Opera Explained (Audio)

"An Introduction to...Wagner - The Flying Dutchman" written by Thomson Smillie, narrated by David Timson. Wagner is the Everest of opera. Viewed from the foothills, his towering masterpieces, with their lofty themes and sometimes extraordinary length, can seem to test the endurance of all but the fanatic. But this image is only apt in part. His melodic gifts, the power and majesty of his orchestral writing, and his ability to relate excellent narratives, make him almost a figure of popular culture. Wagner’s first three operas were not particularly successful, but with The Flying Dutchman his career took off. The Flying Dutchman is the perfect opera with which to approach the operatic mountain that is Richard Wagner. It is short, has a great story – the legend of the Dutch captain doomed to sail forever unless redeemed through love – and the striking score has many pre-echoes of Wagner’s later music dramas. It contains wonderful tunes in its arias, ensembles, and big choruses, and the orchestral writing – from the gale that blows out of the Overture to the final theme of ‘Redemption through Love’ – will… well… ‘blow you away’. Performers: Alfred Muff, Ingrid Haubold, Peter Seiffert, Erich Knodt, Jörg Hering, Marga Schiml ORF Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Pinchas Steinberg. Tracklist: 1. Introduction 2. A short history 3. Extracts from other operas 4. The Ring 5. Leitmotifs, Norse, and Germanic myths and Love 6. The Overture and the plot 7. Act I 8. Daland and the Dutchman 9. Act II: Inside Daland’s house 10. Erik and Senta 11. Senta and the Dutchman 12. Act III 13. The dénouement

"An Introduction to...Wagner - Tristan und Isolde" written and narrated by Christopher Cook. With Sean Barrett as Richard Wagner, Elaine Claxton as Minna Wagner and Laura Paton as Mathilde Wesendonck. Richard Wagner’s opera Tristan und Isolde is encrusted with myths, and like all myths there’s a grain of truth in each of them. To an extent, the direction of Western art music was changed by Tristan, which accelerated the collapse of traditional tonality; the opera does draw on the composer’s own life and his relationship with Mathilde Wesendonck; and while the premiere performances in Munich in 1865 didn’t, as is often assumed, actually kill the first Tristan, Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld, this is still a work that makes enormous demands on its principal singers, psychologically as well as musically. When one great soprano was asked to name the essential ingredient for singing Wagner’s heroines, she’s supposed to have replied, ‘a pair of sensible shoes’! You need physical stamina as well as a voice in peak condition to tackle the roles of Isolde and Tristan. Tristan und Isolde centres around two lovers who dream of romantic love and yearn for oblivion. No composer had written such a work before. Turning his back on traditional tonality, Wagner changed the course of Western music with Tristan und Isolde. But there’s also fact behind the fiction: while he wrote his opera Wagner was in love with another’s man’s wife, Mathilde Wesendonck. So Tristan and Isolde are also Richard and Mathilde. Christopher Cook explores the making of a masterpiece, the story of lovers gripped by a passion that can only be consummated beyond the grave, a forbidden love that is blind to duty, honour and social obligation. Music from Tristan und Isolde: Tristan Wolfgang Millgram, tenor King Marke Lennart Forsén, bass Isolde Hedwig Fassbender, soprano Kurwenal Gunnar Lundberg, baritone Melot Magnus Kyhle, tenor Brangäne Martina Dike, mezzo-soprano Royal Swedish Opera Male Chorus (sailors, knights and squires) Royal Swedish Opera Orchestra Conducted by Leif Segerstam Tracklist: - Background 1. ‘Since I have never in my life...’ 2. When Richard Wagner began to compose Tristan und Isolde... 3. The music of Lohengrin... - Composition 4. Tristan’s sailor looks to the horizon for Cornwall... 5. The prose sketch for Tristan und Isolde... 6. For the first and only time... 7. Wagner’s most beautiful 7 of dreams... - The Opera 8. Tristan und Isolde was never intended to be... 9. Isolde, however, rails against Tristan... 10. Act II takes place at night... 11. Then, for a second time in the opera... 12. Before the start of the Third Act... 13. Tristan begins to rave again... 14. The shepherd boy pipes another...

