sign in sign up
<<
Home , Don Carlos, Musico, Oberto (opera), Temistocle (J.C. Bach)

Levels of Motivic Definition in Verdi's "" Author(s): Source: 19th-Century Music, Vol. 6, No. 2 (Autumn, 1982), pp. 141-150 Published by: University of California Press Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/746272 Accessed: 26-02-2019 20:04 UTC

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at https://about.jstor.org/terms

University of California Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to 19th-Century Music

This content downloaded from 132.174.255.206 on Tue, 26 Feb 2019 20:04:59 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Levels of Motivic Definition in Verdi's Ernani

ROGER PARKER

In the recent Verdi "explosion" many of the temptsearly to look at the music in greater detail, its have been admired and commented ready on; accessibility making inappropriate the use their economy, energy, and overall dramatic of analytic methods more usually associated power have been praised; but seldom do individ- with music of greater surface complexity. It is, ual passages receive much detailed analytic in at-this sense, rather unfortunate that a good deal tention. Quite properly, of course, writers of are the close analytic work of recent years has sensitive to the traps awaiting those who con- concerned itself with the contentious topic of sider tiny sections of large-scale works without overall key relationships, of "tonality and concern for their dramatic context or for the his- drama" in the broadest sense.' Too frequently, it torical background against which the music seems, was terminology we associate with the archi- created. Furthermore, the evident simplicity tectonic of principles of, say, Beethoven is trans- Verdi's early style may seem to discourage ferred at- to Verdian with no thought for the different weight even such basic words as "tonic" might have in the changed context.

This article is a revised version of the seventh chapter of my doctoral thesis, Studies in Early Verdi (London University, 1981). I would like to thank William Drabkin, , 'See, for example, David Lawton, Tonality and Drama in and Pierluigi Petrobelli for their assistance at various stages.Early Verdi Operas (Ph.D. diss., University of California, Berkeley, 1973), and also the frequently-cited discussion of 0148-2076/82/030141 + 10$00.50 ? 1981 by The Regents key ofrelationships in , this journal 2-3 the University of California. (1978-79).

141

This content downloaded from 132.174.255.206 on Tue, 26 Feb 2019 20:04:59 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 19TH CENTURY Moreover, to attach such a high degree of priority of the few early Verdi works to enjoy frequent MUSIC to "pure" harmonic organization in music revivals later in the century: it became, for ex- which is plainly conceived primarily in terms ample, of the cavallo di battaglia of Verdi's favorite the human voice seems bound to lead to a certain , Teresa Stolz.4 Futhermore Ernani was, sig- imbalance. nificantly, the first Verdi work to be commis- Perhaps because of this unwarranted special- sioned from outside : thus to the prestige ization, there may have been something of an of a "foreign" assignment-a definite sign of Ver- over-reaction against analysis in general. This isdi's rapidly spreading reputation-was added the unfortunate because, given a sensitivity to the challenge of composing for a new public and a inevitable adjustments needed, there are many new theater. Indeed, perhaps the intimate, char- theoretical disciplines which the Verdi special- acter-based format of the new opera, in contrast ist might find rewarding. For example, recent to the choral tableaux of the previous two works, attempts by musicologists and others to apply and I Lombardi, may be partially ex- the terms of semiology to their disciplines have plained by the change of venue. The had interesting consequences for the study of for which Ernani was written, La Fenice in Ven- early Verdi. Though the severe, disciplined "ob- ice, is smaller and more intimate than , jectivity" of Jean-Jacques Nattiez, Nicolas Ru- Milan, where grandiose effects are almost de- wet, or David Lidov may well prove too unwieldy manded by the sheer size of the theater. in this particular field, Frits Noske has already Ernani also marks Verdi's first collaboration demonstrated that the careful application of se- with the man who was to become his most im- miological methods of analysis can be most use- portant librettist, . Piave ful in such a hybrid medium as opera, where is frequently anathematized by Verdi commen- many different levels of signification operate si- tators for his clumsy poetry and naive dramatic multaneously. More important still, he has pretensions, and was indeed, as we can see from shown that the stimulus of a new discipline can Verdi's often exasperated letters during the com- lead to a freshness and impartiality difficult to position of Ernani, a theatrical novice at the time achieve under more conventional circumstan- of this first collaboration. Certainly he was less ces. Those who know Noske's book The Signifier accomplished and strong-willed than Verdi's and the Signified2 will see that, although I have previous librettist, . As Verdi not felt a need to relate my material specifically wrote to Brenna (Secretary of La Fenice) during to his theory of "musico-dramatic signs,"3 my arguments about the final shape of the opera: analytic approach, particularly in the later part of this article, owes much to his example. I've set to music three libretti by Solera and comparing the originals, which I've kept, with the printed text you will only find changed a very few lines, and these always because Solera himself wanted it. But Solera For many reasons Ernani, first performed hasin written five or six libretti and knows all about the March 1844, is a key work in Verdi's career. Its theater and dramatic effect and musical form. Signor success, which was far more immediate and Piave hasn't yet written for the theater and therefore it's natural that he should be wanting in these widespread than that of Nabucco, assured Verdi matters.5 a popularity in Italy second only to Donizetti, while at the same time its many foreign perfor- But in the long term, and in spite of the com- mances built for the composer a considerable plaints, Piave's evident inexperience may even international reputation. The opera was also one have been beneficial to the final result. It forced Verdi to take a far more active part in the dra-

