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Formal Convention In Verdi's Falstaff, Joseph Salvatore La Rosa

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Falstaff (premiered in 1893) draws more explicitly on primo ottocento formal conventions for duets, arias, and central finales than scholars have previously argued. A description of those conventions (generally referred to as the solita forma) is followed by the analytical application of those conventions to selected passages from Falstaff. A general description of the solita forma for duets and arias is followed by a pertinent example from Rossini’s Semiramide. Three passages from Falstaff are then shown to have strong grounding in the solita forma. These passages include Falstaff’s “Honor” monologue in act I, part 1; the scene for Mrs. Quickly, …