Words and Music in Nineteenth-Century Italian Opera

Author(s): Luigi Dallapiccola

Source: Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 5, No. 1 (Autumn - Winter, 1966), pp. 121-133
Published by: Perspectives of New Music
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/(6-L(0

WORDS AND MUSIC

IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY
LUIGI

ITALIAN OPERA

DALLAPICCOLA

ABOUT THIRTY years ago, when I was asked by Edward J. Dent

whetherI knew any Italian treatise describing the principlesof the composition of arias in Italian opera, I had to answer in the negative. Now,
however, I believe that there existed at least a tradition for composing
arias, one perpetuated orally and by example.
I should like to consider here what the poetic quatrain offeredto the
composer of the Italian melodrama as a basis for the construction of
operatic forms,with specificreferenceto arias, ariosi, and cavatinas.
In La Traviata, in the scene where Alfredo reveals his rage at his supposed betrayal by Violetta, these lines occur:
Ogni suo aver tal femmina
Per amor mio sperdea:
Io cieco, vile, misero,
Tutto accettar potea.
The range of the voice in the firstline is a major sixth and in the second a
major seventh. In the music, no significantmetrical differencesbetween
the two lines are evident; in the second, however, the melody has a slight
tendencyto move upwards. It is in the third line that the tragedy is most
clearly implied, and an emotional crescendo is brought about here by a
discontinuous and agitated declamation that is matched by an appropriate
accompaniment. The fourthline is accompanied by a decrease in excitement (one entirely independent of the actual musical dynamics). (See
Ex. 1)
At this point it might be interestingto see how Verdi solved his compositional problem when the librettistexpanded a quatrain by two lines. This
happens, for example, in the Quartet in Rigoletto. The Duke starts:
Bella figlia dell'amore,
Schiavo son de' vezzi tuoi,
Con un detto sol tu puoi
Le mie pene consolar.
*
121.

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PERSPECTIVES

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The music of this quatrainis almostpreciselyin accordancewith the

formalschemedescribedabove: thereis no melodicdifference
betweenthe
firstand secondlines,in bothof whichthemelodicrangeis a majorsixth;
a climaxis reachedin thethirdline,wherethevoicespans an octave,and
a diminuendo
followsin thefourthline.
La Traviata (Finalesecondo)
sostenuto
Allegro

Alfredo
- -,[r?

-.I40.

per

a - mormio

mi - - - se-ro,

7x

- gni suo aver

sper- de - - - a:

tut- - toac-cet-tr

1.
tal

fern - - - mi-na

Io cie-co,

vi-le,

po-te - -

Ex. 1

has added:
Verdi also sets thetwo linesthatthelibrettist
Vieni e senti del mio core
II frequente
palpitar,
he makeshis own emendation
but forthesake of themusicalstructure
by
repeatingthe thirdand fourthlinesof the stanza,so thatthe originalsix
lines have grownto eight.And althoughVerdi holds to the traditional
schemein the initialquatrain,he now feelscompelled,witheightlines at
his disposal,to regardlinesfiveand six as theclimaxofthetwoquatrains,
. 122 *

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COLLOQUY

or, in otherwords,to treatthe entirepassage as a quatrainof two-line

pairs.Indeed,whilethevoicein thecrescendoof thefirstquatrainreaches
thehighAb, it goes to highBb in theover-allclimax,and thediminuendo
of the thirdand fourthlines fromthe
withtherepetition
is accomplished
originalquatrain.
S

I a,

.
Lb-A

Al Bel-la

fi-gliadel-l'a- mo - -

coi

det-tosol tu
Bonun detto;un

- lar.

CVieni e sen

4PJ^-1
- tar

o-

ti

re

puo - - i le mie pe-ne,lemiepe-ne con-so-

delmio co - re

IN,
-rYI

-te
il fre-quen

sol tu
I on un
detto,un.det-to
D

pe-ne, le mie pe-ne

tuo - -

schia-vo sonde've-zi

pal-pi-

it

puo - - - i

le mie

con-so - lar.

Ex. 2

In Leonora'scavatinain Act I of II Trovatore,the textconsistsof two

ten-linestanzas.There is a structuralinnovation
here: lines fiveand six
forma kind of insertion.The big emotionalcrescendooccursin the pein thelast.
nultimate
line,and thediminuendo

"
i
quando so-nar per

i-

? ,=,.

