Scott L. Balthazar

Rossini and the Development of the Mid-Century Lyric Form

Rossini9s conservative, florid treatment of the expressive surface of melody has encouraged recent scholars to differentiate his approach to melodic structure from that of his followers. In particular, the freedom and complexity of his melodic designs have been contrasted with the conventionality and simplicity of the mid-century lyric form A A′ B A′ adopted by Bellini and others. However, Rossini9s conception of melodic form embraced a broader range of options than we have previously acknowledged. Many of his melodies in fact prefigure later lyric conventions exactly, while others incorporate numerous aspects of later practice. Rossini9s role in the development of the mid-century lyric form suggests that we should regard Bellini not as the originator of the design that would for many years dominate Italian melody, but rather as the composer who solidified and popularized an approach that Rossini had already tested and made successful.

Plot and Tonal Design as Compositional Constraints in “Il trovatore”

For more than a decade, Ii trovatore has served as a focus of scholarly investigations into Verdis treatment of tonal structure. To date, its tonal plan has been viewed primarily from three directions: 1) as a long-range prolongation of a cadential harmonic progression (Levarie); 2) as a system of tonal double cycles and short-range symmetries (Parker); or 3) as a network of associations between keys and characters (Baldini, Petrobelli, Drabkin). I wish to suggest an alternative way in which Verdi used long-range key relationships in Ii trovatore to interpret and reinforce its plot structure By establishing separate constellations of keys for Azucena and Leonora and by moving within and between these constellations in specific ways, his music distinguishes independent plot lines, underscores their convergences, articulates shifts from one event to the next, and connects related events This analytic approach explains tonal relationships in Ii trovatore consistently and comprehensively, accounting for all primary keys. Moreover, by attending to parallels between key and plot, it connects tonal ordering to the texts principal source of dynamic cohesion, giving emphasis-as Verdi might have-to linear aspects of drama and the infusion of action into lyric numbers.