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This project explores the structural significance of the libretto for the stylistic and dramatic development of nineteenth-century French and Italian opera. Focusing on Verdi's French works, it will show that nineteenth-century rhythmic interpretations of French verse and stanza provide a key to the way in which composers brought their works in line with an increasingly prominent French melodic aesthetic. The selection of a specific rhythmic interpretation depended in part on a passage's dramatic function, suggesting a "rhetoric of prosody." These aspect of opera have so far been ignored, but they played a crucial role in the transition from Romantic opera to Verismo opera and reflect similar tendencies in other genres, especially the play.