Release Date: 12 January 1999
Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 4891030506060
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: SOPRANO ARIAS FROM ITALIAN OPERAS
Description
Famous Soprano Arias From Italian Operas Giuseppe Verdi was a dominant figure in Italian opera from his first great success in 1842 with Nabucco until his final opera Falstaff in 1893. At the height of his career he was closely associated with Italian nationalism, with even his name serving as a popular acronym for Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy, under whom national unity was secured. Verdi's opera Don Carlos, written originally to a French text, derived from Schiller, was composed for Paris, where it was first staged in 1867. The abridged Italian version was first mounted at La Scala, Milan, in 1884, although subsequent productions have often attempted a compromise between the two versions. The drama concerns the love of the heir to the Spanish throne, Don Carlos, and the French princess Elisabeth de Valois, destined, for political reasons, to marry his father, King Philip II. Don Carlos intervenes with his father in defence of the cause of Flemish freedom, threatening violence, and is imprisoned, to be saved finally from death by the intervention of the old Emperor Charles V emerging from his monastic tomb, or a monk taking his place. In the fifth act Elisabeth, in the monastic cloister of San Yuste, prepares, in her aria Tu che la vanità (You who know the hearts and weaknesses of mortals) to renounce her young lover Don Carlos, recalling their earlier love, now ready to part from him for ever. Verdi turned to Shakespeare in old age for his final opera, Falstaff, based on The Merry Wives of Windsor. Earlier Shakespearian subjects included Macbeth and, in 1887, Othello, with a text adapted by Arrigo Boito. Jealous of his young Venetian wife Desdemona, through the machinations of the wicked lago, the Moor Othello, principal general in the service of Venice, finally kills Desdemona. In the final act she prepares for bed, recalling the gentle Willow Song of her childhood and offering a prayer to the Blessed Virgin, as her death draws near. La forza del destino (The Force of Destiny) based by the librettist Cesare Piave on a Spanish original, was first staged in St. Petersburg in 1862. Don Alvaro has prepared to elope with his beloved Leonora, but is discovered by her father, whom he accidentally kills, leading her brother, Don Carlo, to seek revenge. Alvaro and Carlo later meet, without recognising each other, but when he realises Alvaro's identity, Carlo challenges him, but a duel is prevented. Alvaro later takes refuge in a monastery, but is subsequently provoked into killing his enemy, an event that brings about a final meeting with Leonora, who has lived as an hermit in a nearby cave. In her aria Pace, pace, mio Dio (Peace, grant me peace, O God) Leonora, before the final catastrophe, prays outside her cell for a peace that she has never known, complaining that the bread left for her, out of charity, only prolongs her misery. The most popular opera of Alfredo Catalani is La Wally, a work that persuaded the great conductor Toscanini to ch
Tracklisting
Dariia Lytvishko
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Marin Alsop
Alice Di Piazza; Basel Sinfonietta; NDR Bigband; Titus Engel
Anna Alas i Jove; Miquel Villalba
David Childs; Black Dyke Band; Nicholas Childs
Yaqi Yang; Margarita Parsamyan; Robynne Redmon; Minghao Liu; Frank Ragsdale; Kim Josephson; Kevin S
Vilmos Csikos; Olivier Lechardeur; Manon Lamaison
Tomas Cotik; Martingale Ensemble; Ken Selden
