Research Focus:
Verdi's Operas in the French Melodic Style
LSU School of Music assistant professor of musicology Andreas Giger received a prestigious National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for the Fall 2005 semester. This award was based on Giger’s ongoing studies in the area of 19th-century opera, with particular emphasis on operas composed by legendary Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901). The specific focus of Giger’s NEH research are the three operas Verdi composed on French librettos: Jérusalem, Les Vépres Siciliennes, and Don Carlos.
When a 19th-century Italian composer such as Verdi set out to write a work on a French libretto and for a French audience, he faced the twin challenge of understanding French poetic rhythms and adapting to French taste as it had been shaped by composers before him. The effect of such a challenge on a composer’s melodic style has remained elusive for three reasons: (1) while some aspects of French opera—innovations of staging, form, ballet, and dramaturgy—have been successfully described, we do not yet have an adequate understanding of the melodic style 19th-century critics considered to be distinctly French; (2) scholars have focused on an arbitrarily selected theory of French versification and thus ignored the highly diverse, and often contradictory, theories circulating during the 19th century; and (3) French prosody has been studied only in regard to melodic rhythm rather than in the broader context of French musical aesthetics. In determining the relationship between French poetic rhythm, musical style, and drama, the operas of Verdi provide the perfect object of investigation.
Giger’s winning proposal will result in a book-length study of these topics as they relate to the melodic style of Verdi’s operas from Jérusalem to Don Carlos. Distinguished Princeton University musicologist Harold Powers, who has seen fragments of this book in progress, believes Giger’s opus will be “a major study.”
School of Music
There are approximately 3,000 college/university music programs nationwide. Nearly 20 percent, or 600, of these programs are members of the National Association of Schools of Music – the sole accrediting association for schools of music in the United States. Of that 600, only 40 public institutions have programs of LSU’s scope and size.
One of the oldest and most distinguished programs in the LSU School of Music is its opera program, which celebrates its 75th anniversary in October of 2005. The program is one of the longest, continuous running university opera companies in the nation. Several of its graduates, some going back to the 1930s, have had distinguished careers at the Metropolitan Opera and other venues around the world.
More recently, five LSU voice students won the district auditions held by the Metropolitan Opera in 2005. Two students went on to win the Regional Auditions and compete at the Met for the top prizes. Having two students in the Met finals from one university is unheard of. Add to that LSU’s own Lisette Oropesa, a senior, who won the competition and received a contract to the Young Artist program and a head start on a career with the Met. The hope is to endow this LSU treasure soon, enabling it to continue to flourish for many years.
Another long-standing part of the School of Music is its Festival of Contemporary Music, which celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2005. It is the longest running festival of its type at any major university in the nation.
In addition, the LSU A Cappella Choir, originally founded in 1947, was one of only three college/university choirs in 2005 to be featured in the finale concerts at the Walt Disney Center for the Performing Arts in Los Angeles. The event, sponsored by the American Choral Directors Association, is widely regarded as the “Rose Bowl for choirs.”
Speaking of the Rose Bowl, LSU’s Tiger Band received the “Heisman Trophy for Bands” in the 2002 Sudler Trophy. The Sudler award is given to the nation’s top marching band by the John Philip Sousa Society. The LSU marching band program dates back to 1893, while the University was still in its infancy. A proposed band hall will provide a 21st century facility for a nationally prominent program well into its second century of existence.
Other facility upgrades are taking place, such as a $21 million renovation of the 70-year-old, Art Deco style Music and Dramatic Arts Building. The renovation, which should be completed by 2008, will update physical and technical aspects of the facility, preparing it for the next generation of faculty and students.
The School of Music is also raising funds for a state-of-the-art organ/music pavilion. The centerpiece of the pavilion will be a custom-built, 61-rank organ. In addition, plans call for a recital hall able to accommodate the needs of students and faculty, who present nearly 350 performances each year.
The most important part of these proposed facilities however, is of course the students, and the School of Music boasts some of the finest in the country. Placement of music education graduates has been 100 percent for several years – in teaching positions and graduate schools. Also, since receiving the Foundation of Excellence enhancements, the LSU Graduate School has found the School of Music to be among the best of the “pillar” programs, having placed some 66 doctoral recipients since 2001. Seventy percent of those have gone on to college teaching positions, while others have taken positions with professional symphonies and opera companies.
