Komponist und Dirigent: Verdi und Mariani

It is very likely that Verdi rehearsed the vocal parts of his first opera Oberto (1839) as maestro concertatore. However, he had no influence on the first performance, since the performances were led by the first violinist or direttore d’orchestra. In the 1840s began, especially with Pietro Romani and Angelo Mariani, the emergence of the modern conductor, who combined the maestro concertatore and direttore d’orchestrain one single person. In Verdi’s opinion such a conductor was the best way to realize his scores. But to Verdi’s dismay it quickly turned out that the conductors of this new type, as Mariani and Toscanini, understood their conducting not only as realizing the will of the composer, but as a creative act in its own right which need not necessarily reflect the intentions of the composer