Review (PDF) Seven Verdi Librettos (English And Italian Edition)
Verdi, like most great opera composers, attached supreme importance to the words he was setting to music. The listener, to understand the opera fully, should understand the situations, the shades of emotion, the nuances of characterization described in the music. William Weaver's translations of seven of the greatest Verdi operas are designed for maximum fidelity to the immediate word. Eschewing artistic renderings, Mr. Weaver offers, on facing pages, exact translations and the corresponding Italian text. The operas chosen for this edition represent Verdi's major achievements in each of the significant periods of his creative life: the first trio of masterpieces, Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, and La Traviata; Un ballo in maschera and Aida from the middle period; Otello and Falstaff, the great late works. The music student as well as the opera buff will find this volume a very useful guide to Verdi's world.
Paperback: 533 pages
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1st edition (October 17, 1977)
Language: English, Italian
ISBN-10: 0393008525
ISBN-13: 978-0393008524
Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 1.1 x 7.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #916,300 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #35 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Sheet Music & Scores > Composers > Verdi #306 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Sheet Music & Scores > Historical Period > Late Romantic #508 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Theory, Composition & Performance > Composition
W W Norton has been for many a year the staple of music students and teachers everywhere. Their classical scores are clear, and easy to follow. It would, therefore, be odd if their libretti didn't match their usually high standards of excellence. This one, obviously, did. The translations are clear, yet poetic, and still easy to follow. A completely worthwhile buy.
The seven operas translated in this book are: Rigoletto; Il Trovatore; La Traviata; Un ballo in maschera; Aida; Otello and Falstaff.A music student or opera buff will be handsomely rewarded by the quality of Mr. Weaver's translations; they are faithful to the original Italian, yet flow smoothly in the English of our present day. Boïto's libretti for OTELLO and FALSTAFF are particularly difficult to translate into English, given their source: William Shakespeare's English of 1500's England; yet Weaver succeeds.Weaver's book is published in soft-cover, approximately 7 x 9 inches, making it easily portable. By contrast, Nico Castel's comprehensive translations are also excellent, but they are published in expensive hard-bound, 10 x 12 inch volumes.Bravo Signore Weaver! Riposa in pace.
Take out your microscope--the print is very small.
Would have preferred the book to be a hard cover one with bigger lettersPurchased it to polish my Italian
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