Otello in Full Score

by Giuseppe Verdi

"Perhaps the most remarkable feature of 'Otello' is not its great set pieces, wonderful as these are, but the fluid melodic and dramatic recitative that links them and binds the whole together. Many composers have dreamed of such a thing — a flexible vocal line, responsive to every mood and accent of the words, and yet consistently interesting in itself, as melody, as music. Very few have attained it." — The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.
Written in his 74th year and first performed at La Scala in 1887, Otello, Verdi's penultimate opera, is his tragic masterpiece. Only the comic Falstaff, also adapted from Shakespeare, and also with an inspired libretto by Boito, would follow. Technically and aesthetically in their mastery of orchestration, harmony, and vocal writing, these final works represent a profound leap forward from the earlier Verdi triumphs, a summation of his brilliant compositional powers.
Reproduced from the authoritative Ricordi edition, this modestly priced Dover volume makes accessible the complete, unabridged score of Otello, one of the most frequently performed and recorded operas ever composed. The original front matter — including characters, contents, and instruments — has been translated from the Italian specially for this edition.
Verdi had an unfailing sense of the stage and Otello, with its superb libretto and its forceful dramatic construction, is perhaps his most accomplished theatrical work. Scholars, performers, and opera lovers will welcome this clear, inexpensive, durable volume, which reproduces one of the undisputed masterpieces of the form by the composer who not only changed the face of Italian opera but also was a major influence in the transformation of opera into music drama.

Genres: Music, Theatre

576 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1888

About the author

Fullest artistic form of operas of Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer, included La Traviata in 1853, Aïda in 1871, and Otello in 1887; people credit him with raising the genre.

Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi, mainly a Romantic, most influenced the 19th century. Houses frequently perform his works throughout the world, and some themes transcended the boundaries of the genre and long took root in popular culture:
* "La donna è mobile" from Rigoletto
* "Va, pensiero" (The Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves) from Nabucco , and
* "Libiamo ne' lieti calici" (The Drinking Song).

Masterworks of Giuseppe Verdi used a generally diatonic rather than a chromatic musical idiom, and people sometimes criticized tendency toward melodrama, which dominates the standard repertoire a century and a half.

Reviews

[0 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel the primeval slime within me
This is my religion!

[Leni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Das hat mich stärker mitgenommen als das Theaterstück, besonders der vierte Akt. Jago erscheint durch sein Credo eindimensionaler, fast schon wie eine teuflische Verkörperung des Bösen.

[Johanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very short and very good <3

[Recensioni in tre parole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Psicologico. Disperato. Crudo.

[Amandine · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Lu en italien] J'aime décidément beaucoup les livrets d'opéra que j'ai pu lire jusqu'à présent : la comparaison avec les œuvres originales révèle souvent des personnages plus typés et des sentiments plus exacerbés. Les passages de Desdémone sont déchirants, notamment dans ses arias, bien plus que chez Shakespeare d'après moi (je n'en préfère pas moins sa pièce, qui me semble très riche également, mais différemment). Le chant d'amour de Desdémone et d'Othello avant que Iago ne vienne tout gâcher est également très beau. C'est ce dernier personnage que j'ai préféré, notamment pour son monologue "Io credo in un dio crudele", qui le diabolise vraiment (en perdant l'ambiguïté présente chez Shakespeare : c'est un choix que je trouve souvent dommage, mais qui me plaît assez bien dans ce cas-ci).

[Bernardo Henríquez · Rating 5 out of 5]

De verdad que esta ópera es muy interesante en términos de orquestación e historia. Está basada en una obra de Shakespeare e incluye los comunes temas de amor, infidelidad, conflicto y muerte.

Me gustó mucho la variedad de canciones y texturas. Cuenta con varios clímax fuertes, pero también pasajes super delicados (como aquél del segundo acto que tiene cuatro cellos en clave de sol.) Mi parte favorita es Dove guardi splendono, con ese coro de niños cantando una armonía preciosa.

[Miriam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goodreads needs to have some way to recover reviews, because I am so angry I lost mine for this.

[Raúl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una monumental adaptación de la obra de Shakespeare por el gran libretista y compositor Arrigo Boito para la última ópera de Verdi.