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The Violin Director And Verdi's Middle-Period Operas, Linda B. Fairtile

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

The operas of Verdi provide an excellent laboratory for studying the transition from violin director to conductor. By the mid 1860s, some two dozen of his works had been presented hundreds of times throughout Italy. Information on many of these performances is currently available in periodicals, theater histories, and other chronicles. In addition, the American Institute for Verdi Studies (AIVS) has microfilmed over sixty documents that offer a unique perspective on the role of the violin directors, namely, the parts from which they performed. These parts are enlightening both for what they contain and what they omit, suggesting in greater …