«Unfortunately for the theatre, it is sometimes necessary for poets and composers to have the talent to create neither poetry nor music». So wrote Giuseppe Verdi, in a famous letter to Antonio Ghislanzoni, the librettist of Aida. Neither poetry nor music. Where, then, are we to find a key that will help us understand the works of a great man of the theatre like Verdi himself?

That is the task that the author of this comprehensive guide to the operas sets himself. He takes the whole body of Verdi’s work as a sort of collective ‘performance’, analysing the plots and scenes of the twenty-eight operas, focusing on their capacity to convey emotion and their links with the vast thematic network of European theatre, literature and cultural history.

Underlying the unity of his approach is a wealth of human, theatrical and cultural ideas. The book is equally suited both to novices taking their first steps through the vast universe of Verdi’s works and to experienced opera-goers, who will be able to re-examine that world from an original point of view that is both elegant and authoritative.