Edited by Stefano Castelvecchi, Jonathan Cheskin (1994)
Two-volume set: score pp. LXIV, 420 + critical commentary
NR 136941
Piano vocal score available
CP 136944
Alzira is one of the few remaining Verdi operas that can justifiably be called neglected. The opera has fine scenic situations, an important role for the chorus, some extremely delicate orchestral writing, and three major characters all of whom can make a large impact: a soprano who needs both agility and dramatic power; a baritone who ends the opera with a moving death scene; and – most important – a robust, ‘baritonal’ tenor of great stamina.
As with all the Verdi operas of the mid 1840s, Alzira is in some ways an ‘experimental’ work; one of violent musical contrasts. In some sections, mostly the slow movements of arias and duets, Verdi concentrates on a developing psychological progress, responding to each nuance of the words rather developing a rounded lyrical statement. These ‘prosaic’ pieces are then balanced by others, mostly cabalettas and choruses, that are highly predictable, almost Trovatore-like in their driving rhythmic energy. In the hands of an experienced Verdi conductor, there is no doubt that these violent swings between different types of musical drama can create an enormous impact.
Alzira is the seventh work and the sixth opera to be published in the critical edition of The Works of Giuseppe Verdi. Composed during the middle of the very productive period of Verdi’s first large-scale successes, Alzira premiered at Naples on August 12, 1845. Cammarano’s libretto is based on a play of Voltaire, who used a real incident in sixteenth-century Peru during the Spanish conquest to shape a critique of the morality of the noble savage as against Christian values.
Because the success of the premiere was not repeated, Alzira fell out of the repertory and no orchestral score was ever published. The critical edition, based on Verdi’s autograph score and important secondary sources, provides the first reliable full score of the work.