Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

In opera houses throughout the world, Verdi's works are performed more often than those of any other single composer. New productions proliferate, new editions are in preparation, and scholars are addressing themselves to the study of his life and work as never before. It was in this enthusiastic climate that The Verdi Companion was born. Book jacket.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Preface (p. vii)
• List of Abbreviations (p. xi)
• The Naivete of Verdi (p. 1)
• Verdi and the Risorgimento (p. 13)
• Verdi in Milan (p. 43)
• Verdi and the Contemporary Italian Operatic Scene (p. 67)
• Verdi and the Business of Writing Operas (p. 106)
• Verdi and His Italian Librettists (p. 121)
• Aspects of Verdi's Dramaturgy (p. 131)
• Verdi's Own Words: His Thoughts on Performance, with Special Reference to Don Carlos, Otello, and Falstaff (p. 144)
• Words and Music in Italian Nineteenth-Century Opera (p. 193)
• On Verdi's Vocal Writing (p. 216)
• A Select Bibliography (p. 239)
• A Chronology of Verdi's Life and Works (p. 256)
• Appendix A Dramatis personae: People Associated with Verdi during His Lifetime (p. 325)
• Appendix B A List of Verdi's Major Works by Date of First Performance (p. 356)
• Index of Verdi's Works (p. 358)
• General Index (p. 361)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Kirkus Book Review

Verdi has recently been the deserving object of fresh critical attention--but the ten essays here are a strange, unfocused, motley lot that offer neither cumulative balance and breadth nor individual brilliance. The editors offer only a three-page preface, and then we're plunged into sharply angled, idiosyncratic pieces that never allow a straightforward, full-bodied Verdi to surface. Best are Isaiah Berlin on Verdi as ""the last of the great naive masters""--a highly allusive, cross-cultural thesis--and Julian Budden's ""Verdi and the Contemporary Italian Operatic Scene,"" which pretty much duplicates material also available in Budden's own brilliant Verdi volumes. And George Martin's ""Verdi and the Risorgimento"" is solid historical background, while co-editor Weaver does an engaging dip into ""Aspects of Verdi's Dramaturgy."" But the rest! Pallid closeups on trivia (Verdi in Milan, Verdi's business deals), Weaver's shamefully perfunctory glance at Verdi's librettists (program filler), co-editor Chusid's stitchings of Verdi's own words. . . and some imported close-textual-analysis that's either hilariously bad or hilariously badly translated--or both: ""I will not hesitate to speak of macrostructures and microstrnctures without fear of being dubbed 'sophisticated.' "" A bibliography (by Andrew Porter) and some appendices may be useful to all Verdi lovers, but only buffs will know how to appreciate the oblique charms here and ignore the rest. Verdi deserves better--and he's gotten it, from Budden and from Porter, whose Music of Three Seasons (1978) contains far more vital writing on Verdi than you'll find in this weak hodgepodge. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.