and gradually lays down the trappings of his office. When Lucrezia enters and addresses him with the familiar title "Prince", he declares "Prince! That I was; now I am no longer." Just then, the bell of San Marco is heard announcing that a successor has been chosen. As it tolls a second time, Francesco recognizes that the end has come: Quel bronzo feral / "What fatal knell". As the bell tolls again, he dies; Loredano notes that "I am paid." Music "No other of Verdi's early operas, apart from Macbeth, so effectively cuts the Gordian Knot of tradition," so Budden tells us. What does he mean? He goes on to explain that "not one of the cabalettas begins with the usual instrumental anticipation...[....].. the numbers are welded together with greater coherence even than Ernani...[....and...].. the scoring is more sensitive than in any of the operas previously written and a good many written after..." In all, Foscari is more of a step forward than might be initially imagined. David Kimbell writing in The New Penguin Opera Guide, clarifies some of these elements in the following ways: Each of the principals – the Doge, Jacopo and Lucrezia – is given a distinctive orchestral theme, which accompanies them at each of their most important appearances on stage. A fourth recurring theme, this time vocal in origin ("Silenzio, mistero") is associated with the Council of Ten. He concludes with the idea that "this opera remains one of the composer's most intimate and introspective scores", but it is left to Roger Parker to sum it all up: Perhaps the most striking is the use of recurring themes to identify the principals. These proto 'leitmotifs' are here applied too rigidly..[...].. but the experiment itself is significant, suggesting that Verdi was anxious to explore new means of musical and dramatic articulation...Verdi's awareness of the potential of this added dimension in musical drama was decisive; from this time onwards he would rarely employ local colour in quite the mechanical way he had in his earliest operas. Recordings References Notes Sources Baldini, Gabriele (1970), (trans. Roger Parker, 1980), The Story of Giuseppe Verdi: Oberto to Un Ballo in Maschera. Cambridge, et al: Cambridge University Press. Budden, Julian (1984), The Operas of Verdi, Volume 1: From Oberto to Rigoletto. London: Cassell. . Chusid, Martin, (Ed.) (1997), Verdi’s Middle Period, 1849 to 1859, Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. De