ABSTRACT
I would take exception neither to Budden's gentle strictures on the close analysis of Verdi as it is usually practiced, nor to his conclusion regarding the utility of the "tinta" concept as a point d'appui.4 Yet what is it, after all, if not tinta that Verdian analysts in search of "constants" are trying to pin down, when they try to account for "unity" in a single work, or even when they try to account for "style" or describe "technique" in terms of features that may cut across several works ? The difficulty with the styles of Verdian analysis described by Budden - the picturesque-topical ä la Vamai and Noske, the global-tonal ä la Vlad and Cone - is not just that they are preoccupied with topoi or tonality but also that neither takes much account of the musico-dramatic presuppositions of Verdi himself, of those expectations and assumptions about how musical theatre worked or should work, that inform Verdi's correspondence, the comments and writings of Verdi's Italian contemporaries, and above all the works themselves.