2The Hague, 1977. 3Defined by Noske, p. 316, as "a musical unit which stresses, clarifies, invalidates, contradicts, or supplies an element of 4See Frank Walker, The Man Verdi (London, 1962), pp. 427- the . The sign is semantically interpretable and dis- 28. closes dramatic truth." As will become clear later, I am not 5Julian Budden, The Operas of Verdi, vol. I (London, 1973), p. in complete agreement with the final sentence (see fn. 15). 145.

142

This content downloaded from 132.174.255.206 on Tue, 26 Feb 2019 20:04:59 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms nani, where all three principal male characters ROGER PARKER matic planning, and perhaps for that reason to Motivic confront more directly his essential problems are in love with the heroine, was surely deliber- Definition as a music dramatist. In the words of Gabriele ate. Its stylization and "monothematicism" inal- Ernani Baldini: lowed the composer to concentrate all his ener- gies on matters of internal coherence rather than Working with Piave was Verdi's first opportunity to isolated external effect, and above all on the pre- work with himself. [Piave's] libretti are in fact those cise definition of characters and their relation- best suited to Verdi's music ... simply because, in detail as well as in general shape, Verdi himself com- ships, the exact placing and weighting of their posed them.6 ordered confrontations. It is significant that, only days after Victor On the other hand, although Ernani is quite Hugo's Hernani had first been suggested, Verdi different from Nabucco and I Lombardi, it is in already seemed to have the entire action before many senses a far more conventional opera, a his mind's eye: return to the operatic mores of Verdi's first work, , conte di San Bonifacio. The use of cho- But oh, if only we could do Hernani instead that would be tremendous.... Signor Piave has great facility in ral forces in Nabucco, their magnificently effec- versifying and in Hernani all he would need to do tive entrances into set pieces, and in the end the would be to condense and tighten up; the action is elevation of the chorus to the status of an equal there ready made, and it's all immensely good theater. partner with the principal soloists-all this is Tomorrow I'll write at length to Piave setting out all the scenes from Hernani which seem to me suita- highly individual, even though in part it derives ble. ... I've already seen how the whole of the first act from the continuing tradition of "opera-orato- could be compressed into a magnificent introduction, rio" in general, and Rossini's Mose in particular.7 and Act I could finish at the point where At least in external format, Ernani reverts to the requires Silva to give up Hernani who is hidden behind more commonplace Donizettian the picture. Act II could be made from Act IV of the form, a fact made immediately obvious by the French play. And the third act would end with a mag- nificent trio in which Hernani dies.9 stylized succession of which introduces the major characters in Act I. He was free, as never before, to concentrate on However, before we condemn the opera as internal coherence, leaving the ruthless logic of dramatically reactionary (an epithet also misap- the plot mechanism to take care of itself. plied, incidentally, to the work which most closely resembles Ernani in the Verdian reper- toire, II trovatore), we might consider the possi- The most obvious attempt to establish this "in- bility that, stimulated by the different demands ternal coherence" on a strictly musical level lies of a Venetian audience, Verdi was attempting to in Verdi's experimental use of a recurring me- formulate an alternative method of dramatic lodic contour, the rising sixth from dominant to structure. What Verdi needed after I Lombardi, mediant. Needless to say, such an exceedingly as Julian Budden says, "was the discipline of commona gesture needs a degree of qualification plot whose action is focused on the central issue, if it is to signify at all strongly as a unifying and whose events fall within the same range of device. This "special context" is achieved by experience."' The choice of a drama such as Er- placing the interval, whether in its pure form or as a more complex definition of space, in the initial phrases of important, set-piece arias. For example, Julian Budden has already remarked on 6Gabriele Baldini, Abitarela battaglia (Milan, 1970). English how different treatments of the interval serve to edition The Story of , trans. and ed. Roger Parker(Cambridge, 1980), pp. 70-71. define musically the major characters as they It is interesting that Verdi's second opera, , has some links with this "oratorio" tradition (see, for example, the choral participation in Belfiore's Act I "Verri pur troppo il giorno"), but in its alterations of Roma- ni's original libretto, and in particular in its elevation of the Marchesa to an opera-seria character-type, it betrays an at- 8Budden, p. 142. tempt to shade the comic plot into the Ernani/seria format. 9Ibid., 141-42.

