Julian Budden byl britský operní badatel, rozhlasový producent a moderátor. Jeho díla se soustředí především na opery Giuseppe Verdiho a Giacoma Pucciniho. Jeho práce se vyznačuje hlubokým vhledem do hudební dramaturgie a historického kontextu těchto operních mistrů. Čtenáři oceňují jeho schopnost přiblížit složitost operního světa srozumitelným a poutavým způsobem.
The second part of a three-volume survey of the operas of Verdi, this study covers those works written during the decadence of the post-Rossinni period. It examines each opera in detail, with an account of its dramatic and historical origins and a critical evaluation.
This is a revised and updated edition of Julian Budden's monumental survey of the operas of Giuseppe Verdi. Hailed on publication for its extraordinary comprehensibility, it examines each of the operas in detail, giving a full account of its dramatic and historical origins and a critical evaluation. The text is supported by a wealth of musical illustrations.
From Don Carlos to Falstaff
The third part of a three-volume survey of the operas of Verdi, this study covers roughly a quarter of a century, in which Verdi produced his four last operas. It examines each opera in detail, with an account of its dramatic and historical origins and a critical evaluation.
In this third edition of the classic <em>Verdi</em>, renowned authority Julian Budden offers a comprehensive overview of Verdi the man and the artist, tracing his ascent from humble beginnings to the status of a cultural patriarch of the new Italy, whose cause he had done much to promote, and demonstrating the gradual enlargement over the years of his artistic vision. This concise study is an accessible, insightful, and engaging summation of Verdi scholarship, acquainting the non-specialist with the personal details Verdi's life, with the operatic world in which he worked, and with his political ideas, his intellectual vision, and his powerful means of communicating them through his music. In his survey of the music itself, Budden emphasizes the unique character of each work as well as the developing sophistication of Verdi's style. He covers all of the operas, the late religious works, the songs, and the string quartet. A glossary explains even the most obscure operatic terms current in Verdi's time.