From paper to performance: Problems and solutions in operatic piano-vocal scores

Abstract

As a vocal coach and accompanist in operatic productions, I utilize piano-vocal scores regularly. The organization of piano-vocal scores within the Nineteenth-Century Italian operatic repertoire varies by publisher and editor in conveying the piano reduction as well as editorial markings. This dissertation reviews Figaro’s aria “Largo al factotum” from Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Nemorino’s aria “Una furtiva lagrima” from Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore from a pianist’s point of view. Upon evaluating the orchestral likeness of an edition, pianists may seek an alternate rendering that better transmits the orchestral score into a reduction idiomatic to the piano. Relying on their knowledge, taste, ingenuity, and the 21st-century technology at their fingertips, editors and pianists alike may resolve complications ranging from page turns to instrumentation.