The
part-writing is often exceedingly elaborate, but the most complicated
concerted pieces flow on as naturally as a ballad. The glorious final
fugue is an epitome of the work. It is really a marvel of contrapuntal
ingenuity, yet it is so full of bewitching melody and healthy animal
spirits that an uncultivated hearer would probably think it nothing but
an ordinary jovial finale. In the last act Verdi strikes a deeper note.
He has caught the charm and mystery of the sleeping forest with
exquisite art. There is an unearthly beauty about this scene, which is
new to students of Verdi. In the fairy music, too, he reveals yet
another side of his genius. Nothing so delicate nor so rich in
imaginative beauty has been written since the days of Weber.
It is impossible as yet to speak with any degree of certainty as to
Verdi's probable influence upon posterity. With all his genius he was
perhaps hardly the man to found a school. He was not, like his great
contemporary Wagner, one of the world's great revolutionists. His genius
lay not in overturning systems and in exploring paths hitherto
untrodden, but in developing existing materials to the highest
conceivable pitch of beauty and completeness. His music has nothing to
do with theories, it is the voice of nature speaking in the idiom of
art.
Of the composers who modelled their style upon Verdi's earlier manner,
the most important were Petrella (1813-1877); Apolloni (1822-1889), the
composer of 'L'Ebreo,' a melodrama of a rough and ready description,
which was produced in 1855 and went the round of all the theatres of
Italy; and Carlos Gomez (1839-1896), a Brazilian composer, whose opera,
'Il Guarany,' was performed in London in 1872.
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