Now that we’re half way through Verdi’s opera and the term, I thought that this might be a good moment to look at the work in its broader historical and cultural context. So this week it’s a lightning tour of opera starting from Monteverdi (the beginning, more or less) and travelling – via Gluck, Mozart, Bellini, Rossini, Weber, Wagner et al. – up to (and slightly(?) beyond) the moment at La Scala when the curtain rose on the The Garter Inn for the first time.

Music:

Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice
Coro de la Comunidad de Madrid, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia & Peter Maag – Atto III, Scena I: Aria “Che Farò Senza Euridice” (Orfeo) (Gluck)

Mozart: Don Giovanni
Philharmonia Orchestra – Don Giovanni (2002 – Remaster), Act I, Scene One: Introduction: Notte e giorno faticar (Leporello)

Wagner: The Valkyrie
Sebastian Weigle – Die Walkure: Act III Scene 3: Der Augen leuchtendes Paar (Wotan)

Puccini: Madama Butterfly
Ying Huang – “Dovunge al mondo…” (Pinkerton, Goro, Sharpless)

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