"An Introduction to...Wagner - The Ring of the Nibelung" written and narrated by Stephen Johnson. Music performance by the Staatsoper Stuttgart. Staatsorchester Stuttgart, conducted by Lothar Zagrosek. Wagner’s Ring cycle is the most ambitious work in the history of music: four operas that combine to tell a single epic story. Based in legend, it has become a legend in its own right: a supreme challenge for conductors, singers, opera producers, and indeed for audiences. But for all its grandeur and complexity, The Ring is far more accessible than many music lovers think. This audio guide explains the basics of the plot, profiles the leading characters, and shows how Wagner’s revolutionary music adds fascinating layers of meaning and psychological insight, as well as providing some of the most stirring and intoxicating moments in the entire operatic repertoire. The Ring is a giant morality play, laden with symbolism from beginning to end. Its message is that love alone can redeem the world. In the first of the tetralogy, Das Rheingold (conceived as a Prologue) the Nibelung dwarf Alberich steals the Rhine gold from the Rhine maidens, fashioning from it a ring that confers mastery of the world – but at a terrible price: the total renunciation of love. The gods, headed by Wotan, steal both gold and ring, to ransom the goddess Freia, previously given to the giants as payment for their building of the gods’ palace, Valhalla. The cursed ring takes immediate effect. The giants Fasolt and Fafner quarrel over it, and Fafner kills Fasolt. The gods enter Valhalla. Thus ends the first opera without a single human character. Die Walküre marks the start of the drama proper. Wotan has nine daughters (the Valkyries) by the earth goddess Erda and two other children (Siegmund and Sieglinde) by a human mother. Wotan hopes Siegmund and Sieglinde will recover the ring (now guarded by Fafner, who has turned into a dragon). Unaware that they are brother and sister, Siegmund and Sieglinde fall in love. Brünnhilde, Wotan’s favourite Valkyrie, disobeys his commandment by protecting Siegmund against Hunding, Sieglinde’s husband; but Wotan intervenes and Hunding murders Siegmund. Brünnhilde rescues Sieglinde, prophesying that she will bear a son, Siegfried. Wotan punishes Brünnhilde by stripping her of her divinity. She falls into a trance, and lies immured by a circle of fire, awaiting rescue by a fearless hero. The next opera, Siegfried, is dominated by him. Siegfried, only child of Siegmund and Sieglinde (who died in childbirth), has been raised in the forest by Alberich’s brother, the dwarf Mime. With a sword forged from fragments of his father’s weapon (shattered in the battle with Hunding), Siegfried kills Fafner, acquiring both the ring and the magic helmet which Alberich had also made from the gold. A chance taste of the giant’s blood enables him to understand the language of the birds, one of which leads him to Brünnhilde’s rock. He duly penetrates the wall of fire and wins Brünnhilde’s heart. In Götterdämmerung, Hagen, son of Alberich, plots to recover the ring. Siegfried, his memory of Brünnhilde erased by a potion mixed by Hagen, falls in love with Gutrune. He captures Brünnhilde for Hagen’s half-brother, Gunther. Siegfried then marries Gunther’s sister, Gutrune. Brünnhilde, with Hagen and Gunther, plots Siegfried’s death. Siegfried and Gunther are both killed by Hagen. Aware of the truth at last, but alas too late, Brünnhilde builds a funeral pyre for Siegfried and rides into the flames with the ring on her finger. The Rhine breaks its banks, the ring, despite Hagen’s doomed pursuit, is recovered by the Rhine maidens, and Valhalla is consumed by flames. The curse is complete, the gods destroyed. A new age, illuminated by the power of redemptive love, is ready to dawn. Tracklist: 1. Introduction 2. The Stuff of Legends 3. Dark Power? 4. Revolution in Music 5. A New Kind of Song 6. The Role of the Orchestra 7. The Leitmotif - Das Rheingold 8. Prelude 9. Scene 1 10. Scene 2 11. Scene 3 12 Scene 4 - Die Walküre 13. Background 14. Act I 15. Act II 16. Act II cont. 17. Act III 18. The Final Scene: Wotan and Brünnhilde - Siegfried 19. Act I 20. Act II 21. Act III - Götterdämmerung 22. Background 23. Prologue 24. Act I 25. Act II 26. Act III 27. The Final Scene: The End of Everything?

