Verdi at the Golden Gate

Opera and San Francisco in the Gold Rush Years

George Martin

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN:
  9780520081239
• eBook ISBN:
  9780520913424
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Opera Music

Opera is a fragile, complex art, but it flourished extravagantly in San Francisco during the Gold Rush years, a time when daily life in the city was filled with gambling, duels, murder, and suicide. In the history of the United States there has never been a rougher town than Gold Rush San Francisco, yet there has never been a greater frenzy for opera than developed there in these exciting years. How did this madness for opera take root and grow? Why did the audience's generally drunken, brawling behavior gradually improve? How and why did Verdi emerge as the city's favorite composer? These are the intriguing themes of George Martin's enlightening and wonderfully entertaining story. Among the incidents recounted are the fist fight that stopped an opera performance and ended in a fatal duel; and the brothel madam who, by sitting in the wrong row of a theater, caused a fracas that resulted in the formation of the Vigilantes of 1856. Martin weaves together meticulously gathered social, political, and musical facts to create this lively cultural history. His study contributes to a new understanding of urban culture in the Jacksonian–Manifest Destiny eras, and of the role of opera in cities during this time, especially in the American West. Over it all soars Verdi's somber, romantic music, capturing the melancholy, the feverish joy, and the idealism of his listeners.
Opera is a fragile, complex art, but it flourished extravagantly in San Francisco during the Gold Rush years, a time when daily life in the city was filled with gambling, duels, murder, and suicide. In the history of the United States there has never been

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Illustrations
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Prologue
• PART I
• ONE Toward a Theatre
• TWO The First Opera
• THREE The Celebrity Sopranos
• FOUR More of Emani; and the First Resident Company
• FIVE Anna Bishop and Judith (Nabucco)
• SIX Emani, Nabucco, I Lombardi, and I due Foscari
• SEVEN Economic Decline, Il trovatore in Excerpts, and the Vigilantes of 1856
• PART II
• EIGHT Maguire, His Opera House, and the Bianchis
• NINE Il trovatore Premiered; Emani Revived
• TEN The Bianchis Produce La traviata and Attila
• ELEVEN Theatrical Scenery and Styles; Traviata and the New Realism
• TWELVE A Duel, and a Period of Operatic Doldrums
• THIRTEEN Success of the Maguire-Lyster Company, and Failure of Rigoletto
• FOURTEEN The Annus mirabilis: San Francisco Mad for Opera
• Epilogue
• APPENDIX A Opera Premieres in San Francisco, 1851 Through 1860, with Theatre, Cast, and Number of Performances
• APPENDIX B Chief Theatres for Opera in San Francisco, 1851—60
• APPENDIX C Transpositions and Tuning A in San Francisco
• APPENDIX D Verdi’s Operas: World, Western Hemisphere, United States, and San Francisco Premieres, with Casts for San Francisco
• APPENDIX E Reviews of San Francisco Premieres and Early Performances of acbeth, I masnadieri, and Luisa Miller
• APPENDIX F Performances of Verdi’s Operas in San Francisco by Decade, 1851 Through 1899
• Notes
• Works Cited
• Index