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VERDI, G.: Opera Choruses |
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Composer: |
Giuseppe Verdi |
Artist: |
Giacomo Aragall, Jussi Bjorling, Francesco Ellero d' Artegna, Maria Dragoni, Maurizio Frusoni, Miriam Gauci, Thomas Harper, Kristjan Johannson, Monika Krause, Giorgio Lamberti, Herbert Lippert, Daniela Longhi, Janez Lotric, Jozsef Mukk, Tancredi Pasero, Ezio Pinza, Rosa Ponselle, Yordy Ramiro, Stella Roman, Bidu Sayao, Roberto Servile, Renata Tebaldi, Georg Tichy, Eduard Tumagian, John McCormack, Louise Homer, Nellie Melba, Antonio Scotti, Giuseppe Valdengo, Salvatore Baccaloni, Lina Bruna-Rasa, Carlo Galeffi, Mercedes Capsir, Lionello Cecil, Igor Morozov, Beniamino Gigli, Feodor Chaliapin, Frida Leider, Richard Tauber, Elisabeth Rethberg, Leonard Warren, Erna Berger, Jan Peerce, Nan Merriman, Nathaniel Sprinzena, Thomas Motto, Ebe Stignani, Eleanor Steber, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Frederic Jagel, Giuseppe Nessi, Maria Caniglia, Italo Tajo, Marian Anderson, Lucrezia Bori, Mario Lanza, Ida Conti, Aristide Baracchi, Natale Villa, Bianca Scacciati, Enrico Molinari, Giuseppina Zinetti, Francesco Merli, Frances Alda, Pasquale Amato, Ernestine Schumann-Heink, Mirella Freni, Karita Mattila, Margaret Price, Fedora Barbieri, Riccardo Stracciari, Nazzareno de Angelis, Titta Ruffo, Joan Sutherland, Tito Schipa, Giovanni Martinelli, Carlo Tagliabue, Benno Ziegler, Landon Ronald, Jaakko Ryhanen, Zsuzsa Csonka, Franco de Grandis, Irra Petina, Carlo Forti, Irina Tchistjakova, Barbara Dever, Mark Rucker, Ingrid Tobiasson, Zinka Milanov, Nicola Moscona, Margaret Roggero, Paul Franke, George Cehanovsky, Giuseppe de Luca, Fernando Corena, Piero De Palma, Yaroslava Poberezhna, Ruslan Tansky, Dusolina Giannini, Joseph Schmidt, Marian Vach, Ladislav Neshyba, Jan Rozehnal, Alma Gluck, Marina Mescheriakova, Robert Merrill, Lars Cleveman, Peter Mattei, Bengt Rundgren, Hillevi Martinpelto, Iwa Sorenson, Klas Hedlund, Martti Wallen, Hilde Leidland, Amelita Galli-Curci, Jozef Spacek, Rannveig Braga, Ivica Neshybova, Peter Oswald, Pavol Maurery, Peter Subert, Sandor Pasztor, Janos Tandari, Riccardo Ferrari, Antonio Marceno, Monica Trini, Mario Del Monaco, Aldo Protti, Dario Caselli, Marcello Giordani, Thelma Votipka, Leslie Chabay, Salvatore Cottone, Stefano Secco, Maria Callas, Rolando Panerai, Nicola Rossi-Lemeni, Tito Gobbi, Franco Calabrese, Giulio Neri, Blanche Thebom, Boris Christoff, Emil Markow, Renato Bruson, Indra Thomas, Mariusz Kwiecien, Soile Isokoski, Meta Seinemeyer, Mario Filippeschi, Paolo Caroli, Rina Cavallari, Ede Gandolfo Marietti, Ines Marietti, Francesco Albanese, Ugo Savarese, Mariano Caruso, Mario Zorgniotti, Alberto Albertini, Gino Bianchi, Franco Rossi, Giulio Mogliotti, Hermann Prey, Yvonne Naef, Nicholas Massue, Giovanni Paltrinieri, Cloe Elmo, Johanna Gadski, Rina Gigli, Renato Ercolani, Luisa Villa, Mario Carlin, Plinio Clabassi, Giuseppe Conca, Mattia Battistini, Kenneth Collins, Donald Shanks, Hao Jiang Tian, Bruna Rizzoli, Lawrence Tibbett, Enrico Caruso, Colin Mawby, Antonietta Stella, Orietta Moscucci, Lucy Isabelle Marsh, Elena Nicolai, Elvira Galassi, Luisa Mandelli, Loretta Di Lelio, Lauris Elms, Vittorio Tatozzi, Matti Hirvonen, Nicola Zaccaria, William Dickie, Franco Ricciardi, Richard Tucker, Giuseppe Modesti, Lado Ataneli, Renato Capecchi, Jonathan Summers, Cynthia Johnston, Robin Donald, Elsie Baker, Silvio Maionica, Giuseppe Zampieri, Ramon Vinay, Herva Nelli, Virginio Assandri, Arthur Newman, Ben Grauer, Max Saal, Giuseppe Altomare, Giulio Mauri, Rubens Pelizzari, Luca Dall'Amico, Hui He, Gino Del Signore, Giulio Scarinci, Ottorino Bagalli, Raymond Keast, Dermot Troy, Simone Kermes, Rosanna Carteri, Cesare Valletti, Mario Zanasi, Marie Collier, Lea Roberts, Forbes Robinson, Miljenko Turk, Olha Zhuravel, Pavel Kudinov, Marco Voleri, William Corro, Andrea Pistolesi, Josef Wagner, Sarah M'Punga, David Kelly, Ronald Lewis, Sebastian Bollacher, Camilla De Falleiro, Daniel Martinez-Corvera |
