Great Verdi Arias for Soprano: Voice and Piano

by Giuseppe Verdi

From his first grand success in 1842 with Nabucco to his last Shakespearean operas, Otello (1887) and Falstaff (1893), Giuseppe Verdi dominated the world of Italian opera. This compilation features 26 classic arias from 16 of his greatest operas, in the composer's transcriptions for voice and piano.
Reproduced from authoritative early editions, the arias include "Oh, patria mia" and "Ritorna vincitor!" from Aïda ; "Saper vorreste" from Un Ballo in Mascera ; "Ah fors'é lui," from La Traviata ; "Pace, pace, mio Dio" from La Forza del Destino ; "Caro nome" from Rigoletto ; as well as rarely compiled gems from Simon Boccanegra, Don Carlos, Il Trovatore, Luisa Miller, Stiffelio, and other legendary operas.
Singers, pianists, and opera lovers will treasure this generous collection of unforgettable arias by one of the supreme masters of the form.

208 pages, Paperback

First published August 13, 2002

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.