'
l'a - e-re

F
--.a

!
Y F r i
in - fi-noal-lor si

mu

- to,

-- 48,

Ex. 3

The same ten-lineconstruction,

includingthe insertedfifthand sixth
lines,is to be foundin the aria "D'amor sull'ali rosee,"in the last act of
thesame opera.
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PERSPECTIVES

OF NEW MUSIC

I shouldlike to reemphasizethatthe emotionalcrescendois normally

foundin thethirdline (in a four-line
stanza) or in thethirdpair of lines
(in an eight-line
stanza). It is almosttoo well knownthatthe reasonfor
manychangesin the originaltextof Italian operas lies in the vanityof
I wish to
singers.Even thoughI am, in principle,againstmodifications,
underlinea case wherethemodification
is quite preferable
to the original
text.
In Manrico'saria "Ah si, ben mio,coll'essere"(II Trovatore:thirdact),
the last quatrainis repeatedtwo times;in the printedscorethereis only
one change: in sectionA. Althoughthe firsttimethehighestnoteis Db,
the secondtimetheclimaxis reachedat Eb. And because of thatthereis
no doubtthat Bb (instead of Ab) in sectionC is perfectly,
indeed,inmorebeautifulthan in the originalversion.Unfortunately
I was
finitely
not able to learn when this modification
became a part of performance
practice.It is certain,in any case, thatit underlinesonce again the imof the
portanceof the thirdsection,the real keystonein the construction
aria in Italianopera.The performer,
on his part,cannotestablishtheprincipal tempoof the aria withouttakingthisthirdsectionintoaccount(Ex.
4).

The emotionalcrescendo is created throughrhythmicanimation,

of thevocal
throughharmonicsurprise,or throughtheupwardmovement
line. Frequently,of course,the finalresultis achievedthroughthe collaborationoftwoor threesuchelements;onlyrarelydoes a fourth,
such as
a strikinginstrumental
idea, take part. I shall returnto this pointlater,
withreference
to a passage in Otello.
treatment
of theclimaxis foundin "0 qual soave
Especiallyinteresting
brivido"in Un Ballo in Maschera: thebeginningof thethirdpair of lines
is underlined
by a fermata.In thiscase thereis also a coda,but one which,
based entirely
on wordrepetition,
is completely
of thepoeticindependent
musicalformof thequatrain.
Althoughthe quotationsso far have been fromoperas by Verdi, the
formalschemeI have describedis to be foundalso in Rossini,Donizetti,
and Bellini. In Mathilde's aria ("Selva opaca") in the second act of
WilliamTell, forexample,theclimaxis effected
by harmonicmeans.And
the classicexampleof Italianmelody,"Casta Diva" fromBellini'sNorma,
the same principle.Here, with regard to duration,
completelyconfirms
the firstline containssixteentimesthe unitof threeeighth-notes,
and the
secondfifteen
the
of
The
third
line
contains
no
course).
rests,
(including
less thantwenty-two
timesthesame unit--andthe concludingline,"senza
nubi,senza vel,"onlyfour!
Nor does Verdi abandonthistraditional
schemein theworksof his last
period.In evidenceI adduce a singleexamplefromthe firstact of Otello.
The climaxof the so-called"tempestscene" (where chorusand orchestra
are markedff,tuttaforza) setsthefollowinglines:
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Manrico
IaIVOF

Fra que -

glie-stre-mlv-

wig

II)

ne - ii- ti

i l

tej

i1

pen-sierver - ra, ver-ra,

so - lojn cel

e
C

C-r

Execution
:
.6

CR.

o - loJncie

I
---

Fra

qL-e-

ne - li-ti
Fta que
-glive-stre-miva-

ev

te.Jl

pen-sterve - rl, ver-rl,

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Ex. 4

so lo.

