Volume Two covers those works written during the decadence of the post-Rossini period. During this time, Verdi, having exhausted the vein of simple lyricism to be found in
Il Trovatore and
La Traviata, achieved self-renewal in direct confrontation with the masters of the Paris Opera with his
Les VĂªpres Siciliennes. A new scale and variety of musical thought can be sensed in the Italian operas that follow, culminating in
La Forza del Destino.