Conductor: |
Landon Ronald, Josef A. Pasternack, Richard Bonynge, Gabriele Santini, Lawrence Collingwood, Will Humburg, Gaetano Merola, Arturo Toscanini, Herbert von Karajan, Michael Halasz, Antonello Gotta, Lodovico Zocche, Argeo Quadri, Lawrence Renes, Michael Hofstetter, Clemens Schmalstich, Alberto Erede, Giulio Setti, Carlo Sabajno, Steven Mercurio, Lorenzo Molajoli, Giuseppe Antonicelli, Walter B. Rogers, Rosario Bourdon, Umberto Berrettoni, Renato Cellini, Constantine Callinicos, Thomas Fulton, Nicolas Braithwaite, Frieder Weissmann, Fausto Cleva, Oliver Dohnanyi, Bjarte Engeset, Nils Grevillius, Ondrej Lenard, Pier Giorgio Morandi, Ettore Panizza, Alexander Rahbari, Ricco Saccani, Tullio Serafin, Bruno Walter, Johannes Wildner, Leopold Hager, Charles Rosekrans, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Daniele Callegari, Jonel Perlea, Alberto Hold-Garrido, Vincenzo Bellezza, Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, Roberto Paternostro, James Robertson, Gino Marinuzzi, Ivan Anguelov, Wolfgang Grohs, Mikko Franck, Heinz Wallberg, Antonio Tonini, Heinz Fricke, Nicola Rescigno, Vladimir Ghiaurov |
Choir: |
Budapest Festival Chorus, Kiev Chamber Choir, New York Metropolitan Opera Chorus, RTE Chamber Choir, RTE Philharmonic Choir, Slovak Philharmonic Chorus, Robert Shaw Chorale, Milan La Scala Chorus, Rome Opera House Chorus, Opera Australia Chorus, Studio chorus, RCA Victor Chorus, Metropolitan Opera Chorus, Royal Swedish Opera Chorus, CETRA Chorus, Catania Teatro Massimo Bellini Chorus, Culwick Choral Society, Bray Choral Society, Dublin County Choir, Dun Laoghaire Choral Society, Cantabile Singers, Goethe Institut Choir, Musica Sacra, Phoenix Singers, RAI Chorus, Turin, NBC Chorus, Ludwigsburger Festspiele Choir, Bratislava National Opera Choir, Coro Lirico Marchigiano 'V. Bellini', Compagnia d'Opera Italiana Chorus, Covent Garden Opera Chorus |
Orchestra: |
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Victor Orchestra, Milan Symphony Orchestra, Elizabethan Sydney Orchestra, Rosario Bourdon Orchestra, Ukrainian National Opera Symphony Orchestra, Marchigiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Stockholm Symphony Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Munich Radio Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, RCA Victor Orchestra, Belgian Radio and Television Philharmonic Orchestra, RAI Symphony Orchestra, Turin, London Symphony Orchestra, New York Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Ireland National Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, NBC Symphony Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Catania Teatro Massimo Bellini Orchestra, Rome Opera House Orchestra, Nils Grevillius Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Hungarian State Opera Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Irish Army No. 1 Band, Royal Swedish Opera Orchestra, Wurttemberg Philharmonic Orchestra, Berlin State Opera Orchestra, San Francisco Opera Orchestra, Milan La Scala Orchestra , Studio orchestra, Ludwigsburger Festspiele Orchestra, Europa Symphony, Compagnia d'Opera Italiana Orchestra, Dalasinfoniettan, Covent Garden Orchestra |
Lyricist: |
Francesco Maria Piave, Antonio Ghislanzoni, Camille Du Locle, Andrea Maffei, Salvadore Cammarano, Joseph Mery, Arrigo Boito, Temistocle Solera |
Label: |
Naxos |
Catalogue No.: |
8.550241 |
Format: |
CD |
Barcode: |
4891030502413 |
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Opera Choruses by Giuseppe Verdi (1813 -1901)
Giuseppe Verdi's career spans three quarters of the nineteenth century.