143

This content downloaded from 132.174.255.206 on Tue, 26 Feb 2019 20:04:59 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 19TH (Ricordi vocal score, p. 1) CENTURY appear in the first act.'0 The lyrical rise of the MUSIC melody in the prelude (ex. la) and ofa. Er- 1 M F : II nani's (ex. Ib) becomes more agitated

rhythmically in Elvira's cantabile (ex. Ic). When ERNANI the Don Carlo asserts himself musi- b. OP I p I cally, the interval becomes a contour (ex. Id), more relaxed, less impetuous, and by the time 8 Co - me rugia - da al ce - spi-te (p. 20) ELVIRA we reach the aged Silva-the male character c. AI with least chance of fulfilling his amorous inten- tions-the initial lyrical rise has been trans- Er- na - ni! Erna - ni,in - vo - la-mi (p. 33) CARLO formed into a tortuous ascent, filled with chro- matic inflection (ex. le). By the manner in which it both unifies and Da quel di.... chet'ho ve - du - ta(p. 50) distinguishes between the principal characters, SILVA-I--"\ '.b we might describe this interval as one associated e. 6 t;?- W1, I I Y with the "love element" of the drama-at its In-fe Ii - ce! e tuo cre de - vi si bel most uncomplicated with Ernani, its most crabbed with Silva. Similarly, we could identify a second recurring idea which becomes attached gi - glio imma - co - la - to! (p. 70) to the other essential dramatic element of the

plot, the dictates of honor. (It is, of course, the Example 1 tension between love and honor that impels the plot mechanism to its gruesome end.) While the Ernani than in any other previous Verdi opera, "aspiring" rising sixth is, as we have seen, typi- was perhaps not an entirely satisfactory innova- cally presented at the beginning of a phrase or tion. Both the ideas fall uncomfortably between longer period, this second idea (which, like the two stools. On the one hand they are too basic a first, is a commonplace of Verdi's musical lan- part of the common language to function reliably guage) tends to appear at cadential passages, and as dramatic reminiscence motives (which must, can be described as a chromatic inflection, often by definition, be exceptional in some sense), around the dominant note, involving a dimin- while on the other they are not used with suffi- ished third (ex. 2). It first appears at the beginning cient frequency or developmental variation to of the prelude, rounding off the passage later to give deeper coherence to the opera. Verdi may be associated with the pact of honor which even- well have realized this problem, because his next tually destroys Ernani (ex. 2a). But as one might opera, , experiments with another, expect, most of the prominent references occur far more rigorous system of recurring motives, toward the end of the opera, as the pact gradually allotting to each of the major characters his or takes hold of the action. Example 2c is the music her own melody, to be presented as a carte de of the pact itself ("Se uno squillointendera', tosto visite when they enter the stage. But just as the Ernani morira") with the interval presented ex- motives in Ernani remain too amorphous to clusively in the orchestra; after the final appear- carry full dramatic weight, those of I due Foscari ance of Silva, whose entrance is marked by a are on the contrary too monolithic. Their unvar- delineation of the motive (ex. 2d), the score is ied repetition actually hinders the progression of saturated with references. Ihave chosen only the events. It was a structural problem which, at three most promient (exx. 2e-g). least at this stage of Verdi's career, remained But this type of recurring feature, which is unsolved. used far more prominently and consistently in

