Preface
Part I. The Setting: 1. Verdi's Italy
2. Theatrical censorship
3. The operatic experience
4. Dramatic principles and musical form in early ottocento opera
Part II. A Documentary History of the Early Operas: 5. Launching a career
6. The genesis of an opera - Ernani
7. Two overcrowded years
8. Verdi the idealist - the Florence Macbeth
9. Opera as a business
10. Collaboration with Cammarano
11. Bouts with the censor
12. Giuseppina's operas - Il Trovatore and La Traviata
Part III. The Development of Verdi's Musical Language: 13. The first operas - Oberto and Un Giorno di Regno
14. Italian grand opera - Nabucco and I Lombardi alla Prima Crociata
15. The early 'galley' operas - Ernani to Attila
16. Macbeth and its satellites
17. Verdi a la parisienne - Jerusalem and La Battaglia di Legnano
18. Luisa Miller and Stiffelio
19. 'The popular trilogy' - Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, La Traviata
Part IV. The Operas: 20. Nabucco, a risorgimento opera
21. Verdi and French Romanticism - Ernani
22. Byronismo - I Due Foscari and Il Corsaro
23. The impact of Shakespeare - the Florence Macbeth
24. La Battaglia di Legnano - the opera of the revolution
25. Essays with Schiller
26. The originality of Rigoletto
27. Verdi and 'realism' - La Traviata
Notes
Bibliography
Index.
