In today’s lesson (piano), Vanya mentioned Giuseppe Verdi and his biography written by G. Tarocci. I found the topic interesting and read through three-quarters of the book, which was released in the “Lives of Remarkable People” series thirty years ago.
This story of a man from a peasant family, who carved out a career and name for himself despite facing many hardships and deprivations. He endured the early deaths of his wife and two children. He was rejected from the music academy, without which one could not call oneself a professional composer. His early productions were met with failure after failure.
As is known, artists and musicians in the past primarily earned their living through their work, and only afterward came creativity, lofty ideals, and recognition. Probably 90 percent of all artistic heritage from the past was made to order, had a client, and what we would now call a “brief”.
Music aside, when negotiating opera payments, the money counts: “…Negotiations go quickly – here’s the price. Those who agree – agree. If not – goodbye.”
And this is how many software companies operate today:
“…How the opera ‘Jerusalem’ was made: “Milan becomes Toulouse, Lombard crusaders turn into Frenchmen, mass scenes are added, a couple of secondary characters are removed, completely unnecessary dances are inserted, the accompaniment is refreshed, and all is well – the new opera is already set for its Paris debut. It turns out to be a ridiculous papier-mâché structure, painted more garishly than usual. A monument to tastelessness. But Verdi is satisfied. “The production will be absolutely wonderful, because they do not skimp on expenses.”
About “The Sicilian Vespers”:
“…the libretto lacks any spark, it’s drawn-out, schematic, repeating familiar moves, boring and without even a hint of any character. Bulky sets slow down the action, dances, flashy stage effects — all of this clashes with the drama and deprives it of any rhythm. In creating the libretto, Scribe just pieced together the most outdated and commonplace elements from Verdi’s operas — from ‘The Battle of Legnano’ and ‘Joan of Arc’ — and moreover embellished it all with flashy settings and pointless actions by the extras, just to fill the stage. The maestro is disheartened, he complains to the management of the ‘Grand Opera’, demands that Scribe revise the libretto. But he achieves nothing. ‘Grand Opera’ is a complex, cumbersome mechanism, very difficult to change, to say the least. Verdi is forced to accept the libretto as it is.”
And not only by music do composers live: “…Poplars, manure, straw, young fillies, horses, hay — this is what now interests the author of ‘La Traviata’, ‘Rigoletto’, ‘Il Trovatore’. He thinks only of this.”
I want to quote constantly, but this is not the format for Facebook. I recommend reading it, very interesting.
Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev. 