Remarkable for its bold characterization, color, atmosphere, and dramatic plot, Verdi's 1851 opera was an immediate success upon its Venice debut, and it remains a staple of the repertoire to this day. The tale of a despised hunchback and his beloved daughter marked the first appearance of the tragic jester in Italian opera and provided Verdi with a subject well suited to his talents. Amateur and professional performers alike will appreciate this handsome, moderately priced practice and performance edition of the opera's vocal score. Ideal for study, rehearsals, and recitals, it contains the complete music for voices with a piano reduction of the vocal score. Lyrics appear in the original Italian only.

Rigoletto in Full Score (Dover Opera Scores)

Arts & Photography

VERDI, Giuseppe

Opera and Choral Scores

Music

Dover Publications

"The more it is studied the more confidently can we assert its flawlessness as one of the masterpieces of music-drama." — Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians When English composer Henry Purcell (1659–1695) wrote Dido and Aeneas, opera was not yet publicly performed in London. Indeed, although Purcell was already recognized as one of London's most distinguished musicians and composers, the debut performance of Dido and Aeneas was not in the kind of grand theater we now associate with opera. It took place at "Josias Priest's Boarding-School at Chelsey…Perform'd by Young Gentlewomen," possibly as early as 1680. In time, sparkling miniature opera, filled with intense drama and elegant song, would dazzle theater audiences around the world. It remains the oldest English operatic work still regularly performed. Dido and Aeneas lasts little more than an hour, yet encompasses a broad range of expressive music, from a high-spirited sailors' dance to one of the most touching of all operatic arias, Dido's lament, "When I am laid in earth." This brilliant work, by the greatest English composer of his time, is presented here in an authoritative early full-score edition.

Dido and Aeneas in Full Score (Dover Vocal Scores)

Purcell, Henry

One of 6 great masses created by the composer between 1796 and 1802 to celebrate the name-day of the wife of his patron, Prince Nikolaus Esterházy and titled in honor of the Austrian empress. According to Grove's, the masses are celebrated for "rich and inexhaustible invention . . . and consummate classical simplicity." Reproduced from an authoritative score, this edition will find a wide and enthusiastic audience.

Theresa Mass in Full Score (Dover Music Scores)

Haydn, Joseph

This exemplary new edition of the vocal score of an enchanting operetta — which has delighted audiences for over a century with its catchy melodies, its witty lyrics, and its madcap tale of tender-hearted pirates, timid policemen, and the demands of duty — was prepared by musicologists Carl Simpson and Ephraim Hammett Jones, who returned to original manuscripts and early sources to produce handsome, newly engraved plates closest to Gilbert and Sullivan's original intentions. All of the voice parts appear here, in addition to a piano reduction of the full score and the complete libretto. Introduction by the editors. Contents. Instrumentation.

The Pirates of Penzance Vocal Score (Dover Opera Scores)

Literature & Fiction

Sullivan, Sir Arthur

Gilbert, W.S.

Dramas & Plays

Based on a play written for the legendary Sarah Bernhardt, this tragic tale of sexual jealousy and hot-blooded revenge received mixed press reviews when it premiered in 1900 because of its risqué and violent subject matter. Audiences, however, adored it and its cast of spies, secret police, political dissidents, and artists. Rapidly introduced to the repertory of all the major opera houses, it remains today among the undisputed top ten favorites. Sure to enchant musicians and opera lovers alike, this fine new edition contains the complete singing texts in Italian and English.

Tosca Vocal Score (Dover Vocal Scores)

Puccini, Giacomo