- Title Pages
- Frontispiece
- Dedication
- Editor’s Introduction
- Glossary
- Editorial Note
- Bibliographic Abbreviations
- Acknowledgments
- Preface
- 1 Nabucodonosor
- 2 I Lombardi Alla Prima Crociata
- 3 Ernani
- 4 I Due Foscari
- 5 Giovanna D’Arco
- 6 Alzira
- 7 Attila
- 8 Macbeth
- 9 I Masnadieri
- 10 Jérusalem
- 11 Il Corsaro
- 12 La Battaglia Di Legnano
- 13 Luisa Miller
- 14 Stiffelio
- 15 Rigoletto
- 16 Il Trovatore
- 17 La Traviata
- 18 Giovanna De Guzman (Les Vêpres Siciliennes)
- 19 Simon Boccanegra
- 20 Aroldo
- Conclusion
- Index
Alzira
Alzira
- Chapter:
- (p.75) 6 Alzira
- Source:
- The Operas of Giuseppe Verdi
- Author(s):
Abramo Basevi
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
This chapter analyzes Verdi's Alzira, first performed in August 1845 at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. The libretto by poet Cammarano was taken from Voltaire's tragedy Alzire—a subject that was no better suited to the operatic stage than was that of Giovanna d'Arco. It argues that while this unfortunate opera made some effort to stand on its feet, its congenital paralysis was incurable, such that it soon fell “as a dead body falls”.
Keywords: Verdi, opera, Italian composers, Cammarano, libretto, Voltaire
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- Title Pages
- Frontispiece
- Dedication
- Editor’s Introduction
- Glossary
- Editorial Note
- Bibliographic Abbreviations
- Acknowledgments
- Preface
- 1 Nabucodonosor
- 2 I Lombardi Alla Prima Crociata
- 3 Ernani
- 4 I Due Foscari
- 5 Giovanna D’Arco
- 6 Alzira
- 7 Attila
- 8 Macbeth
- 9 I Masnadieri
- 10 Jérusalem
- 11 Il Corsaro
- 12 La Battaglia Di Legnano
- 13 Luisa Miller
- 14 Stiffelio
- 15 Rigoletto
- 16 Il Trovatore
- 17 La Traviata
- 18 Giovanna De Guzman (Les Vêpres Siciliennes)
- 19 Simon Boccanegra
- 20 Aroldo
- Conclusion
- Index