It was during the decades from the 1860s to the 1890s that modern Italy was established. It was also during this period that Verdi came to be known as the sole creator of Italy's new, modern opera culture and this development paved the way for Italy's new generation of composers, which was to be led by Giacomo Puccini. Verdi's spectacular operas Don Carlos (1867) and Falstaff (1893) frame this period and they perfectly illustrate Verdi's pioneering developments in operatic composition and stagecraft. The works of this period most fully represent the concept of grand opera and what the world considers to be "operatic." Each of the operas of this period present characters suffering in the most intense of private situations, within a public framework. These masterpieces present some of the greatest examples of what the ancient Greek dramatists sought in their plays: the full panoply of the human condition. Ranging from an extraordinary setting of Schiller's play, Don Carlos, to the eternally popular Aida, to the final Shakespearean masterpieces, Otello and Falstaff, Verdi's operas of this period give birth to Italy's modern international voice.
Dr. Harry N. Dunstan, Founding Artistic Director, American Center for Puccini Studies
Monday 10:30 AM to 12:00 PM July 13
1 Session $20 Class 643
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