However, if the conventional, restricted, - based format of Ernani did not stimulate solu- 'OIn all musical examples, page numbers refer to the current Ricordi vocal score of Ernani, plate no. 42308. tions to the problem of establishing overall unity

144

This content downloaded from 132.174.255.206 on Tue, 26 Feb 2019 20:04:59 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Surta e la notte e Silva non ritorna! ROGER PARKER a._I Motivic Non tornasse ei piui!... Questo odiato veglio Definition (p. 1) Che quale immondo spettro ognor m'insegue in Ernani ELVIRA AND ERNANI Col favellar d'amore, b. Piiu sempre Emani mi configge in core.

La ven - det - ta (p. 161) Emani! Emani involami All'abborrito amplesso, Fuggiamo se teco vivere A. L ...... Mi sia d'amor concesso. [Se uno intenderA, tosto PerErnani antri e morira]landi inospite (p. 206) Ti seguir iil mio pie, Un Eden di delizia d. .3 Saran quegli antri a me.12 6 7 4 5 ERNANI (p. 281) The (lines 1-5), as usual set in a free mixture of eleven- and seven-syllable lines, neatly and economically fulfills a dual function. Can-giar - mi col ci - pres - so!! (p. 281) It sets the scene (or rather confirms the impres-

ERNANI sion already given by the string introduction- low, restrained strings are typically "nocturnal" "P I 1 I= / I' 1 I I v I in nineteenth-century Italian opera: "Surta e la Com - piasi il mio destin fa - ta - le. notte ..1."), and then introduces us to the two (p. 295) dominant emotions which animate Elvira: her ELVIRA AND ERNANI hatred of Silva ("Questo odiato veglio .. .") and 3mor - te 3 al- tar! (p. 297) her love of Ernani ("Pih' sempre Ernani mi con- figge in core"). Simultaneously, of course, the mor - te fu Val- tar! (p. 297) text furnishes musical opportunities for the ex- position of a variety of vocal effects. The neutral, Example 2 space-defining opening line gives way first to dramatic declamation-underpinned by the al- or motivic connections, it did encourage Verdi most obligatory string tremolando-and then to toward the clarification of his musico-dramatic lyrical, rather ornamental lines. language on a smaller scale. In the best individ- The cantabile is cast in the usual double qua- ual pieces of the opera we find a more acute train, with a vivid image to propel the third awareness of the precise dynamics of melodic quarter, "Per antri e lande inospite." The fact contour than in previous works. It is almost as that Piave's final line, "Saran quegli antri a me," though the reduction in scope, the "chamber is rather lame, and carries an uncomfortable rep- music" proportions of the plot, allowed the com- etition of "antri" from line 5, evidently did not poser to concentrate more completely on the concern Verdi: perhaps the generous open vow- basic materials of his art, on the vocal line as an els of "saran" were compensation enough. The expression of character and dramatic impetus. musical setting of the cantabile expands some- Nowhere is this attempt to expand the ex- what the verse structure. As we can see, the aria pressive potential of set structures better illus- is divided into two units which, although exactly tated than in Elvira's famous Act I scena "Surta e la notte."" We might begin discussion by ex- amining the (rather conventional) text: '2"Night has fallen, and Silva not returned! / Would that he never came again!... This hateful old man / Who like some foul spectre always follows me / With words of love, / Ever- more fixes Ernani in my heart. // Ernani! Emani, speed me away / From this horrible embrace, / Let us fly, if love allows me / To live with you. / Through desolate caves and barren "Vocal score, pp. 32-36, which the reader may like to consult lands / I will follow you; / Those caves will be, to me, / An during the following discussion. Eden of delights."

