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Verdi: Il Trovatore
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 1 hr and 19 mins
- Original Recording Audiobook
- Categories: Arts & Entertainment, Music
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Overall
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Overall
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Ancient Egypt and the war with Ethiopia is the setting for Verdi’s grandest opera. It is the story of the love between Rhadames, the Egyptian general, and Aida, an Ethiopian slave, and the jealousy of Amneris, daughter of the King of Egypt. It was written in 1871 to a commission from the Khedive of Egypt to inaugurate the new opera house in Cairo. Aida generally is considered one of the most spectacular of Verdi’s operas.
-
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- By: Thomson Smillie
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 1 hr and 5 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
La Traviata owes its enduring popularity to a superb story of young love and fatal sacrifice, set to music by Italy’s master melodist at the peak of his powers. Interest and poignancy are added by the fact that this is a true story - the baritone ‘heavy’ is Alexander Dumas who wrote The Count of Monte Cristo. But it is the central figure, the heroine Violetta, the archetypal ‘whore with the heart of gold’ who dominates the piece. It is her opera and we love her for it.
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- Narrated by: David Timson
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Verdi’s Falstaff repays careful study with real pleasure. It is opera’s happiest irony that the great Italian master should cap a career - distinguished for its blood-and-thunder tragic masterpieces - with the greatest comic opera in the Italian repertory. The genius of Shakespeare is harnessed (in a miracle of compression) by master-librettist Boito to give the 80-year-old Verdi a superb libretto, on which he lavished more wonderful tunes than most composers manage in a lifetime.
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- By: Thomson Smillie
- Narrated by: David Timson
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
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- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 1 hr and 19 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
Don Giovanni has long been regarded as Mozart’s supreme theatrical achievement. The subject seems unpromising - the last day in the life of the notorious womanizer Don Juan - but the skill of the librettist allied to the genius of Mozart at the very peak of his powers has created a work which is not only highly entertaining but reflects an incredible understanding of the human condition.
Editor reviews
Thomson Smillie’s series of Opera Explained audiobooks on individual operatic works is the perfect introduction for the would-be opera fan. Each title in the series runs about an hour, features plenty of recorded clips, and is narrated with pluck and good humor by David Timson. Your opera education starts here.
Following its 1853 premiere, Verdi’s Il Trovatore, or "The Troubador", has been an opera staple. Set in the 15th century, the opera features a wild plot full of gypsies, executions, and other feats of high drama. When you hear someone making fun of opera for its outlandishness, Il Trovatore is probably the object of their ridicule. But it also features some of opera’s greatest works, including the Anvil chorus and soaring pieces for soprano voices.
Summary
Il Trovatore has been ruthlessly parodied. It is a tale of murder and mayhem, burned babies, roasted hags, would-be nuns, strolling minstrels, and bad baritones. And indeed the libretto does call for a willing suspension of disbelief. The reward is in the music, a score as prodigally melodic as only the mature Verdi could write: the "Anvil" chorus, the "Miserere" scene, two great tenor arias, a beautiful baritone aria - a richness without embarrassment.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.