This year, I am listening to the operas of Giuseppe Verdi. I’ve heard some of his operas and have seen Macbeth and Simon Boccanegra. But I’ve been curious about his several others. So, I decided to purchase the 2013 75-CD set of Verdi’s operas (and additional music), which I’ll listen to during the upcoming year. For reference I’ll study Charles Osborne, The Complete Operas of Verdi (New York: Knopf, 1979).
I due Foscari (The Two Foscari), Verdi's seventh opera, premiered in Rome on November 3, 1844. The libretto is based on Byron’s play of the same name. The story concerns the Doge of Venice (Francesco Foscari), his son Jacopo Foscari who is accused of murder, and Jacopo’s wife Lucrezia. On this recording, those three principles are sung by Piero Cappuccilli, Jose Carreras, and Katia Ricciarelli, with Samuel Ramey portraying Loredano.
Osborne comments that Verdi develops the role of the orchestra in this opera. Still very much a vocal event, nevertheless Verdi uses leading motives to a greater extent and makes the orchestra more of a "junior partner" in the story. Again, this is not because of influence from Wagner but because of Verdi’s own compositional and dramatic development.
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