33 Études after Verdi

Includes selections from eight operas: Nabucco, Rigoletto, Il trovatore, La traviata, La forza del destino, Don Carlos, Aida, and Othello. 

From the arranger:

"The contingencies of the instrument: tessitura, slurs and key have made it necessary to adapt the original score. In addition, our emphasis on synthesis has sometimes led us to abbreviate certain introductions, developments or conclusions which would only be meaningful in performance by a full orchestra or chorus. In some cases we have also allowed ourselves to be guided by our inspiration.

In any case, we have attempted to communicate the "spirit" of each extract in order to arouse the student's desire to get to know the opera in its entirety. This invitation to lyrical culture also enables the basic qualities of instrumental playing to be emphasized:
- warm, broad sonority whatever the nuance, with particular attention to the study of the lower register;
- constant recourse to sostenuto (positioning of the column of air, suppleness of embouchure, the ever present beat...the heartbeat of all those legendary heroes);
- the search for phrasing whose cornerstone is technique at the service of expression, significant choice of caesura, effective use of rests and an irrefutable reference to the lyrical art.

At the same time, we have tried to offer the widest possible range of keys, as well as a reasonably equitable share of andante and allegro, with a view to training the student to play with ease and expression, whatever the movement or key signature." 

Quick facts
Length: exercise length = 1–2 pages (most of the 2-page exercises are a pair of single pages from different scenes, where each page could be studied individually)
Range: highest pitch = written F♯6
Key signature: no ♯/♭, 1♯, 2♯, 3♯, 4♯, 1♭, 2♭, 3♭, 4♭, 5♭
Time signature: 2/4, 3/4, 3/8, 4/4, 6/8
Rhythm: Frequent sixteenth-notes and triplets, some thirty-second-notes, double-dotted notes