145

This content downloaded from 132.174.255.206 on Tue, 26 Feb 2019 20:04:59 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 19TH CENTURY balanced in length, distribute the lines Verdi soun- successfully impels his music forward MUSIC evenly: to this particular moment, how the climax is felt to encapsulate all previous melodic activity. For an explanation of these things, we need to con- 12 34 56 78 78 7 78 sider the scene so far as an integrated unit, with a' a2 b' b2 a3 c a3 () the orchestral introduction, recitative, and aria all playing their part in a gradual process of the- 17 measures 16 measures + fermata matic development. We need, in short, to recog- nize the presence of layers of activity which cut across the otherwise sharply differentiated for- The first unit consists of an exposition malof thestructures. complete text, with two melodic pharases (a In and several ways, for example, the opening or- b) both repeated in varied form; the second chestral con- prelude functions as more than merely centrates on the final two lines of text, abuilding scenic introduction. Its underlying harmonic a climax (a3) which is repeated after amotion-a short, prolonged tonic pedal followed by a "athematic" contrasting section-in this comparatively case a perfunctory II-V-I cadence-an- held note in the voice with a Bellinian, "atmos-ticipates in every detail the initial progression of pheric" woodwind countersubject. Within Elvira's the cantabile, while the frequently reiter- exposition section, the most important ated struc- melodic line spanning a major sixth (ex. 3a) tural point occurs at the transition between adumbrates a2 the cantabile's initial vocal phrase and b', where the second quatrain begins (ex. withIc). These are to some extent surface simi- the words, already mentioned, "Per antri larities, e lande of isolated effect. On the other hand, the inospite": as well as the change of melodic small con- motive which is traced in example 3 has a tour, we have a harmonic jolt as the D-minor far more pervasive influence. The figure is best tonic of a2 moves without preparation onto defined the as a four-note turn, usually but not in- dominant seventh of Bb major.13 The a variablysections moving around the dominant. As the are remarkable in their restriction of melodic layout of example 3 suggests, it can be split into contour, with a particular insistence on the note three families. First, on the left-hand side, it is D, which never relaxes to the tonic B6, and in- presented frankly as an ornament, on all but one deed is eventually tonicized by the mediant occasion carried by the vocal line, and clearly modulation in a2. (We might tentatively describe introducing the florid aspect of Elvira's musical this hovering on the mediant as a musical equiv- personality. The middle column sees it expand alent of the image of flight presented in the first into a more purposeful melodic line, especially line of the aria text, "Ernani! Ernani involami," in example 3f, where there is a chromatic shift although this kind of madrigalism was not typi- in the upper auxiliary note. In the third, right- cal of Verdi's expressive treatment of words.) hand column, it appears in inversion. At this stage a problem arises. The foregoing The essential division into ornament and description has, with its concentration on the melodic progression may at first seem to weaken relationship between text and music, inevitably the effect of the motive as a binding element, but stressed the sectional aspects of the scene: reci- in fact its dual presentation is of crucial impor- tative/aria, quatrain 1/quatrain 2, etc. In this tance. Its final emphatic statement (ex. 3m), sense, although it can and does identify the vocal which comes at the climax of the cantabile, in climax at a3, it has not explained precisely how the section earlier identified as a3, gains full ef- fect precisely by being an accumulation of the left-hand and central columns. The dictates of vocal characterization and motivic integration '3For a fuller consideration of the "internal dynamics" of nineteenth-century Italian opera arias, see Luigi Dallapic- are thus perfectly matched. Elvira's , cola's well-known article "Parole e musica nel melo- the definition of which is one conditioning func- dramma," in Appunti, incontri, meditazioni (Milan, tion 1970), of this aria, as all her future appearances will pp. 5-28. English translation in A Verdi Companion, ed. William Weaver and Martin Chusid (New York, 1979), set herpp. against other characters in duets and en- 193-215. sembles, and the nature of the aria, which is to

146

This content downloaded from 132.174.255.206 on Tue, 26 Feb 2019 20:04:59 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 4 ROGER PARKER Motivic Definition in Ernani

b.a.

