Жоанна д’Арк: Верди операсының тарихы мен талдауы

Giovanna d'Arco (Joan of Arc) is an operatic dramma lirico with a prologue and three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera, who had prepared the libretti for Nabucco and I Lombardi. It is Verdi's seventh opera. The work partly reflects the story of Joan of Arc and appears to be loosely based on the 1801 play Die Jungfrau von Orleans by Friedrich von Schiller. Verdi wrote the music during the autumn and winter of 1844/45 and the opera had its first performance at Teatro alla Scala in Milan on 15 February 1845. This opera is not to be confused with Rossini's cantata of the same name, which was composed in 1832 for contralto and piano, and runs approximately 15 minutes.

By the middle of the 19th century, the story of Joan of Arc had served as the basis for many operas, including those of Nicola Vaccai (1827) and Giovanni Pacini (1830), both of which were strongly reminiscent of Schiller's play. Solera was asked by Verdi's publisher, Giovanni Ricordi, for assurances that his libretto violated no copyright, noting that he had heard of a French treatment of the subject. Solera denied that Schiller's play was the source of his work and wrote that the work was "an entirely original Italian drama [ ] I have not allowed myself to be imposed upon by the authority either of Schiller or Shakespeare [ ] My play is original" (emphasis in original). Musicologist Julian Budden believes that "invention was not Solera's strong suit" and describes Solera's work as "merely Schiller diluted". He criticized the flow of the libretto compared to the play, writing that "characters are reduced to a minimum" and "for poetry and humanity we are given theatrical sensationalism".

Giovanna d'Arco is scored for piccolo (briefly doubling second flute), flute, two oboes (second doubling cor anglais), two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, six or nine offstage trumpets, three trombones, cimbasso, timpani, snare drum, bass drum and cymbals (cassa), cymbals (piatti), triangle, bell, cannon, wind band, wind band of brass instruments only, offstage band, bass drum for band, harp, harmonium, strings.

Few scholars regard the quality of the music very highly. David Kimball writes: "For modern ears no opera illustrates more disconcertingly than Giovanna d'Arco the chasm between Verdi's best and worst music." He praises some of the solo and ensemble music, but finds that the choruses "embody 19th century taste at its most abysmal". Baldini's assessment is mixed. He endorses Massimo Mila's view that the opera demonstrates "that way of making a hedonistic and vacuously melodious opera which was the norm in contemporary Italian theatres." Baldini found merit in Giovanna's cavatina in the Prologue where she prays to be chosen to lead the forces: Sempre all'alba ed alla sera ("always at dawn and in the evening"). Budden also calls it a work of "brilliant patches", says that "the best things in it surpass anything that Verdi had written up to that time", and finds the soprano part to be of "rare distinction" and the solo numbers and many of the ensembles to be of "high caliber".