ct

PERSPECTIVES

OF NEW MUSIC

Dio, fulgordella bufera!Dio, sorrisodella duna,

Salva l'arca e la bandieradella venetafortuna!
Tu, che reggigli astrie il Fato! Tu cheimperial mondoe al ciel,
Fa che in fondoal marplacatoposi l'ancorafedel.
Here we finda greaterformalvarietythan in the previouslyquoted exone can still recognizethe emotionalcrescendoin
amples.Nevertheless,
thethirdofthequotedlines ("Tu, chereggi,"etc.). It is producedafteran
initialmf,by harmonicmeans and by two unexpectedcymbalcrasheson
weak beats,markedsoli (i.e., "withsolisticfunction";
see p. 26 of thefull
score).
can sometimesbe gatheredby a
Furtherevidenceof Verdi'sintentions
comparisonof initialsketcheswithfinalversions.The firstroughversion
of "La donnae mobile"is such a sketch,obviouslywrittenin haste.In the
finalversion(knownto us froma completemanuscript),the music for
the firstand second lines correspondswith that of the firstscribbled
in
different
notation.The musicforthethirdline,however,is completely
the two cases; in the earlyversionit deviatesfromthe formalscheme.It
thereare no possibilitiesof harmonicsurlacks all rhythmic
excitement,
of pushingupward,descends.
vocal
instead
and
its
line,
prise,

a)

8F

b)

I'

C)

Ex. 5

tradition
that,consciously
Regardlessof whetherthereexisteda literary
in Italianmelodrama,
thereare
or unconsciously,
thearia-form
determined
certainlyan immensenumberof closedquatrainsin poetry(i.e., quatrains
endingwith a full stop)-an immensenumberof rhymedquatrainsin
Italian and French,fromDante to Baudelaire-in whichthe second line
merelycontinuesthe first,increasingthe emotionallevel but little.The
climax appears in the thirdline; and in the last, the conclusionbrings
diminishing
intensity.
This analogycertainly
Fromnumerousexamples
deservesconsideration.
I shall chooseonlya few.FromDante:
Tanto gentilee tantoonestapare
La donnamia quand'ellaaltruisaluta,
Che ogne lingua deventremandomuta,
E gli occhinonPardiscondi guardare.
In the followingexample,fromPetrarca,noticethe last word in the
thirdline: salita (participleof the verbsalire-to ascend,to rise) a verb
denotingascent.
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COLLOQUY

La bella donnache cotantoamavi

Subitamentes'6 da noi partita,
E, per quel ch'io ne speri,al ciel salita;
Si furongli attisuoi dolcie soavi.
FromVictorHugo:
Ruth songeaitet Booz dormait:l'herbeetaitnoire;
Les grelotsdes troupeauxpalpitaientvaguement;
Une immensebontetombaitdu firmament;
C'etaitl'heuretranquilleoh les lions vontboire.
Here,thedescentimpliedby theverbtomber(to falldown) is canceledby
the adjectiveimmenseand by thenounfirmament.
Finally,in Baudelaire:
C'est la mortqui console,helas!, et qui faitvivre;
C'est le but de la vie et c'estle seul espoir
Qui, commeun elixir,nous monteet nous enivre,
Et nousdonnele coeurde marcherjusqu'au soir.
Noticein the thirdline two verbssuggestingascent: monter(to climb,
to rise) and enivrer(to enrapture)-not to speak of thenounelixir.
On theotherhand,could notthemelodrama-thebest kindof popular
theatre-havedeveloped,graduallyand unknownto its creators,froma
primitiveart formof similartype?The sectionof the thirteenth-century
mystery
play,The Play of Daniel, in whichtheheroexplainsto the King
the significance
of Mane, Thechel,Phares,cannotfail to strikethehearer
its
structural
resemblance
to an aria in a melodrama.
by
Daniele

O p=T=

I.E
A

A'

Et

MA -NE

di - cit

Do - mi -nus, Est

i/

-CKEL li- bran si - - gni - fi - cat Quae

- REs. nec est di - - vi - si - o,

iQui

sic sol-vit la --ten-ti

tu - i

Ip,

re - gni

te mi-no- rem

Itrans-por
II
- tat
Re - gnum

- a

ad

ter-mi - nus.

1 I-

in - di -cat.

a -

Or --ne - tur ve-ste

E-

PHA

(segue)
- . (segue)

re- gi - a.