22

d. U

[d'a-] mo - - - - re

e. 2

[con-] fig - - ge in co - re 28

g. I

Er-na - ni 33

h.

E all'ab-] bor-ri - to

1.

se te - co

40 A

[i-j no - spi-te

g k.

se - gui- ra

44 1. 3

[de-] li- - zia

m.

un E- den di de- li - zia sa - - ran que - gli an-tri a me,

CABALETTA, m. 10

n.

Tut-to_ sprez [-zol

Example 3

147

This content downloaded from 132.174.255.206 on Tue, 26 Feb 2019 20:04:59 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 19TH some extent controlled or influenced by the the im-fragment isolated in example 3, it is the con- CENTURY MUSIC agery of the poetry, both demand that this stant final repetition over a short time-span, rather section should be ornamental, or at least than ex- any marked individuality, which ensures tremely florid, while Verdi's developing sense the motive's of significance. Of special interest is musical cohesion, on the other hand, required the linking a of our two motives (ex. 4h) in the climax which was motivically coherent, which orchestral interlude which immediately pre- derived logically from preceding material. cedes the opening of the cantabile proper, and its Hence the twofold preparation as ornament use andin the bass (ex. 4i) to effect the modulation to melodic line, both elements of which seem D minor to in a2 (already discussed in connection accumulate naturally in the angular sequential with pitch levels, as a tonicization of the sus- ascent and descent of example 3m. tained D of the opening phrase). It is also worth We might add a note about the right-hand mentioning that vocal statement of the flattened column of example 3, where the figure sixth, is in- though it occurs once in the recitative verted. It is, of course, significant that this (ex im-4g), is reserved entirely (discounting the ca- portant alteration is confined to one section denza) of for the b section of the cantabile (exx. 4j the aria (section b); as we have mentioned earlier,and k), again emphasizing this passage as an area that section is the traditional point of greatest of contrast. differentiation in the structure. The inversion The remaining fragments in example 4 (m-v) has no further role in the cantabile but-a typical are taken from subsequent parts of Act I, scene example of the barriers between set pieces being ii, and chart the later use of the flattened sixth at broken down-is transposed down an octave to its most characteristic pitch level, GK-F. While form part of the main theme of the ensuing in Elvira's the G6 always remains a cabaletta. 14 chromatic inflection, subsumed under the over- The second recurring motive I have isolated is all Bb major tonality, in the Scena e Duetto be- charted in example 4 (see page 149). It is in fact tween Elvira and Carlo which follows, its impli- an especially common cliche of Verdi's musical cations of B6 minor are fully realized. The language: the flattened sixth of the scale falling juxtaposition of mode becomes a fundamental to the dominant. As a "control," example 4a-d point of contrast between the two characters: indicates the idea's occasional use in the preced- Elvira obstinately clings to "her" Gb-F, and ing scene of Act I simply as an undefined cliche hence to the minor mode, while Carlo remains or, as the semiologist would say, an unattached in Bb major. The final reference (ex. 4v) is partic- signifier. This is important, since it is the fre- ularly striking. The implications of the G6 are quency and variety with which it is employed taken one stage further at Elvira's words "Aspi- during Elvira's recitative and cantabile (ex. 4e-1) rar non deggio al trono," etc., where it is briefly which forces the idea onto our attention and tonicized (as a 6/4 chord in G6 major), only relax- acquires for it the status of a "sign."15 As with ing onto the F after three measures. The moment is made doubly significant by its pivotal posi- tion. If we understand the two-phrase cadenza as an idealized two-measure period, the emphatic 14For examples of this motivic transference later in Verdi's G6 of example 4v lies at the exact mid-point of career, see the final section of my article "The Dramatic Structure of Ii trovatore," part of a symposium on that opera the closing, Andantino section of the duet. to be published in Music Analysis this year (other contribu- Twenty-four measures precede it, twenty-four tions from Pierluigi Petrobelli and William Drabkin). measures follow it. s'Although, when defining this word in an operatic context, I would differ slightly from Noske (see fn. 4). A "sign" does not necessarily carry a semantic label, a precise (or even imprecise) "meaning" in terms of the libretto. This is not to If we accept the presence of this careful motivic say that it does not function dramatically, but how far do the events of the plot affect the essential drama of an opera like working-whether it was conscious or not on Ernani? In certain cases, the analyst must retain the right to Verdi's part-we should not necessarily then disregard the plot mechanism. As Roland Barthes says, "We search for a dramatic corollary, far less a precise must accept one last freedom: that of reading the text as if it had already been read." Roland Barthes, S/Z, trans. Richard "meaning" in terms of the plot. Verdi may well, Miller(New York, 1974), p. 15. as in the Scena e Duetto just discussed, utilize