Opera Explained written by Thomson Smillie, narrated by David Timson. This audiobook series introduces, in words and music, the plot and background of major operas. Using the principal themes and arias, taken from the Naxos recordings of the complete works, the presentation is informative yet entertaining, enabling the listener to get more from this remarkable art form. Soon after its 1853 premiere, Il trovatore swept with astounding popularity across first Italy, then all of Europe, before crossing the Atlantic, creating among other things a minor industry in the forging of anvils for its famous ‘Anvil’ Chorus. Critics have divided over whether it is predominantly Verdi’s supreme melodic achievement or as improbable a tale of mayhem as ever graced the operatic stage. It is perhaps both; certainly the wider operatic public for whom ‘dramatic verisimilitude’ is never a major criterion has always adored it. Il trovatore occupies a lofty spot in the operatic pantheon, being one of a trilogy of works which for many virtually define opera as an art form. Three back-to-back masterpieces – Rigoletto, Il trovatore and La traviata –, in addition to cementing Verdi’s reputation as the supreme purveyor of great music dramas, confirmed his status as Italy’s most-loved composer. The story is improbable and the situations far-fetched. But the purpose of a libretto, surely, is to inspire the composer to write his best music. Judged by that standard, the libretto of Il trovatore is a triumph because Verdi responded to this Gothic horror story with possibly his most prodigally melodic score. Relish anew the power and beauty of the ‘Anvil’ Chorus, and the melodic fervour of the soldiers’ choruses. Di Luna is the baddie of Victorian melodrama, yet still has one of the most lyrical arias written for a baritone, ‘Il balen’. Manrico is a conventional operatic hero, yet his ‘Ah! Sì, ben mio’ is tender and introspective. Leonora’s often conventional sentiments are expressed in arias of depth and musical sophistication, and the ‘Miserere’ scene juxtaposes the Italian obsession with sin and sanctity, but with a rare beauty and grace. Track list: - Background 1. Italy’s history in the 19th century 2. Verdi’s popularity 3. The operas 4. Rigoletto 5. La traviata - Il trovatore 6. Genesis of Il trovatore 7. Principal characters and the story so far 8. The gypsy woman 9. Leonora’s entrance aria 10. The role of Inez 11. Count di Luna and his place as Manrico’s rival 12. Act II: the gypsies’ encampment; Azucena’s ‘Stride la vampa!’ 13. Azucena continues her story 14. Who is Manrico? 15. At the convent 16. Act II finale 17. Act III: Di Luna’s soldiers 18. Manrico: ‘Ah! Sì ben mio’; ‘Di quella pira’ 19. Act IV: Leonora’s ‘D’amor sull’ ali rosee’ 20. Leonora and Di Luna 21. Azucena and Manrico share a prison cell 22. Conclusion Performance: Leonora, Duchess – Daniela Longhi, soprano Azucena, a gypsy-woman – Irina Tschistiakova, mezzo-soprano Manrico, a troubador – Maurizio Frusoni, tenor Count di Luna – Roberto Servile, baritone Ferrando, a captain in the army – Franco de Grandis, bass Inez, Leonora’s confidante – Zsuzsa Csonka, soprano Ruiz, Manrico’s retainer – Jozsef Mukk, tenor Leonora’s attendants, the Count’s followers, soldiers, nuns, messengers, gypsies Budapest Festival Chorus Hungarian State Opera Orchestra Conducted by Will Humburg Thomson Smillie began his career in the early days of Scottish Opera and has been artistic director of the Wexford International Festival, general manager of the Opera Company of Boston and general director of Kentucky Opera. He now makes a career as a writer, speech-writer and public speaker. He has a strong belief that people mature into a love of opera and travels the world encouraging a love of the art form. He has written several other titles in the ‘Opera Explained’ series. David Timson studied acting and singing at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He has performed in modern and classic plays through the UK and abroad, including Wild Honey for Alan Ayckbourn, Hamlet, The Man of Mode and The Seagull. Among his many television appearances have been roles in Nelson’s Column and Swallows and Amazons. For Naxos AudioBooks he has recorded seven volumes of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and directed Twelfth Night as well as playing Feste. He has narrated all other titles in the ‘Opera Explained’ series. Next: Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi https://rumble.com/v5qncft-opera-explained-rigoletto-by-giuseppe-verdi-audio.html

