Re: Trsitan: The First Hundred Years (Zuckerman)

"Mike Scott Rohan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> [snipped - original post is below]
---------------------------------------------------------

Many thanks, Mike.

Living in the boonies, sans regular transportation, as I do, has its rewards,
but it's frustrating as hell when a business like this comes up.

I don't think I'm conflating the _Lohengrin_ episode with _Tristan_ as I
remember being especially struck that Verdi had the latter score so soon (within
a couple or so years) after its publication.  But, as you say, such tricks of
memory are not that uncommon, and happen to us all.

Your time and trouble on my behalf in this matter is much appreciated.

--
ACD
http://acdouglas.com
------------------- original post -------------------
"Mike Scott Rohan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> The message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> from "A.C. Douglas" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> contains these words:
>
> > Does anyone here have a copy of this book (mine was destroyed in a fire)?
>
> > I seem to remember that in that book (last read by me in the '60s) Zuckerman
> > makes mention of Verdi having a score of _Tristan_ which he (Verdi)
> > copiously
> > marked up with comments, some of which Zuckerman quotes.
>
> > Can anyone confirm this with page references and the date of Verdi's
> > acquisition
> > of the score, or confirm that I'm remembering falsely?
>
> > Thanks.
>
> UPDATE: I've been looking around in all the major books on Verdi I can
> find, and so far have come across no single reference of the kind you
> remember. However, nil desperandum, because I have found a number of
> relevant individual references. The interview expressing Verdi's
> admiration for Tristan is quoted in a number of sources, including
> Budden (and his Master Musicians volume) never at length (many authors
> seem to prefer his earlier, less laudatory comments on Wagner, even
> selectively quoting them to make them look harsher!). However, John
> Rossellini in his short "Life of Verdi" from Cambridge University Press,
> confirms that Verdi owned scores of *all* the major Wagner operas right
> up to Parsifal. Mary Jane Philips-Matz in her biography (OUP) records
> Muzio sending him Meistersinger and Parsifal. What's more, she describes
> Verdi sitting at the back of a box during the famous Italian premiere of
> Lohengrin at Bologna in 1871, following the performance from the score
> and making extensive marginal comments. The score survives at
> Sant'Agata.
>
> So, we know Verdi owned the Tristan score, and it's very reasonable to
> suppose he annotated it as he did Lohengrin (Tristan was, I think, the
> first mature Wagner to be performed in Italy, also at Bologna in 1888,
> but I don't know if Verdi saw it; it's possible, he certainly tried very
> hard to conceal his presence at Lohengrin). It is perhaps possible that
> you were remembering the Lohengrin episode and conflating it -- such
> things happen to all of us -- but even if so, your overall feeling was
> undoubtedly correct!
>
> I'll continue looking when able.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Mike
>
> -- 
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>