IV. PRAYERS OF FEMALE PROTAGONISTS IN GIUSEPPE VERDI’S OPERAS. GIOVANNA’S EVENING PRAYER FROM VERDI’S GIOVANNA D’ARCO (PROLOGUE, SCENE 2)

Abstract

With this analysis, the author continues the journey of presenting the prayers of female protagonists from Giuseppe Verdi’s operas, a lesser-known topic within the vast bibliography dedicated to the oeuvre of the great Italian Maestro. The heroine’s Prayer from the opera Giovanna d’Arco, which bears a strong bel canto influence is the fourth in the author’s series of analyses of preghiere written for the solo female voice found in ten of the composer’s works[1]. Further analyses published in this series will shed light upon well-known examples of preghiere – like the famous prayers of Leonora from La Forza del Destino, which is preceded by two other examples from Luisa Miller and Stiffelio –, but also ones illustrating the language transformation of the female prayer in mature operatic works, such as Aida and Otello.

[1] The aforementioned analyses focus only on prayers uttered to divinities (both in Christian and pagan contexts), saints or the Virgin Mary, but exclude prayers addressed to the dead (e.g. Lina’s second act prayer from Stiffelio – Ah, dagli scanni eterei).