Giuseppe Verdi
Ernani
Annelies Andries
Aesthetic ideals and nineteenth-century censorship in the theatre and opera world
Love, honour, revenge: the passions run high in Giuseppe Verdi's first international hit, Ernani. Three rivals fight for Elvira's hand but their obsessions and manipulations lead only to bitterness and death. Verdi borrowed the subject from Victor Hugo, whose stage play Hernani unleashed a veritable aesthetic war in 1830 over the legitimacy of romantic theatre. Based on the heated debates in the theatre and opera world of that time, Annelies Andries shows how aesthetic ideals clashed with the practical requirements of an opera production. Censorship banned certain political subjects, singers demanded that their voices shine and the opera house wanted a successful piece. Finally, the listening guide illustrates how Verdi sharpened his dramaturgical and musical visions in Ernani and thus laid the foundation for his lasting popularity in the opera landscape.
€ 12,50, ISBN 9789462703490, paperback, 80 p., Operatheek, e-book available