Written by Thomson Smillie, narrated by David Timson. In the second half of the nineteenth century, composer Giuseppe Verdi dominated the Italian opera scene and in 1853, he composed La traviata. As with all of Verdi’s operas, La traviata deals with human emotions – love, envy, jealousy, loyalty and hatred. Translating to ‘The Fallen Woman’, La traviata is a tragic tale about Parisian courtesan, Violetta, who attempts to leave the life she knows behind, in an attempt to finally find true love. After meeting the romantic Alfredo, their love is played out against the hypocrisy of upper-class fashionable society – and Violetta must pay the ultimate price. 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. A superb ‘human interest’ story, a captivating cast of characters, and music which is both enchanting and insightful: just some of La Traviata’s ingredients explaining its enduring popularity. Verdi was a great theatrical craftsman. In fact he was much more, because while his music could be ravishingly beautiful and exciting (La Traviata is one of the most prodigally melodic scores in the entire repertoire), it could also contain great psychological depth. Listen to the very opening bars of the Act I Prelude: the sense of nostalgia, of déja` vu, is overwhelming. Listen to how the simple melody of love, first introduced in the charming love duet, becomes an all-consuming expression of passion in Violetta’s renunciation, and later a dry husk of itself as Violetta lies dying. There’s no doubt about it, La Traviata deserves its place in the hearts and minds of opera lovers the world over as a work that is thrilling theatre, great music, and a profound expression of the human condition. Tracklist: 1. Introduction 2. Based on a true story 3. Act I: Alfredo and Violetta meet at a party 4. Violetta 5. Violetta: 'Sempre libera' 6. Act II: In the country 7. The arrival of Germont 8. Violetta leaves for Paris, Alfredo follows 9. Back in Paris - A Party 10. Germont's entrance: Violetta's love 11. Act III: Paris in mid-winter 12. Alfredo and Violetta reunited 13. Violetta's death Interpreters: Monika Krause Yordy Ramiro Georg Tichy Slovak Philharmonic Chorus Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra Conducted by Alexander Rahbari Next: Aida by Giuseppe Verdi https://rumble.com/v5rsltk-opera-explained-aida-by-giuseppe-verdi-audio.html

Written by Thomson Smillie, narrated by David Timson. Aida occupies a very special place in operatic lore. The fact that it is surrounded by misunderstandings, mis-apprehensions and mis-told anecdotes only attests to its legendary status. The popular myth that it was commissioned to mark the opening of the Suez Canal is one. It was commissioned for the opening of the Cairo Opera House and the Khedive of Egypt wanted the world’s most famous and successful composer to be part of those celebrations, having failed to coax a new opera out of him for the Canal opening. A popular mis-apprehension of those attending Aida for the first time is that it is basically a circus, featuring spectacular scenes, great tunes, camels, horses, slaves – even some zoologically inappropriate elephants. The view of the academic is that it is one of the subtler and finer human dramas by the greatest of all Italian music-dramatists at the height of his majestic powers. And the fact of course is that it is both. It has moments of great spectacle, but it is basically that great theatrical stand-by, the Eternal Triangle. 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. Verdi was the composer who, over a career that spanned more than half the nineteenth century, provided the Italians with the supreme examples of their favourite art form. Verdi responded with a superb score which captures all the passions of the young lovers, their terrors amid the jealous fits of the thwarted princess, all the sultry heat of Africa and the noises of its night and, where required, the barbarism and splendour of the Age of the Pharaohs. How thrilling it is to experience a work which brings forth the highest acclaim from the most sophisticated musicologist, yet which can still delight the child in all of us. Tracklist: 1. Introduction 2. Verdi’s three periods in a sixty-year span 3. The political background 4. Aida – the beginnings 5. The Prelude and Act I 6. Act II 7. The Grand March 8. Act III 9. Act IV 10. The death scene Performance: Maria Dragoni Kristjan Johannsson Barbara Dever National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland Conducted by Rico Saccani

