Annotation -- Engaging Commentary and Analysis about the composer, the opera and its characters.-- Story Narrative with Music Highlight Examples-- A complete Libretto (newly translated) that incorporates Music Highlight Examples-- A Discography-- A Videography-- A Dictionary of Opera and Musical TermsEach Opera Classics Library edition is a comprehensive guide and complete analysis and evaluation of a specific opera; each is a unique "encyclopedia" that integrates important and pertinent information about each timeless classic. The objective of Opera Classics Library is to unlock opera's mysteries for the general audience, and enlighten and educate. Understanding and knowledge are the master keys to enhance enjoyment and appreciation of this great art form.After the premier of Verdi's 26th opera, Aida, the venerable composer commented quite humorously, "Aida is certainly not one of my worst operas." Aida is a grand opera spectacle achieved through a magnificent combination of a large cast that includes six major singing roles, a huge chorus and orchestra, three ballets, exotic scenery, and oriental ambience. But more importantly, Aida is a story about profound human passions, towering emotions, and passions of individuals as they face conflicts and tensions of love, honor, and duty.

"Verdi was asked to compose a work to premiere in the Cairo Opera House. Although Verdi was uninterested in the project at first, persistence on the part of the khedive as well as a tempting plot line written by Mariette Bey drew him in. Much mystery still surrounds the opera's inception. This book explores that mystery"--Provided by publisher.

Retells the story of Verdi's opera in which the love of the enslaved Ethiopian princess for an Egyptian general brings tragedy to all involved.

This investigation offers new perspectives on Giuseppe Verdi’s attitudes to women and the functions which they fulfilled for him. The book explores Verdi’s professional and personal relationship with women who were exceptional within the traditional socio-sexual structure of patria potestà, in the context of women’s changing status in nineteenth-century Italian society. It focusses on two women; the singers Giuseppina Strepponi, who supported and enhanced Verdi’s creativity at the beginning of his professional life and Teresa Stolz, who sustained his sense of self-worth at its end. Each was an essential emotional benefactor without whom Verdi’s career would not have been the same. The subject of the Strepponi-Verdi marriage and the impact of Strepponi’s past deserve further detailed and nuanced discussion. This book demonstrates Verdi’s shifting power-balance with Strepponi as she sought to retain intellectual self-respect while his success and control increased. The negative stereotypes concerning operatic ‘divas’ do not withstand scrutiny when applied either to Strepponi or to Stolz. This book presents a revisionist appraisal of Stolz through close examination of her letters. Revealing Stolz’s value to Verdi, they also provide contemporary operatic criticism and behind-the-scenes comment, some excerpts of which are published here in English for the first time.

Western opera is a globalized and globalizing phenomenon and affords us a unique opportunity for exploring the concept of “orientalism,” the subject of literary scholar Edward Said’s modern classic on the topic. Nicholas Tarling’s Orientalism and the Operatic World places opera in the context of its steady globalization over the past two centuries. In this important survey, Tarling first considers how the Orient appears on the operatic stage in Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and the United States before exploring individual operas according to the region of the “Orient” in which the work is set. Throughout, Tarling offers key insights into such notable operas as George Frideric Handel’s Berenice, Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida, Giacomo Puccini’s MadamaButterfly, Pietro Mascagni’s Iris, and others. Orientalism and the Operatic World argues that any close study of the history of Western opera, in the end, fails to support the notion propounded by Said that Westerners inevitably stereotyped, dehumanized, and ultimately sought only to dominate the East through art. Instead, Tarling argues that opera is a humanizing art, one that emphasizes what humanity has in common by epic depictions of passion through the vehicle of song. Orientalism and the Operatic World is not merely for opera buffs or even first-time listeners. It should also interest historians of both the East and West, scholars of international relations, and cultural theorists.