Thank you for this. It was a wonderful visit with Il trovatore and Senso, two works I adore. Yes, it is nonsensical to ask politics to be kept out of Verdi, it misunderstands him entirely.
I was thinking a lot about your own wonderful writing on Verdi and Trovatore in Queen of the Night while working on the LRB piece (as well as how Verdi's risotto might have tasted). I think you captured how much he cared about the world around him, including but also beyond art.
Thank you for this. It was a wonderful visit with Il trovatore and Senso, two works I adore. Yes, it is nonsensical to ask politics to be kept out of Verdi, it misunderstands him entirely.
I was thinking a lot about your own wonderful writing on Verdi and Trovatore in Queen of the Night while working on the LRB piece (as well as how Verdi's risotto might have tasted). I think you captured how much he cared about the world around him, including but also beyond art.
Thank you, that is a wonderful compliment.