Customer Reviews

Otello in Full Score (Dover Vocal Scores)

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One sleepy afternoon in Sant' Agata, Giuseppe Verdi's estate, Arrigo Boito, Verdi's former rival, came to call. He was there to ask Verdi to set two libretti he'd written on Shakespearean subjects to music. The request was, indeed, a great shock to both Boito and Verdi. Boito had, for many years, insisted that Verdi's work, in light of Wagner's innovations, was no longer of any importance. Yet with these libretti, Boito recognized the truth. Simply put, Verdi, and only Verdi, could compose these operas, and if Verdi would do so, the results would be monumental. Boy, what an understatement. Otello drips with innovation. It takes Wagner's techniques and applies them to Italian opera in an Italian way. The chromaticism, the leitmotifs, the thick orchestration, they are all there, but with an Italian sensibility. It also testifies not only to Verdi's great love of Shakespeare, but his depth of understanding Shakespeare, as well. This score "roars loud, and thunders in the index." Dover's edition is a reprint of an early Ricordi editon. Ricordi is the best source for Verdi, indeed all late romantic Italian opera, simply because Ricordi specialized in late Romantic Italian Opera, and understood the composers' wishes vis a vis their scores. For example, Giovanni Ricordi and Verdi, were good friends. The Dover edition is well crafted, easy to read, and printed on acid free paper, so it is resistant to fading. The score may be too big, and this book too small, to make it useful for the podium. Still, for the student and lover of opera, it is the non pareil.

Clearly written music. Well labled. Page numbers listed so it makes any part of the opera easy to find, listed by Aria, Scene and Act. Fair size print. Also includes the ballet music composed for the Paris Opera on 12 October 1894. This is a fair price for a good quality printing of the score. I do recommed it :)