Ex. 6

Now, it is by no means the case that the principleof the emotional

climaxas thepenultimate
sectionof a musicalquatrainbelongsexclusively
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PERSPECTIVES

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to the aria in Italian opera.The same principleis at workin othermusic

in a different
as well,althoughit functions
way.The firstnamethatcomes
to mindis thatof
Schubertin his morepopularvein,
Schubert--especially
ratherthanthecomposer
ofNachtund Triiume,whichis constructed
quite
note
here thatAlban Berg emphasizedthe "instru(I
differently. might
mental"characterofthevoicein Schubert'sLieder.) Beethovenalso should
be mentioned
in thisconnection.
One of themostthoroughgoing
examples
of his use of theseprinciplesis the themeof the rondoin the Sonata Op.
90. Indeed, accordingto Schindler,Beethovencalled this rondo "Conversations
withtheBeloved."It is a dramaticscene,then,withouta stage.
Busoni relatesthat an intelligent
music critic,just as an experiment,
conceivedthe idea of adding wordsto the firstviolinpart of a Mozart
stringquartet,and thathe gave thepartto a sopranoto sing. Busonitells
us that,upongoingintotheroomwheretheexperiment
was takingplace,
he had the clearimpression
"ofbeingin themiddleof a performance
of a
Mozartopera."
What is the origin,then,of the characteristics
we have notedas peculiar to the Italian melodrama?They stem,it seems to me, fromthe
factthattheItalianoperacomposersofthenineteenth
centurydisregarded
all traditionrelatingto purelyinstrumental
music. They seem to have
conceivedthe emotionalcrescendoin the thirdsectionof the musical
quatrain almost as the result of theatricalnecessities-as a theatrical
gesture.
In evidenceI adducetwo examplesthatare almostidenticalin melody,
in effect:on the one hand, a passage fromMozart's
yet totallydifferent
Violin Concertoin A major; on the other,a passage fromLucia di LamIn thefirstcase, thethirdand fourthsectionsdevelopaccording
mermoor.
to the logic and rulesof purelyinstrumental
style;in the second,the deof thesesectionsobeysthe demandsof the stage. (See Ex. 7.)
velopment
So far,I have restricted
ofthe aria in the
mydiscussionto thestructure
melodramaas a musicalquatrain,and to theanalogybetweenquatrainsin
musicand poetry.Now I shouldlike to broadenmyfieldand explainhow
Verdi appliedthe same principleof organization
to a large form,such as
the trioin Act II of Un Ballo in Maschera.

Let us firstlook at the libretto.Each singerpresentsa stanza of eight

lines (or ratherof fourcouplets). In both the originaland the modern
editionsofthelibretto,
whichdoubtlessfollowtheoriginalmanuscript,
the
charactersappearin thefollowingorder:Amelia,soprano;Riccardo,tenor;
Renato,baritone.It is ratherstartlingto notethatVerdi,in settingthis
trioto music,changedthe successionof male voicesas fixedby the librettist:he transferred
theentranceofthebaritonefromthirdto secondplace,
and thatof the tenorfromsecondto third.This observationshouldhelp
us to realizethe extraordinary
clarityof purposewithwhichVerdi set to
work: Riccardo,the tenor,is now entrustedwiththe climaxof the trio,
whileto thethreestanzasofthelibrettist
are added a fourthand a fifth-as
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REVIEW

Mozart
FF
i
#*ILMN
IIBI
j
I I \
COLLOQUY

1F

Au
A

r-

-.4.a

Ml,,,

Co-me

ro-

sa i

na -ri

mor

tee

vi -

di -

Es

-ta,

sa

A tI
fra

sta

- ta,

son

Io

{Ii7rI

DH!
vin

to

son

corn - mos -

so,

ta

moin-

1 1
-mo,
ta-mom
-grata,
t'a moan
gra
--ta,
t'a
- or
F2

-gra - - ta,

t'a

- mo, t'a- mo in - gra- ta,

t'a -

- mo an

- cort.

Ex. 7

In therepriseeach singerparticia musicalrepriseand coda, respectively.

patesin sucha way as to repeatthewordsassignedhimbefore:thesoprano
and thebaritonerepeatall ofthewords;thetenor,onlya few.Verdi,with
acutefeelingforstageeffect,
couldnotfailto see thatthe
his exceptionally
of
a
(almost
guilt complex!) expressedby the tenorhere
feeling guilt
thetrueclimaxof thepiece.
represented
This triohas been called "beautiful"and "magnificent."
Many people
The triowill remain"beautiful"
are satisfiedwithsuch characterizations.
evenaftermyattemptat structural
and "magnificent"
analysis,foranalysis
can takenothingawayfromtheesthetically
perfectnor,on theotherhand,
to
the
can it contribute
imperfect.
anything
esthetically
Viewingsuch an
achievement
as thistrio-listeningto it, morethan a hundredyears after
its appearance,withmodernears (the onlyones I considervalid), and
readingit withmoderneyes (again theonlyvalid ones) -we shallbecome
aware of variouspointsheretofore
overlooked.Consequently,
I will not
hesitateto speak of macrostructure
and microstructure,
althoughsuch
termshave originatedonlyin recentyearsand have been employedchiefly
0 129
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PERSPECTIVES