Written by Thomson Smillie, narrated by David Timson. Rigoletto is simply wonderful entertainment. It is uncanny to listen to the opening ten minutes or so and recognise a dozen superb tunes. It is also much more – a daring (for its time) attack on aristocratic privilege, a tender love story, and an impassioned appeal on behalf of the disadvantaged, all set to music of such wealth and beauty that, with its sister operas La traviata and Il trovatore, it has almost defined Italian opera for 150 years. Of the unholy trinity of Rigoletto, Il Trovatore and La Traviata, which represents a pinnacle of Italian opera as a popular art form, Rigoletto is in many ways the most approachable and enjoyable. It may not be as prodigally melodious as Il Trovatore (though it does contain the greatest pop song in history!), nor as deeply touching as La Traviata, but it more than compensates with a seamlessly effective story containing a galaxy of memorable stage characters and enough superb tunes to satisfy an army of barrel organists. Rigoletto received its premiere on 11 March 1851 in Venice. It was a smash hit, and is one of a handful of operas which have never been out of the repertoire since its triumphant premiere. And no wonder. It has every possible ingredient of success. The setting is the glittering and corrupt court of Renaissance Mantua. The so-called hero is the glamorous young duke, whose politically incorrect views on women also supply the best tunes. His would-be nemesis is Rigoletto, a multi-faceted figure: jester, cynic, foul-mouthed butt of everybody’s basest instincts, yet possessed of nobler feelings. His daughter Gilda virtually incarnates the pure unspoiled virgin of Italian operatic legend, and the role, with its exquisite flights of coloratura fancy, exploits that elegant vocal style we call ‘bel canto’. Verdi handled an opera chorus better than any composer before or since, and by the time he wrote Rigoletto, was also an orchestral colourist of the first quality. From the darkly sinister opening statement of the Curse – La Maledizione is the subtitle of the opera – through a dazzling series of arias and ensembles including opera’s most famous quartet, the opera shows Italy’s greatest master at the peak of his incredible powers. Track list: 1. Introduction 2. Rigoletto and the censors 3. Verdi’s career – the long view 4. Act I – Prelude 5. Monterone’s curse 6. Rigoletto and Sparafucile 7. Rigoletto’s love for his daughter – Gilda’s entrance 8. The Duke and Gilda 9. Gilda’s aria ‘caro nome’ – Gilda’s abduction 10. Act II 11. Rigoletto’s grief 12. Gilda’s love – Rigoletto’s call for revenge 13. Act III 14. Quartet – the Duke, Maddalena, Gilda, Rigoletto 15. ‘Ah, la maledizione!’ – ‘The curse!’ Interpreters: Eduard Tumagian Alida Ferrarini Yordy Ramiro Slovak Philharmonic Chorus Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra Conducted by Alexander Rahbari Next: La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi https://rumble.com/v5qqlse-opera-explained-la-traviata-by-giuseppe-verdi-audio.html

"An Introduction to...Verdi - Falstaff" written by Thomson Smillie, narrated by David Timson. Verdi’s Falstaff is a glorious autumnal comedy, its libretto based on comic incidents from Shakespeare and set to music by the incomparable Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi. It is a brilliant compilation of scenes from Shakespeare’s plays Henry V parts 1 and 2, and the comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor, and centres around a series of hilarious adventures as the title character pursues a career of wooing for financial gain which is as doomed as it is engaging. It deserves to be the best-loved opera in the repertory, yet for many its charms are elusive. Can it be that the plot is dull? On the contrary, it is as action-packed as any Victorian dramatic potboiler. Is it lacking in interesting characters? Certainly not: Falstaff himself is one of the great creations of international theatre and the merry wives of Elizabethan