ABSTRACT
This chapter is devoted to a consideration of the librettos of Rossini's Mosè; (1827) by an unknown librettist, Felice Romani's Norma, written for Vincenzo Bellini, and three texts set by Giuseppe Verdi: Temistocle Solera's Nabucco (1842) and I lombardi alla prima crociata (1843), and Francesco Maria Piave's Emani (1848). It considers the influences of eighteenth-century cloister poetry, the tragedies of Vittorio Alfieri and the lyrical light imagery of Giacomo Leopardi on the poetic and dramatic expression of Romani, Solera and Piave. Romani's message remained clear, while the introduction of the march, marking the arrival and departure of Norma and her priestess handmaidens, reinforced the message on a musical level. Temistocle Solera’s libretto of Nabucco is based on Old Testament references to the Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar and his subjugation of Jerusalem. Although the character of Nabucco is historical, the other characters in the drama were invented by Solera.
