Description
In 1941, only eight months into the war, Italy was clearly becoming Germany’s lackey. In response, as historian Benjamin Martin (2016) highlights, Fascism sought to assert Italian cultural superiority over its militarily mightier ally. Benito Mussolini pursued this goal by ordering an ambitious propaganda campaign for the 40th anniversary of Giuseppe Verdi’s death, occurring that same year. A centerpiece of this effort was the Ministry of Culture’s release of the first-ever edition of Verdi’s Rigoletto’s draft. Designed as a strong and cultivated statement of Italian greatness in music, it was addressed to an “institutional” audience of fascist elites, musicians, and critics.
While scholars have treated this edition primarily as a vessel for Verdi’s text, focusing on its invaluable and otherwise then-inaccessible content, they have overlooked its paratextual, material, and medial features. Understanding these aspects is essential for grasping the edition’s role in advancing the fascist cultural agenda of 1941.
In my paper, I contextualize this edition within the 1941 Verdi celebrations and analyze it through methodologies derived from literary studies (Peter Stallybrass, Dennis Duncan, Adam Smyth, among others). I argue that this edition transcends being merely a “neutral” container of music. On the contrary, it is a complex medium that not only houses Verdi’s text but also actively shapes its reception and meaning. Through an examination of its textual, visual, paratextual, and material dimensions, I reveal how these components cooperate to (re)construct Verdi as the quintessential “Italian musical genius”, elevating him above the iconic “German musical geniuses”, Beethoven and Wagner. In conclusion, I ponder the broader implications of this interpretation, considering how the material characteristics of an edition serve as a tool for crafting powerful, often unwritten narratives about music and its composers.
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