148

This content downloaded from 132.174.255.206 on Tue, 26 Feb 2019 20:04:59 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms CORO ROGER PARKER Motivic a. - - Scena e Duetto (pp. 46-56) Definition a. VI-r__r f r -v in Ernani quan-d'e - - - - sce la not - te nell'orri- de grot [-tel] ELVIRA: Sire, fia ver?] (p. 7) 31 CORO n. b. _ _ _ _) nel vi-no cer - chia-mo al-men un pia - cer (p. 10)

ERNANI 4 AELVIRA

Vie-ni e-co.. Tol-gaId- di - o! d'af-fan - - no mo - ri - r6 (p. 22)

60 ELVIRA

d. . I6 Pur-ch& sul tuo bel vi [-so] (p. 26) 0- gni cor ser - ba

64 CARLO

Scena e Cavatina (pp. 32-45) q Quel-lo a - scol-ta del mio cor

e. 0667

83 CARLO 26s. g.'4 6 . I- I del tuo a-man- te [con-] fig - ge in co - re. 28 86

h.

368- 38

41 3 3 1A. EUJ.1 - 3. _ -_ ' "den quegl ntr m

[sa-] Iran que- gli an-tri a

A r C.& gi ah ELVIRA k. ia - o I t Ip C AA-spi - rar non deg - gio al tro - no

Example 4

149

This content downloaded from 132.174.255.206 on Tue, 26 Feb 2019 20:04:59 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 19TH previous points of motivic saturation to estab- CENTURY on the other hand, act in the opposite direction: MUSIC lish a basic sense of dialectic tension, short-term but the saturation makes them wholly at one resulting semantic associations are only with transi- the musical context, and so destroys any tory. While the recurring motives mentionedprecise semantic signification. Their effect is far earlier-the rising sixth and the diminished more local and their dramatic function is to give third-certainly carry such significance, unity theirand force to a static presentation of char- treatment was entirely different. They, acter. as Andwe of course it is precisely in this area, in found, stand or fall by means of their definition, the increasing precision with which Verdi forges their ability to exist within a number of the different individual units of his dramatic language, contexts and still be recognizable. The that motivic Ernani marks such a significant processes involved in this short scene advancefor Elvira, in the composer's career.

IN THE NEXT ISSUE

ARTICLES RICHARD TARUSKIN: How the Acorn Took Root: A Tale of Russia

JAY REISE: Late Skriabin: Some Principles Behind the Style

JAY RODGERS: Four Preludes Ascribed to Yulian Skriabin

SIMON KARLINSKY: Igor Stravinsky and Russian Pre-literate Theater

BENITO V. RIVERA: Rhythmic Organization in Beethoven's Seventh Symphony

PAUL HARKSHAW: The Date of Bruckner's "Nullified" Symphony in D Minor

PHILIP FRIEDHEIM: Wagner and the Aesthetics of the Scream

REVIEWS, PERFORMERS & INSTRUMENTS by John W. Clark, Alain Frogley, Michael C. Tusa

150

This content downloaded from 132.174.255.206 on Tue, 26 Feb 2019 20:04:59 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms