three covers roughly a quarter of a century, a period which saw grand opera on the Parisian model established throughout Italy, the reform of the Conservatories, and the spread of cosmopolitan influences to an extent that convinced many that Italian music was losing its identity. Verdi produced his four last and greatest operas-- Don Carlos , Aida , Otello , and Falstaff --in this period, which ended with the advent of "verisimo", in which a new, recognizably Italian idiom was inaugurated.
In this third edition of the classic Verdi , renowned authority Julian Budden offers a comprehensive overview of Verdi the man and the artist, tracing his ascent from humble beginnings to the status of a cultural patriarch of the new Italy, whose cause he had done much to promote, and demonstrating the gradual enlargement over the years of his artistic vision. This concise study is an accessible, insightful, and engaging summation of Verdi scholarship, acquainting the non-specialist with the personal details Verdi's life, with the operatic world in which he worked, and with his political ideas, his intellectual vision, and his powerful means of communicating them through his music. In his survey of the music itself, Budden emphasizes the unique character of each work as well as the developing sophistication of Verdi's style. He covers all of the operas, the late religious works, the songs, and the string quartet. A glossary explains even the most obscure operatic terms current in Verdi's time.