The Italian Romantic Libretto: A Study of Salvadore Cammarano

Edinburgh Univ Pr, 1985-07-01. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. 1984 The University Press (Edinburgh, Scotland), 5 1/2 x 8 3/4 inches tall purple cloth hardcover in publisher's unclipped dust jacket, gilt lettering to spine, ix, 326 pp. Very slight soiling and rubbing to covers. Small, light prior owner stamp to upper margin of front pastedown. Otherwise, a near fine copy - clean, bright and unmarked - in a dust jacket with slight soiling and minor edgewear but which is nicely preserved and displayed in a clear archival Brodart sleeve. ~N~ [2.0P] Salvadore Cammarano (1801–1852) was a Neopolitan librettist who in the 1830s and 1840s was among the most prolific writers for Italian romantic opera. He worked for both Donizetti and Verdi on several works, including Lucia di Lammermoor and Il Trovatore. The librettist played a major role in the creation of Italian romantic opera at every stage of development from choice of subject, through drafting and writing, to staging. No one has hitherto accorded full-scale treatment to the nature and function of the craft of librettist; in so doing, John Black throws much new light on Italian opera in its heyday. The first part of the book recounts Cammarano’s career, detailing his output of no less than 36 libretti, his working methods and relations with the composers, and the contemporary reception of his work. Later chapters analyze the technique of libretto composition: sources, subjects, language and versification, and the musical and dramatic structure of the 'number' opera.