William Grant Still (1895–1978) dreamed of a world in which his eight operas—for him the ultimate form of musical expression—would be heard in the major opera houses in the United States, devoting most of his career toward the pursuit of this goal. The first part of I Dream a World creates a context for Still’s operas and explores commonalities among them, including structural elements and musical characteristics. The second part traces the research, composition, and perform-ances of the operas as a way of documenting the history of the composer and his contributions to American opera. Although I Dream a World is not intentionally biographical, it is very pers-onal. It is more than the story of William Grant Still’s love of operatic music, of the libretti that reflect his own life and philosophy, and of the world he dreamed through his work. It opens a window on Still the man as well as on Still the composer that offers important insights into the social milieu of this pioneering figure.

Composed between October 1846 and the spring of 1847, I masnadieri features a libretto based on Schiller's play Die Raüber (The Robbers). The opera premiered in July 1847 at Her Majesty's Theatre, London, with Jenny Lind as the prima donna. Verdi himself supervised the rehearsals for the premiere, and the original performing parts, which contain annotations made by the players under Verdi's direction and changes made by the composer during the rehearsals, have been preserved at the archives of the Royal Opera House.

The critical edition is the first publication of I masnadieri in full score. Based on the composer's autograph and on important secondary sources such as the performing parts mentioned above, this edition provides scholars and performers alike with unequaled means for interpretation and study of one of Verdi's less well known works. The detailed critical commentary discusses problems and ambiguities in the sources, while a wide-ranging introduction to the score traces the opera's genesis, sources, and performance history and practices.

Although Verdi began sketching the music for Il corsaro in 1846, a lengthy illness forced him to postpone further work. He finally completed the score in early 1848, but the revolutions of that year delayed its first performance. When it finally premiered on 25 October at the Teatro Grande of Trieste Verdi was in Paris and did not participate as usual in the production, which was poorly received. Though more successful in subsequent stagings, Il corsaro was soon eclipsed by the operas of the noted "trilogy" and fell from the repertory.

The full score of Il corsaro, published here for the first time, as well as recent revivals based on pre-publication proofs of this critical edition, reveal the work to be far more rewarding than even Verdi himself would later admit. Showing the gradual consolidation of Verdi's mature style through his contacts with French opera, Il corsaro well repays the renewed attention it is receiving.

The Works of Giuseppe Verdi is the first critical edition of the composer’s oeuvre. Together with his operas, the series presents his songs, his choral music and sacred pieces, and his string quartet and other instrumental works.

Based on Verdi’s autograph score and an examination of important secondary sources, including contemporary manuscript copies and performing parts, this edition of Il trovatore identifies and resolves numerous ambiguities of harmony, melodic detail, text, and phrasing that have marred previous scores. Scholars and performers alike will find a wealth of information in the critical apparatus to inform their research and interpretations. The introduction to the score outlines the work’s genesis, sources, and performance history, while the critical commentary discusses all editorial decisions.

Il trovatore, the middle opera of Verdi's famous "trilogy" of the 1850s (with Rigoletto and La traviata), is the sixth work to be published in The Works of Giuseppe Verdi. Based on Verdi's autograph score and an examination of important secondary sources including contemporary manuscript copies and performing parts, the edition identifies and resolves numerous ambiguities of harmony, melodic detail, text, and phrasing that have marred previous scores. Scholars and performers alike will find a wealth of information in the critical apparatus to inform their research and interpretations.

The lengthy introduction to the score discusses the work's genesis, sources, and performance history as well as issues of instrumental and vocal performance practice, production and staging, and problems of notation. As an added feature of the introduction is an original study by Carlos Matteo Mossa of the creation of the libretto, based on the original draft and numerous other autograph documents.

Rossini composed his last Italian opera to celebrate the coronation of the French king Charles X in 1825. A virtuoso tour de force, it was conceived for the greatest voices of the time and calls for an exceptional cast of fourteen soloists: three prima donna sopranos, an alto, two tenors, four baritones, and four basses. One of the score's glories is the audacious "Gran Pezzo Concertato" for the fourteen soloists. In the Finale national toasts derived from patriotic songs set the driving music awhirl.

Rossini permitted only four performances of Viaggio, later reusing half the score for Le Comte Ory. The manuscript sources were presumed lost until part of the autograph was recovered in the 1970s at the Rome Conservatory, while other sources were found in Paris (including original performing parts) and Vienna. The identification of a missing chorus completed the restoration of this magnificent work to the repertory.

Along with the reconstructed score, the critical edition provides historical information about the libretto's relationship to French politics of the era and details on the first production.

Today, more than a century after its first performance, Richard Wagner’s The Ring of Nibelung endures as one of the most significant artistic creations in the history of opera. This monumental work not only altered previously accepted concepts of music and drama but also inspired creative and intellectual efforts far beyond the field of opera.

Previous studies of the Ring have appealed only to those already acquainted in some way with the Wagnerian art. For the uninitiated, Wagner and his landmark creation have seemed forbidding, and those eager to learn about the masterpiece have faced a vast and frequently esoteric body of commentary. Professor Cord addresses the interests of the non-specialist by taking the reader first into Wagner’s unique intent, and then through the complete history of the Ring.

Cord, who has attended forty performances of the Ring, considers the conception of the poem, its development into a music-drama exemplifying Wagnerian thought, its introduction to the world, and the reactions and interpretation it elicits.

Dorothea Link examines singers’ voices and casting practices in late eighteenth-century Italian opera as exemplified in Vienna’s court opera from 1783 to 1791. The investigation into the singers’ voices proceeds on two levels: understanding the performers in terms of the vocal-dramatic categories employed in opera at the time; and creating vocal profiles for the principal singers from the music composed expressly for them. In addition, Link contextualizes the singers within the company in order to expose the court opera's casting practices.

Authoritative and insightful, The Italian Opera Singers in Mozart's Vienna offers a singular look at a musical milieu and a key to addressing the performance-practice problem of how to cast the Mozart roles today.