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music.I shouldlike to remindyou of a

in the analysisof contemporary
famousphraseof the doctorangelicus,St. Thomas Aquinas, on the eletria requiruntur:integritas,consomentsof beauty:"Ad pulchritudinem
or unityofthewholedesign;consonance,
nantia,claritas."Thus: integrity,
content.
oftheparts;clarity,or expressionofsignificant
or equilibrium
of the
Let us now proceedto the examinationof the macrostructures
the
first
In
on
the
the
chart
stanza, each
followingpage.)
design. (See
to fourmeasuresof music;
of the microstructures
a, b, c, d, corresponds
to the eightmeasuresof the codetta.(A codettaof
the fifthcorresponds
thesame lengthwill be foundat theend of the secondand fourthmusical
stanzas. One shouldnot forget,in this connection,
that,like the reprise
mentionedabove, the codettasand the coda are not derivedfromthe
libretto.They are of purelymusicalsignificance--the
singersonlyrepeat
wordspreviously
sung.)
Amelia: Odi tu come fremonocupi
Per quest'auragli accentidi morte?
The voicerangeis D-A (with Bb di volta). The same patternappearsin
thesecondmicrostructure:
Di lassil,da quei negridirupi
Il segnal de' nemiciparti.
Here the melodicline beginsto swingupward: in place of the fifthD-A,
F-C. The thirdmicrostructure:
we have thefifth
Ne' lor pettiscintillanod'ira
fitti
E gia piombant'accerchiano
as always,the apex of the firststanza. Three elementsconrepresents,
tributeto this effect:the extensionof the vocal range to the high F; a
dynamiccrescendofollowedby a decrescendo;and, as if this were not
enough,surprisingaccentson weak beats in twohorns,violas,and cellos.
d:
Microstructure
Al tuo capo gia volserla mira,
Per pieta,va, t'involadi qui
the conclusionof the quatrain-couplet
and, comparedwiththe
represents
Amelia's
emotional
diminuendo.
an
section,
high A should not
previous
deceiveus: it is basicallya resolutionwhichdoes notweakenin the least
c. One might
the effectof thehighF, the vocal climaxof microstructure
of the threesubseeven considerthis high A as completelyindependent
quentA's thatare repeatedalmostlike criesof anguish(in the codetta).
(The vocal score,evenin the firstedition,whichmustbe assumedto be
showsno accenton the firstA. But the
based on the originalmanuscript,
threesubsequentA's and theirparallelsin thefollowingstanzasare given
accents.)
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Son colui che nel cor lo fere.

d)

Ah, I'amico traditoho pur io...

c)easu

Che minaccianoil vivere mio?

b)

Climax of the pi
Innocente,sfidatili
Or d'amore colpdvo

561
- no - cen In

Traditor, congiuratison essi

(N.B. In the orchestra score it
reads sciagurati, notcongiuratil)

Climax of A and B
(Baritoneand Sopranoa 2)

c*o

pieta)

d,

d)

b vita
Va, ti salva, del popolo
d) Questa vita che getticosi
(Baritonesolo)
) Va, i salva, o che varco all'uscia
Qui tra poco serrarsi vedra..
scambio del dettiesecrati
b)Allo destra la
daga brandA
Ogni
via
a)Fuggi, fuggi,per l'orrida
Sentol'orma dei passi spietati:

C)
a)

c)
b)
a)

) Nei lor pettiscintillanod'ira,

E giApiomban,t'accerchiano fitti...
Di lassi, da quel negri dirupi
I1 segnal dei nemici partI.
b)
-

Chart 1

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a)

Codetta

b)

Al tuo capo gi .volser la mira.,.

d) Per
piett, va, t'invola di qui.
Climax of thefirst stanza. The
voice arrives at the highF:" dynamic crescendofollowedbyadecrescendo: accents on the weak
beat assigned totwolHorns,to the
Violas, and to the Violoncellos.

