1897 Rare Victorian edition of VERDI's AÏDA Opera in Four Acts - Music scores and Libretto.
(description)
Author: Giuseppe Verdi. (A. Ghislanzoni, Mrs. G. G. Laurence, W. J. Henderson).
Title: AÏDA - Opera In Four Acts (G. Schirmer's Collection Of Operas).
Publisher: New York, G. Schirmer, no date (circa 1897). First thus.
Language: Text in Italian and English.
Size: 11 " X 8 "
Pages: vii-310 pages.
Binding: Very good and attractive Victorian original full decorated cloth binding (hinges fine, overall slightly worn and scuffed - as shown) under a protective removable mylar cover. Upper edge gilt.
Content: Very good, near fine content (bright, tight, and clean - as shown).
Illustrations: Illustrated with a frontispiece portrait of Verdi and full-page music scores.
Estimate: (USD 200 - USD 250)
The book: Rare and attractive edition of VERDI's AÏDA Opera in Four Acts. Aida is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 December 1871, in a performance conducted by Giovanni Bottesini. Today the work holds a central place in the operatic canon, receiving performances every year around the world; at New York's Metropolitan Opera alone, Aida has been sung more than 1,100 times since 1886. Ghislanzoni's scheme follows a scenario often attributed to the French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette, but Verdi biographer Mary Jane Phillips-Matz argues that the source is actually Temistocle Solera
The composer: Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian opera composer. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the help of a local patron. Verdi came to dominate the Italian opera scene after the era of Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti, and Vincenzo Bellini, whose works significantly influenced him.