Editing Giuseppe Verdi (section)

====Early period====
Verdi was to claim in his ''Sketch'' that during his early training with Lavigna "I did nothing but [[canon (music)|canons]] and [[fugue]]s...No-one taught me [[orchestration]] or how to handle dramatic music."{{sfn|Porter|1980|p=636}} He is known to have written a variety of music for the Busseto Philharmonic society, including vocal music, band music and chamber works,{{sfn|Porter|1980|p=637}} (and including an alternative overture to Rossini's ''[[Barber of Seville]]''){{sfn|Budden|1993|p=5}} but few of these works survive. (He may have given instructions before his death to destroy his early works).{{sfn|Gossett|2008|p=161}}

[[File:Macbeth-meets the witches.jpg|thumb|left|Macbeth meets the witches (Act I, scene 1)]]Verdi uses in his early operas (and, in his own stylized versions, throughout his later work) the standard elements of Italian opera content of the period, referred to by the opera writer [[Julian Budden]] as the 'Code Rossini', after the composer who established through his work and popularity the accepted templates of these forms; they were also used by the composers dominant during Verdi's early career, Bellini, Donizetti and [[Saverio Mercadante]]. Amongst the essential elements are the [[aria]], the [[duet]], the ensemble, and the [[finale (music)|finale]] sequence of an act.{{sfn|Taruskin|2010|pp=15–16}} The aria format, centred on a soloist, typically involved three sections; a slow introduction, marked typically [[cantabile]] or [[Tempo#Basic tempo markings|adagio]], a ''tempo di mezzo'' which might involve chorus or other characters, and a [[cabaletta]], an opportunity for [[bravura]] singing for the soloist. The duet was similarly formatted. Finales, covering climactic sequences of action, used the various forces of soloists, ensemble and chorus, usually culminating with an exciting [[stretto]] section. Verdi was to develop these and the other formulae of the generation preceding him with increasing sophistication during his career.{{sfn|Balthazar|2004|pp=49–59}}{{sfn|Parker|2001|loc=§4 (ii)}}

The operas of the early period show Verdi learning by doing and gradually establishing mastery over the different elements of opera. ''Oberto'' is poorly structured, and the orchestration of the first operas is generally simple, sometimes even basic.{{sfn|Parker|2001|loc=§4 (vii)}} The musicologist [[Richard Taruskin]] suggested "the most striking effect in the early Verdi operas, and the one most obviously allied to the mood of the Risorgimento, was the big choral number sung—crudely or sublimely, according to the ear of the beholder—in [[unison]]. The success of "Va, pensiero" in ''Nabucco'' (which Rossini approvingly denoted as "a grand aria sung by sopranos, contraltos, tenors and basses"), was replicated in the similar "O Signor, dal tetto natio" in ''I lombardi'' and in 1844 in the chorus "Si ridesti il Leon di Castiglia" in ''Ernani'', the battle hymn of the conspirators seeking freedom.{{sfn|Taruskin|2010|pp=570–575}}{{sfn|Budden|1993|p=21}} In ''I due Foscari'' Verdi first uses recurring themes identified with main characters; here and in future operas the accent moves away from the '[[oratorio]]' characteristics of the first operas towards individual action and intrigue.{{sfn|Parker|2001|loc=§4 (vii)}}

From this period onwards Verdi also develops his instinct for "tinta" (literally 'colour'), a term which he used for characterising elements of an individual opera score—Parker gives as an example "the rising [[Major sixth|6th]] that begins so many lyric pieces in ''[[Ernani]]''".{{sfn|Parker|2001|loc=§4 (iv)}} ''[[Macbeth (Verdi)|Macbeth]]'', even in its original 1847 version, shows many original touches; characterization by [[key (music)|key]] (the Macbeths themselves generally singing in [[sharp (music)|sharp]] keys, the witches in [[flat (music)|flat]] keys),{{sfn|Parker|2001|loc=§4 (iv)}} a preponderance of [[minor key]] music, and highly original orchestration. In the 'dagger scene' and the duet following the murder of Duncan, the forms transcend the 'Code Rossini' and compellingly propel the drama.{{sfn|Budden|1993|pp=190–192}} Verdi was to comment in 1868 that Rossini and his followers missed "the golden thread that binds all the parts together and, rather than a set of numbers without coherence, makes an opera". ''Tinta'' was for Verdi this "golden thread", an essential unifying factor in his works.{{sfn|Rosselli|2000|p=95}}
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