) Odi tu come fremonocupi

Per quest'aura gli accenti di morte?

b)/

d)
Codetta

PERSPECTIVES

OF NEW MUSIC

The second stanza is given to Renato, the baritone.It is, in form,

identicalto thefirst:thevariantin thetwofinallinescan onlybe ascribed
to the necessityof arrivingat the dominantat the end of the stanza.
Nevertheless,in spite of this similarity,it should be noticedthat the
sopranoadds her own part,an octaveabovethe baritone,in the fifthand
sixthlines,i.e., in microstructure
c. The resultantmusicaldifferentiation
is sufficient
to yield a higherdegree of intensity-asit were, a double
emotionalcrescendo.(The sopranoagain joins the baritonein orderto
give greaterforceand lusterto thewords"Va, va, va" of the codetta.)
The thirdstanzabringsus to the climaxof the entiretrio:
Traditor,congiuratison essi
Che minaccianoil viveremio?
Ah, l'amico ho tradito pur io....

Son colui che nel cuor lo feri.

Each of the microstructures
hereto two measures.
a, b, c, d, corresponds
In contrastto the previousstanzas,where each pair of lines is linked
throughthe musicalsetting,here each individualline is markedoffby
an eighth-rest.
toward the
Here, then,is one elementthat contributes
tripleemotionalcrescendowithinthis section.Two morewill be added.
Since thefirstthreelinesare based on A, C, and E, respectively,
whilethe
fourthbegins on F, the necessaryupward swing is strictlyobserved.
the conclusionsof the firstthreeare emphasizedthrough
Furthermore,
highlyexpressiveinsertions("Ah, fuggi-Ti salva-Va, fuggi") derived
fromthe end of the climax (microstructure
c) of the firststanza.
Now, withouteven a rest,the tenorcontinueswithlines fiveand six,
whichconstitute
the climaxof thethirdstanza and also of the entiretrio.
Afterreachingthe high A on the firstsyllable (In-nocente),the vocal
line graduallydescends.This also marksthe beginningof the emotional
bothof themacrostructure
and of themicrostructures.
diminuendo,
(It is
the only passage in the piece that Verdi has markedpoco allargando,
col canto.)
Let me now countthemeasuresof the stanzas,in orderto clarifytheir
relations.The firstcomprises24 measures;the second,24;
proportional
thethird,fordramaticreasonsthe briefest,16 (thereis no codetta); the
fourth,24; and the coda, 23. On the last chordof the coda thereis a
fermata;and, as we know,in Verdi's time it was customaryto double
the notevalues to whichthis sign applied.Thus we can properlyassign
24 measuresto the coda as well. All told,then,thereare 112 measures.
The tenor'sline "Innocente,sfidatili avrei,"the climaxofthethirdstanza
and of thewholepiece,beginsexactlywithm. 56 and thus standsin the
centerof the entiretrio. To me this seems extraordinary,
the more so
since Verdi could hardlyhave plannedsuch a miracleof proportions;
he
musthave conceivedand carriedit out intuitively.
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COLLOQUY

AND REVIEW

We are now approachingthe conclusionof the trio.The fourthstanza

is musicallyidenticalwiththe first.But the firsteightmeasuresof this
to the firstfourlines of the stanza) are set for
reprise(corresponding
twovoices (sopranoand baritone)ratherthanfora singlevoiceas before;
and in linesfiveand six (climax: microstructure
c) the tenoralso enters.
Thus threevoices appear in the fourthstanza, corresponding
to the two
voicesin theparallelpassage in thesecond.
The concludingsectionof thepiece consistsof the 23 (+ 1) measures
of the coda-that is, of the sum of the measuresof the threecodettasof
thefirst,second,and fourthstanzas.This coda is a mereconclusion,and,
in character,
ratherordinary.
The wordordinaryis notmeantin a derogatorysense: I am simplytryingto explaina dialecticand stylistic
procedure
a whole period.To denythis would be just as foolishas
characterizing
to call the 29 measuresof C major at the end of Beethoven'sFifthSymphony"toolong,"or theottavarimaofAriosto'sOrlandoFurioso"monotoof theWagnerianopera"exaggerated."
nous,"or theproportions
Listen now, if you can, to the entirescene of which this trio is the
culmination.Un Ballo in Maschera is the last opera thatVerdi called a
In thisscene one can find,in condensedform,manyof the
melodramma.
conventional
elementsof theform.But thecomposer'sgenius,the "genius
of the dramaticaccent,"accordingto Busoni'sbeautifulcharacterization,
has surmounted
the incrediblesituation,the absurd language,the lame
syntax,thepathosof theformalistic
styleof theItalian melodrama.

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