The People vs Verdi
Kate Molleson explores Verdi's battles with authority and societal expectations.
Success only makes Verdi more defiant. Kate Molleson explores a period in which the composer repeatedly challenged convention, taking on censors, scandalising polite society and testing the limits of what opera could portray. As his relationship with Giuseppina Strepponi attracts gossip and disapproval, Verdi fights battles both on and off the stage. From Rigoletto to La Traviata, he turns controversial subjects into some of the most enduring works in the operatic repertoire.
Rigoletto: La donna è mobile
Jonas Kaufmann, tenor
Orchestra dell'Opera di Parma
Pier Giorgio Morandi, conductor
Rigoletto, Act I scenes
Sherrill Milnes, baritone
Joan Sutherland, soprano
Gillian Knight, mezzo-soprano
London Symphony Orchestra
Richard Bonynge, conductor
Luisa Miller, Act I: Ti desta, Luisa
Marina Rebeka, soprano
Munich Radio Symphony Orchestra
Ivan Repušić, conductor
Stiffelio: Overture
ORF Symphony Orchestra and Chorus
Lamberto Gardelli, conductor
La Traviata, Act I scenes
Maria Callas, soprano
Francesco Albanese, tenor
RAI Chorus and Orchestra Turin
Gabriele Santini, conductor
Produced by Ellie Ajao for BBC Audio Wales
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Music Played
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Giuseppe Verdi
La donna è mobile (from Rigoletto, Act 3)
Singer: Jonas Kaufmann. Orchestra: Orchestra dell'Opera di Parma. Conductor: Pier Giorgio Morandi.- Sony 88765492002.
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Giuseppe Verdi
Rigoletto, Act 1 (excerpt)
Singer: Sherrill Milnes. Singer: Joan Sutherland. Singer: Gillian Knight. Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Choir: Ambrosian Singers. Conductor: Richard Bonynge.- DECCA : 4786586.
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Giuseppe Verdi
'Ti desta, Luisa, regina de'cori' (from Luisa Miller, Act 1)
Singer: Marina Rebeka. Singer: Corinna Scheurle. Singer: George Petean. Choir: Bavarian Radio Symphony Choir. Orchestra: Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Ivan Repušić.- BR KLASSIK : 900323.
- BR KLASSIK.
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Giuseppe Verdi
Stiffelio Overture
Orchestra: Austrian R S O. Conductor: Lamberto Gardelli.- PHILIPS : 422-432-2.
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Giuseppe Verdi
La Traviata, Act 1 (excerpt)
Singer: Maria Callas. Singer: Francesco Albanese. Orchestra: Orchestra Sinfonica di Torino della RAI. Choir: Coro di Torino della RAI. Conductor: Gabriele Santini.- WARNER CLASSICS : 2564634085.
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