Abstract
Abstract for all their conspicuous differences rigoletto, il tro-vatore and La traviata all share a common idiom: the language of Italian Romantic opera purged of all that is inessential to dramatic expression; a heart-on-sleeve manner in which, though the formal reach may be long, the component units are short since the singers come quickly to the point (Verdi, like Mozart, has the ability to say in a handful of bars what others can barely express in a whole aria). The rhythmic schemes are plain, the accompaniments unencumbered. The emphasis is all on the individual—lit fiercely, as in Il trovatore or gently, as in La traviata; but the ambience barely impinges. (The Parisian waltz of La traviata is the subtlest of odours.) Verdi now aspired to wider and more varied canvasses. Over the next few years his sources would be many; but the most immediate was Paris and the world of Meyerbeer.
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