Giovanna d'Arco, I Masnadieri, Luisa Miller
Donald Macleod explores Verdi's operas based on plays by Friedrich Schiller - Giovanna d'Arco, I Masnadieri and Luisa Miller.
Friedrich Schiller is perhaps most widely known today as the poet of the 'Ode to Joy', famously set to music in the finale of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Verdi encountered his work through the glittering Milanese salon of Countess Clarina Maffei, whose husband Count Andrea had embarked on the task of translating Schiller's plays into Italian. Schiller became a favourite of Verdi's - second only to Shakespeare in his estimation - and the composer was to base four operas on his plays. Here, Donald Macleod considers three of them, written in fairly swift succession in the late 1840s - Giovanna d'Arco, I Masnadieri, and lastly Luisa Miller, which marks the transition to Verdi's mature style.
Producer: Chris Barstow.
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Music Played
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Giuseppe Verdi
Giovanna d'Arco, Act 3 scenes 3–6 (conclusion)
Performer: Placido Domingo (Carlo VII – tenor), Sherrill Milnes (Giacomo – baritone), Montserrat Caballé (Giovanna – soprano), Keith Erwen (Delil – tenor), Ambrosian Opera Chorus, London Symphony Orchestra, James Levine (Conductor)
- EMI 7 63226 2.
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Giuseppe Verdi
I Masnadieri, Act 2 scenes 1–3 – 'Dall'infame bancheto io m'involai … '
Performer: Montserrat Caballé (Amalia), John Sandor (Arminio), Piero Cappuccilli (Francesco), Ambrosian Singers, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Lambeto Gardelli (Conductor)
- Philips 422 423-2.
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Giuseppe Verdi
Luisa Miller, Act 2 scene 2 – 'Egli delira; sul mattin degli anni … '
Performer: Gwynne Howell (Count Walter), Vladimiro Ganzarolli (Wurm), Elena Obraztsova (Federica), Renato Bruson (Luisa), Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden Lorin Maazel (Conductor)
- DG 423 144-2.
Broadcast
- Wed 21 Jul 201012:00BBC Radio 3
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