Music 142 Term Paper Outline Write a paper contrasting the changed relationship between Otello and Desdemona in Acts I and III using the following duets: Act I and Act III. Discuss the musical techniques Verdi used to match the dramatic needs of the libretto in these two scenes. How does the composer express the emotional range of the characters through the richness of musical language (e.g. use of the orchestra, melodic styles, varied textures)? On the 5th of February of 1887, the Italian hero Giuseppe Verdi graced his people with one of his final operas, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Othello, aptly named Otello. Otello debuted at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Italy, arguably the greatest opera house in all of Southern Europe, and everyone …show more content…
As the duet opens, descending strings accompany Desdemona on to the stage to converse with Otello (Hepokoski). Expecting no difference in their relationship, Desdemona sings in her normal lyrical manner and she is matched with soft, stringed music as she addresses Otello, much as she was in the “love duet.” At first, Otello sarcastically complements her until she brings up the topic of Cassio once more. In the space of a few seconds the tone goes from indulgent, poetic notes mimicking surface love, to eerie, jagged notes as the orchestra “lurches at once into a minor-mode allegro agitato” (Hepokoski). Immediately after bringing up Cassio the strings pick up in speed, mimicking Otello’s rising heart rate as he becomes increasingly agitated. The music is no longer continuous as it was in the first duet. The idea of a similar and dissimilar duet is evident at this point, this clearly being a dissimilar duet, where the characters are in conflict. There are considerably more pauses and empty spaces, destroying the continuous flow. Desdemona increasingly tries to soothe him, but he overpowers her, physically and musically, portrayed by Otello’s progressively deeper notes overwhelming the music accompanying Desdemona, until only a low cello line is heard, like a snake representing jealously creeping up on him. After Otello seizes Desdemona by the chin after she fails to reproduce the handkerchief, once more the audience is reminded of Symphonie Fantastique. However, no longer is it a parallel of the lighthearted waltz of Act II, it now mimics the march to the scaffold where the musician is killed, with the use of deep horns and ominous percussion sounds. Then, in a moment of sheer irony, Otello pretends to forgive her and apologize for his reaction which is accompanied by the opening music of the duet, but,