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American Institute For Verdi Studies, Linda B. Fairtile Jan 2013

American Institute For Verdi Studies, Linda B. Fairtile

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

The AIVS was founded in 1976, in response to a tide of scholarly interest in Verdi. Its first director, Martin Chusid, assembled an archive of materials at New York University's Elmer Holmes Bobst Library.

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Iago, Linda B. Fairtile Jan 2013

Iago, Linda B. Fairtile

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

An alternate title for Otello, used intermittently throughout much of its composition, possibly to avoid comparison to Rossini's opera of the same name.

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Unni E I Romani, Gli, Linda B. Fairtile Jan 2013

Unni E I Romani, Gli, Linda B. Fairtile

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

A censored version of Attila first performed at Palermo's Teatro Carolino in 1854.

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Otello, Linda B. Fairtile Jan 2013

Otello, Linda B. Fairtile

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

Verdi's penultimate opera represents his first new work for the stage after a nearly sixteen-year hiatus. As battles raged over the future of Italian opera-whether it should remain rooted in song or follow foreign trends that assign a greater role to the orchestra-Giulio Ricordi and Boito patiently lured Verdi back into the fray. Boito's libretto, an ingenious and at times eccentric adaptation of Shakespeare's Othello, inspired the composer to a highly personal fusion of tradition and innovation. At its premiere Otello was widely hailed as a masterpiece, an emphatic and fundamentally Italian answer to the debate over music and …

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Verdi At 200: Recent Scholarship On The Composer And His Works, Linda B. Fairtile Jan 2013

Verdi At 200: Recent Scholarship On The Composer And His Works, Linda B. Fairtile

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

The 100th anniversary of Verdi’s death, observed in 2001, inspired nearly a dozen academic conferences. At the dawn of his 2013 bicentennial, a celebratory year shared with Richard Wagner, hundreds of recent studies assess Verdi’s life, his works, and his impact. The present article surveys a selection of books and articles published between these two commemorations. A popular topic is Verdi’s role as a national icon, the calculated product of Italy’s search for a postunification identity. His engagement with foreign cultures has also received attention, for his German literary sources, his forays into French grand opera, and his use of …

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The Verdi Forum, Linda B. Fairtile Jan 2013

The Verdi Forum, Linda B. Fairtile

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

The peer-reviewed journal of the AMERICAN INSTITUTE FOR VERDI STUDIES (AIVS). Early issues, first titled A/VS Newsletter (1976) and later Verdi Newsletter (1977-98), were edited by the AIVS's director, Martin CHUSID. They featured scholarly articles, essays of more general interest, and news items about performances, recordings, and conferences. While Nos. l-7 were issued semi-annually, beginning with No. 8 (1980) the Verdi Newsletter became an annual publication. Nos. 7 (1979), 9-ro (1981-82), and 17-18 (1989-90), collectively titled 'The Verdi Archive at New York University,' document the history and holdings of the AIVS Archive at that time.

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The Violin Director And Verdi's Middle-Period Operas, Linda B. Fairtile Jan 1997

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 …

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Verdi's First "Willow Song": New Sketches And Drafts For Otello, Linda B. Fairtile Apr 1996

Verdi's First "Willow Song": New Sketches And Drafts For Otello, Linda B. Fairtile

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

The genesis of Verdi's Otello is a familiar episode in the history of Italian opera. The semiretired composer's reluctance to reenter the operatic fray, his gradual interest in Arrigo Boito's draft libretto, and the astonishing speed with which he composed the music have been the subject of both musicological and biographical study. Letters between librettist and composer detail the textual modifications that Boito made to accommodate Verdi's needs. Up until now, however, we have had few corresponding musical documents readily available to illustrate how Verdi grappled with the challenges of Boito's libretto. Beginning with his draft text, dispatched to Verdi …

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From The Director's Desk, Martin Chusid Mar 1979