![]() So far, Chorley’s criticism does not appear to pay particular attention to the reaction of the general public: despite his reference to the number of encores allotted to a single aria or duet, and to that feeling of curiosity that he said had accompanied the production of Ernani in London, it would be difficult to deduce from his words the extent to which the judgment of the knowledgeable few diverged from that of the fashionable many. Chorley’s review concluded with a survey of the performers, addressing both the dramatic and vocal skills of each individual and explicitly suggesting that the older school of singing and interpreting had been replaced by that “stout and naked method of the new Italians, which is meant to do duty as grand expression.” 15ġ2 Chorley’s verdict is consistent with the fears and doubts anticipated in his first scrutiny of the opera: Verdi, who belonged to the new Italian school, seemed to favour crude and bloody dramatic plots his preference for declamation, to which melody was sacrificed, was consistent with that inclination, since the device was particularly effectual insofar as the strongest emotions were involved his treatment of the voice, now forced to extremes for the sake of dramatic effect, was simply ruinous the noisiness of the orchestra was such as to force singers to shout and scream all the time the French model seemed now to prevail upon the Italian classical tradition represented by Cimarosa. Furthermore, the noisiness of the orchestra left singers in a state of exhaustion and frustrated all their efforts to make their voices audible. 6ġ1 Again, Chorley longed for those palmy days in which Cimarosa was able to string pearls of flourishing music by accommodating a captivating melody to the natural compass of the voice, in opposition to the ruinous treatment Verdi now reserved for it. However, Chorley’s antagonism was tentative, as he had not been afforded the opportunity to attend any of Verdi’s operas at that time. Chorley lamented that Verdi’s music lacked that fresh and sweet melody which he considered the true foundation of vocal music. Verdi’s melodies were worn, hackneyed and meaningless, his harmonies and progressions crude, while only his orchestration appeared to have value.
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