He was born in 1813 at Roncole, near Busseto, the son of a tavern-keeper, and
distinguished himself locally in music before the encouragement and patronage
of his future father-in-law, Antonio Barezzi, a merchant in Busseto, allowed
him further study in Milan, before returning to Busseto as maestro di musica.
His first venture into opera was with Oberto, in 1839, reasonably successful,
but followed by the failure of Un giorno di
regno, written at a period when the composer suffered the death of
his wife and two children. His early reputation was established by the opera
Nabucco, staged at La Scala in Milan in 1842.
Verdi's subsequent career in Italy was to bring him unrivalled fame,
augmented by his reputation as a patriot and fervent supporter of Italian
national unity. His association with the singer Giuseppina Strepponi led to
their marriage in 1859, the year of Un ballo in maschera. He completed his last
opera, Falstaff, in 1893, four years before her death, but felt himself unequal
to further Shakespearian operas that were then proposed. He died while staying
in Milan, early in 1901, his death the subject of mourning throughout Italy.
The opera Nabucco
(Nebuchadnezzar), dealing as it does with the Babylonian captivity, had obvious
political implications in Italy in 1842. The chorus Va, pensiero, sull'ali
dorate (Fly, my thoughts, on golden wings) is sung by the chorus of Hebrew
slaves, toiling in exile and slavery by the waters of Babylon. The words O mia
patria, si bella e perduta (O my country, so fair and yet lost) struck the
necessary patriotic note for an age of incipient national consciousness.
Don Garlos, first staged in its French version in Paris in 1867 and at
La Scala in Italian in 1884, is based on the drama by Schiller. The plot of the
opera concerns the Spanish Infante, Don Garlos, and his love for Elisabeth de
Valois, then betrothed to his father, for dynastic reasons. The conflict of
love and duty is further complicated by the involvement of Don Carlos in
Flemish agitation for freedom and by the unrequited love felt for him by the
Princess Eboli. Final disaster is only averted by the intervention of the
grandfather of Don Carlos, Charles V (Carlos Primero of Spain), who rises from
the tomb to protect him from his father and the Grand Inquisitor, who seek his
punishment by death. The chorus Spuntato ecco il dl d'esultanza (Welcome to the
day of triumph) greets the king and his court in Act III of the opera.
La Traviata, first
produced in Venice in 1853, is based on a very different source, the play La
dame aux camélias by Alexandre Dumas fils. Violetta, a courtesan, sacrifices
her love for her beloved Alfredo, at his father's request, although the young
man does not know the cause of their estrangement, imagining her merely fickle.
Final reconciliation only comes as Violetta lies dying, when all is explained.
Masqueraders at the house of Violetta's friend Flora Bervoix, disguised as
gypsies, announce their identity in Noi siamo zingarelle venute da lontano (We
are gypsies from afar) and entertain the guests, in a scene that brings a
confrontation between Alfredo and Violetta with her new protector Baron
Douphol.
A second chorus from Nabucco, Gli arredi festivi giù candano infranti
(The festive trappings now lie broken) accompanies the opening of the work, in
which the chorus of Hebrew slaves has a major part to play in the dramatic
conversion of the conquering Nebuchadnezzar.
