The Operas of Verdi: From Oberto to Rigoletto: 1

This is a revised and updated edition of Julian Budden's monumental survey of the operas of Giuseppe Verdi. Hailed on publication for its extraordinary comprehensibility, it examines each of the operas in detail, giving a full account of its dramatic and historical origins and a critical evaluation. The text is supported by a wealth of musical illustrations. This is the first volume of Julian Budden's monumental three-volume survey of the operas of Verdi. Hailed on publication for its extraordinary comprehensibility, the set has become the classic reference work on its subject. For this new edition the author has made a host of corrections throughout, and updated the text in the light of recent scholarship. Volume I traces the organic growth and development of the composer's style from 1839 to 1851 - from the first opera, Oberto, to the seventeenth, Rigoletto. Budden examines each opera in detail with a full account of its dramatic and historical origins and a brief critical evaluation. More than 350 musical examples point to the significance of the early operas in Verdi's developing style.