Verdi und die Sänger: Von der Ästhetik zur Interpretation

This article approaches the challenge of singing Verdi from a historical as well as a current point of view. Starting with fundamental considerations of opera singing and its conventions during the first half of the 19th century, traditions of singing Verdi and the paradigm of the ‘voce verdiana’ are questioned; furthermore, the new orientation of voice aesthetics and the development of Verdis performance art by means of singing are discussed. Verdi’s ideas, principles and directives, which he expressed in the letters to his interpreters, are the subject of a reflection, and his decisive author’s demands are discussed in the context of performance practice.