The lyric tragedy La battaglia di
Legnano (The Battle of Legnano), based on the French play La bataille de Toulouse, was first staged
in Rome in 1849. The action is set in twelfth century Italy and records the
defeat of the Emperor Barbarossa by the forces of the Lombard League. In the
last act Lida's prayer begs and is rewarded by the success of the patriotic
forces, led by her jealous husband Rolando, with the help of her former lover
Arrigo, deprived of the honour of battle as a punishment for his suspected
liaison with Lida.
The well known Anvil Chorus from the opera Il Trovatore (The Troubadour), first staged in Rome in 1853
and based on a Spanish drama, is sung by the gypsies who have stolen and
adopted Manrico, the troubadour of the title, and brother to the wicked Count
di Luna, Manrico's rival in love for Leonora. At their camp in the mountains
the gypsies welcome the dawn, with Vedil Le fosche notturne spoglie (See, the
darkness of night dissolves), before the old gypsy Azucena recalls the scene of
her mother's death at the stake.
Ernani, drawn from the play by Victor Hugo, was produced for the first
time in 1844 in Venice. Set in sixteenth century Spain, the plot deals with the
predicament of Elvira, about to marry an elderly kinsman, but loved by the
future Emperor Charles V and by the bandit Ernani, in reality Don Juan de
Aragon. At the accession of the Emperor to the throne all seems about to end
happily, with Elvira 's marriage to Ernani, when, as the result of a compact
made with Elvira's former intended husband Silva, he is obliged to kill
himself. The chorus Si rideste il Leon di Castiglia (Let the Lion of Castile
arise) comes at the height of the third act, in which conspirators, including
Silva and Ernani, plan to assassinate the future Emperor, who overhears from
his hiding-place their plans.
Verdi's penultimate opera, Otello,
first staged in Milan in 1887, was his second attempt to transfer Shakespeare
to the Italian operatic stage. The chorus Fuoco di gioia (Fire of joy) comes in
the first act of the opera, when Otello's ship has safely weathered the storm
to reach Cyprus. The crowd gathers round a fire that has been kindled. It is
only later that the wicked lago provokes Otello's jealousy that leads to the
tragic climax and the death of his young wife Desdemona.
Giuramento, the oath chorus from the third act of La battaglia di Legnano, marks the oath of
the conspirators of the Lombard League to free Italy from foreign tyranny,
while the exiles' chorus from Macbeth, the first of the Shakespearean operas.
Patria oppressa (Oppressed country) opens the fourth act. Here those who have
been forced to seek refuge in England from Macbeth's oppression lament the fate
of their country, soon to be freed by the murdered king's son, Malcolm. The
opera was first performed in Florence in 1847.
The soldiers' chorus Or co' dadi, ma fra poco (Now we gamble and
gossip) opens the third act of Il Trovatore,
where the forces of the Count di Luna prepare for battle against his rival
Manrico. Rataplan, rataplan, from La forza
dei destino (The Force of Destiny), closes the third act of the
opera, first mounted in St. Petersburg in 1862. A plot of some complexity,
based on a play by the Duke of Rivas, is a story of love and revenge. Don
Alvaro, lover of Leonora, accidentally kills her father, and is the object,
thereafter, of vengeance from Leonora's brother, Don Carlo. They do not
recognise each other, and swear eternal friendship in a later act. The chorus
Rataplan, initiated by the gypsy girl Preziosilla, calms a quarrel between
Spanish and Italian soldiers, caused by the ill-timed sermon of a friar.
The second scene of the second act of the opera Aida, written for the
new Cairo opera-house in 1871, opens with a triumphal chorus, marking the
return of Radames, victorious over Aida's father, the Ethiopian king Amonasro.
The tragedy that follows is a result of the rivalry in love of the Egyptian
princess Amneris and her captive Aida for Radames, who unwittingly betrays his
country through the agency of his beloved Aida, with whom he eventually dies,
immured in a tomb where she has hidden herself.
Slovak Philharmonic Choir
The Slovak Philharmonic Choir has its origin in the Slovak Radio Choir
started by Ladislav Slovak in 1946. Since then it has developed into a large
professional independent concert ensemble with a considerable reputation both
at home and abroad. The repertoire of the choir ranges from the Baroque to the
contemporary and it has performed with a number of the most distinguished
orchestras and conductors in opera, oratorio and other works. The choir has
made frequent guest appearances at major festivals in Austria, Germany, France,
the Netherlands, Italy and elsewhere.
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