Carlton Recommends Budden on Verdi

A shout-out to Underbelly’s culture consultant Carlton for the culture-find of the years: Julian Budden’s three-volume set, The Operas of Verdi (link), which is just what it appears to be—a detailed examination of all Verdi operas, chronologically, with tons of musical examples. Il Teatro Buce is an established venue for Verdi DVDs, but we have to admit we are not superswift auditors, and we can use lots of good critical guidance. Here it is, all in one place, and I can testify that it works. We spent two evenings going through Don Carlos—not an easy task, because there are so many versions, and no two performances stage it exactly the same way, and Budden tries to cover them all, but well worth the effort. We gave another two evenings to Traviata which is, by any measure, pretty accessible Verdi, and one we thought we knew pretty well. Silly us: there are a thousand leaps an connections that Budden offers, which we had missed.

Incredibly, the set seems to be out of print at the moment. I got mine used from Amazon, and I must have got the last reasonably-priced sets—the prices on current offerings are enough to crack your glass eye straight across. But there seem to be quite as number of single volumes on offer, so it shouldn’t be difficult to put together a set of your own, and at a saving.

So, two down and—what, 20-odd?—to go, but that is fine. Lots more pleasant weekend evenings to look forward to. Carlton says he’s only sorry he can’t find this kind of resource for any other composer. Amen to that, but now that I think of it, I realize I did get some profit out of Bruce Alan Brown’s Così fan tutte in the “Cambridge Opera Series,” and I see by the flyleaf that they have a lot more in the same line (link). Anyway, thanks Carlton, and here’s wishing you many happy aural hours.