Verdi in America, Oberto through Rigoletto
(NY: University of Rochester Press, 2011)
ISBN 13:978-1-58046-388-1
On the reception of Verdi’s first seventeen operas in the United States: How opinion on some of them formed and then changed,
an example being Rigoletto, which became a box-office success only in the 1890s. And for some of the earlier operas, such as
Nabucco and Macbeth, how they were revalued under the impact of the Verdi Renaissance (starting in Germany in the 1920s and
sweeping into the U. S. in the 1940s), spurred by a production of Macbeth. in New York City.
“George Martin has done it again. Combining his extraordinary knowledge of American performances over the past fifty years with
a scholar’s delight in exploring the byways of nineteenths-century theatrical life in America, he has written a book that explores
the reception of Verdi’s early operas in the United States, from the first appearance of each thru the present. Anyone who wishes
an overview of Verdi’s operatic influence in America will be eternally in his debt.” Phlip Gossett, Emeritus Professor of Music,
University of Chicago.
“The scope of Verdi in America is immense, but it is justified by the thoroughness of Martin’s effort, which combines a critic’s eye, a scholar’s rigor and a fan’s enthusiasm.” Fred Cohn, Opera News, June 2012.
“An opera’s critical reception is often a springboard for Martin’s own thoughts about why it did or did not win public favour, and one quickly appreciates that he speaks with at least as much authority as the critics he cites.” George Loomis, Opera, July 2012.
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Aspects
of Verdi
(NY: Limelight Editions, 2nd ed. Paper, 1993)
ISBN 0-87910-172-5
"Heartily recommended. Martin a distinguished Verdi scholar,
has here adapted 12 essays... covering Verdi's political, religious,
literary, culinary and musical interests... interesting and
rewarding." Liberty Journal
"An entertaining, illuminating, and provocative book...
Just when one feels that no one can possibly find something
else useful or new to say about Verdi, along comes a book one
would not care to be without. Martin's is in that category."
Michael Kennedy, The Daily Telegraph (London).
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Verdi, His Music, Life and Times
(NY:
Limelight Editions, 5th ed. Paper, 2001)
ISBN 0-87910-160-1
"In Martin's pages, history and the biographer's subject are
in perfect balance: we see Verdi large and small, composer, farmer,
parliamentarian, patriot, head-of-family, brilliantly portrayed."
Mary Jane Phillips-Matz, biographer of Verdi.
"Martin's [biography] has a special value indicated by its
subtitle.. The book makes clear Verdi's greatness as a figure in
the Italian movement for independence and unification, the Risorgimento."
Andrew Porter, The Verdi Companion.
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Verdi at the Golden Gate:
Opera and San Francisco in the Golden Rush Years
(Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1993)
ISBN 0-520-08123-4
"An important contribution to the cultural history of California
and of San Francisco, unusual because of the author's rich understanding
of Verdi's place in Western culture. Martin discusses the audience's
role in the presentation an reception of operas, the effort
to 'civilize' the audience..." Burton W. Peretti, author
of The Creation of Jazz: Music, Race, and Culture in Urban
America.
"This is a narrative unlike any other, combining the most
colorful, passionate, and theatrical of all art forms with the
history of the most colorful, passionate, and theatrical of
all American cities." from the Foreword by Lotfi Mansouri,
former General Director, San Francisco Opera.
"The book gripped me from the start and held me: an exploration
into the eventful decades of American musical history that had been
for too long uncharted." Andrew Porter, former music critic
for The New Yorker, presently for The Observer
(London).
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