Table Of Content"A SELECTED ANNOTATED LIST OF RECORDINGS
USED AS A MEDIUM FOR CONVEYING THE STORIES
OF FOUR FAMOUS OPERAS OF VERDI TO A TENTH
GRADE MUSIC APPRECIATION CLASS”
A Project
Presented to
the Faculty of the School of Education
The University of Southern California
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Science in Education
by
Donald Collins Gustafson
January 1950
UMI Number: EP69708
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TABLE OP CON TENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I.I NTRODUCTION AND PROBLEM................................... 1
I I . RIGOLETTO................................................................................. 5
Act I .................................................................... 5
Act I I ...................................................................................... 7
Act I I I ...................................................................................... 12
Act IV . . ..................................................................... 15
III. AIDA.....................................'* . . 22
Act I .............................................................................................22
Act I I ............................................. 26
Act I I I ........................................................................................28
Act I V ..................................................................................... 30
IV. LA TRAVIATA . 34
Act I .............................................................................................34
Act I I ..................................................................................... 37
Act I I I .......................................................................................43
V. IL TROVATORE............................................................................. 47
Act I ..................................................................................... 47
Act I I ..............................................................................................48
Act I I I ................................................................................ 53
Act IV ................................................................................ . 55
BIBLIOGRAPHY..................................................................................... 61
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION AND PROBLEM
The study of music is so vast and expansive that a
music teacher has difficulty in selecting the proper
material for the subject content of courses taught. The
work is further involved by not only the question of what
to teach but how to teach it. Such problems as motivation,
pupil participation, discipline, are but a few of the
factors .that influence a learning situation. The question
of functionality is also apropos, how related to life
situations is it possible to make a learning situation?
Music appreciation, in effect, is a compendium or
abstract of the field of music, designed to acquaint
students that are unfamiliar with the field and further
to broaden and expand the musical background of those
students familiar with some of the basic works of music.
T
Many fields of endeavor influence music, notably art, drama,
ballet, staging, and production, and the entire scope of
choral and instrumental music. Since the Music Appreciation
Course is so general in design, the major problem is one
of balancing the above fields in the right proportion to
achieve functionality by the influence that each of the
above fields has no music as an integrated whole.
This paper has to do with one phase of the music
appreciation course, that of Grand Opera. The study of
Grand Opera is itself so complex that this paper deals with
2
four famous operas of Verdi—Aida, Rigoletto, II Trovatore,
and La Traviata—and their plots described in detail and
illustrated by the use of recordings. These particular
operas were chosen because of their consistent popularity
and ease of comprehension; furthermore, these four operas
form a nucleus with which the beginning music student may
judge and understand other operas. Each opera is divided
into acts and subdivided further into scenes. The story of
the opera is narrated' in language suitable to the level
involved. As the story unfolds, the arias are immediately
listed in the appropriate places, and the following informa
tion is included: name of selection, type of record, serial
number of record, size of record, source by which the
record can be obtained. A brief description is included
with each listing of an aria to clarify its relative posi
tion in the opera itself, and to make it possible for the
teacher to later use the arias as separate units complete
in themselves for presentation to the class; thus, the
description is readily available and the teacher does not
have to refer to the text of this work for the ariafs
description.
Most of the record selections are manufactured by
the Victor .Record Company and the Columbia Record Company.
Their prices are comparable and are as follows: single
recording not included in album, $1.31; one record in an
album, $1,25; two records in an album, $3.50; three records
in an album, $4.75; four records in an album, $6.00; five
records in an album, $7.25; six records in an album, $8.50.
These records all operate at seventy-eight revolutions per
minute. When more than one recording is available for any
particular opera, only those of major importance are listed.
If the teacher is unable to obtain one recording, the other
listing are equally as satisfactory as the first mentioned
selection.
The method of instruction is to proceed from the
known to the unknown, or from the common to the uncommon.
Beginning music appreciation students are familiar with some
of the selections contained in these operas; thus, the teacher
plays the most common arias first so that the student will
feel acquainted with the work. When the student has acquired
this sense of familiarity, the teacher introduces the more
uncommon arias, and proceeds in this manner until as many
arias as possible are played in the available time. All too
often, the music teacher plunges into operatic music with
no regard to this fundamental psychological principle of
proceeding from the known to the unknown, with the result
that the student feels insecure, and detached from the
material presented, labeling the music ”high brow”, not
realizing that the music is really very common and loved
by everyone.
4
The County and City Audio-Visual Aid Departments have
no recordings available pertaining to the four operas used
in this paper. For this reason, the recordings are gathered
directly from the record company catalogs. All of the
recordings listed in this paper may be purchased (among
other places)' at either the Southern California Music
Company, 737 South Hill Street, Los Angeles, California,
or the G-. Schirmer Music Company, 700 West Seventh Street,
Los Angeles, California.
Every attempt has been made to make this paper as
practical and functional as possible for the teacher.
These operas may or may not be familiar to music teachers,
but the story of each opera is so lucid, and the listings
of the recordings so complete, that the teacher will not
have to consult any other source in preparation for these
four operas of Verdi.
CHAPTER II
RIGOLETTO
MUSIC: GUISEPPE VERDI LIBRETTO: FRANCESCO MARIA PIAVE
ACT I
SCENE 1:--A ballroom in the Duke *s Palace. Courtiers and
ladies move gaily through the great ballroom, while pages
hurry to and fro. Amid all this bustle and gaiety, the
Duke, who devotes all of his leisure time in the pursuit of*
ladles, enters with one of his courtiers, Borsa. He con
fides to him that he is pursuing an unknown beauty whom he
has seen in church every Sunday during the past three
months. He has followed her to her house in a remote part
of the city, where, he has discovered, a mysterious man
visits her every evening. At this moment a group of knights
and ladies happen to pass by. ffWhat beauties!" exclaims
Borsa. "Cepr&no's wife is the loveliest of all!11 replies
the Duke. His listener warns him that the Count might
hear, but the Duke shrugs his shoulders indifferently and
gives vent to his philosophy in the aria, "Questa o quella11
(,TMid the fair throng").
RECORDINGS
SELECTION: Questa 0 Quella (Mid the Fair Throng)
RECORD: Type: Columbia Serial Number: 17191-D
Size: Ten inch
ARTIST: Nino Martini, Tenor, with Orchestra conducted
by Howard Bariow.
SOURCE: Schirmer Music Co., So. Calif. Music Co.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION : The Duke announces himself as a man of
pleasure, sets forth his code of morals, and boasts of his
conquests.
SELECTION: Questa 0 Quella
RECORD: Type: Victor Serial Number: 10-1200
Size: Ten inch
ARTIST: Jussi Bjoerling, Tenor, with orchestra.
SOURCE: Schirmer Music Co., So. Calif. Music Co.
The courtiers dance a minuet, accompanied by music.
The Duke dances with the countess, closely watched, however,
by Ceprano; the fervent manner in which he kisses her hand
is observed by the jealous husband, nor does it escape the
court jester, the hunchback, Rigoletto. The Duke leads
away the Countess, and Ceprano follows them, but not before
the jester has launched a cutting remark at the enraged
Count.
Rigoletto forthwith saunters off, seeking other victims
for his lord. As soon as he is out of sight he in turn
becomes the object of similar jest. The gossip Marullo,
who is a courtier, enters with the news that Rigoletto keeps
a mistress and visits her every night. There are shouts of
delight at the thought that the pander of the Dukefs romance,
Rigoletto himself, is now in love. The merriment is cut
short by the re-entry of the Duke, followed by Rigoletto.