Windsor are more than his match. Is it lacking in melody? Absolutely not! Verdi poured into this last work enough great tunes to provide a lifetime’s inspiration for any less prodigally gifted composer. Maybe the problem – if there is a problem – lies in this very wealth of melody. It almost seems as if Verdi had enough of his best tunes left in him at the age of eighty to write another Il trovatore, another La traviata and one more Rigoletto – and poured them all into this last work. The result is that one superb tune follows another at such speed that we barely have time to grasp the quality of one before the next is upon us. It is in fact this aspect of the opera that makes an introduction to Verdi’s swansong so valuable. Melodic ideas which in any other opera would sustain a ten-minute aria are here blown off in a few seconds, so taking time to savour them – as we do in this introduction – is infinitely worthwhile. It is of course opera’s greatest irony that the Italian master-tragedian who only seven years before had astonished the world with its greatest Italian tragic opera – Otello – should return in his eightieth year with a sublime comedy. That he should have chosen the poignant figure of Shakespeare’s Fat Knight for his last word in the theatre, where for many decades he had exposed the tragedy at the root of the human condition, is quite astonishing. But the final irony is that Verdi closed a brilliant career as the master of apparently spontaneous melody with a flawless academic fugue, right at the end of the opera. It is almost as if he was saying to his snooty detractors: ‘You see, I could have written a fugue all along – I just chose not to!’ And which words did he choose to set? Which passage most profoundly summed up a lifetime’s experience? Prospero from The Tempest, perhaps: ‘Our revels now are ended’? Puck’s epilogue from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, maybe: ‘If we shadows have offended…’? No, he took Jacques’ speech from As You Like It – ‘All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players’ – and with his master librettist Boito altered it to: ‘All the world’s a joke and man is born clown’. For all our pretensions to wisdom we are simple fools. Wagner, Verdi’s great contemporary and rival, had ended his career with a profound spiritual statement, Parsifal, whose depths we are still struggling to plumb. Verdi dismisses the human condition as mere folly. No one is qualified to say which is the truer philosophy or the more appropriate statement for a last artistic will and testament, but there is no doubting which is the more endearing. Tracklist: 1. Introduction 2. Falstaff’s qualities 3. Verdi and Shakespeare 4. Shakespeare’s Falstaff and Verdi’s librettist 5. Opening: The Garter Inn 6. Falstaff ’s plan begins 7. Act I, Scene 2: the Fords’ garden 8. Enter Ford, Bardolph, Pistol, Dr Caius and Fenton 9. Act II, Scene 1: Mistress Quickly visits Falstaff 10. Enter Signor Fontana 11. Act II, Scene 2: inside the Fords’ house 12. Act III, Scene 1: Falstaff back at The 12 Garter Inn, soaked 13. Act III, Scene 2:Windsor Great Park 14. Enter the townspeople, disguised 15. Final pages of the opera Performance: Sir John Falstaff Domenico Trimarchi, baritone Ford, husband of Alic Roberto Servile, baritone Fenton Maurizio Comencini, tenor Doctor Cajus Enrico Facini, tenor Bardolfo, follower of Falstaff Alessandro Cosentino, tenor Pistola, follower of Falstaff Franco De Grandis, bass Mrs Alice Ford Julia Faulkner, soprano Nannetta, daughter of Ford and Alice Dilbèr, soprano Mrs Quickly Anna Maria Di Micco, contralto Mrs Meg Page Anna Bonitatibus, mezzo-soprano Chorus and Orchestra of Hungarian State Opera Chorus Master: Anikó Katona Conductor: Will Humburg

"An Introduction to...Johann Strauss Jr. - Die Fledermaus" written by Thomson Smillie, narrated by David Timson. To the question ‘Is there any such thing as great light music?’ we can answer with a resounding cry of ‘Yes! Die Fledermaus!’ Johann Strauss Jr. created a work which is remarkable in the way it immortalises an era. Nostalgia for lost empires is potent stuff, and we find it in the writings of the Dark Ages after the Fall of Rome as well as in the popularity of Merchant Ivory films. The Austro-Hungarian Empire in the last quarter of the nineteenth century was the decaying stump of the once-mighty Holy Roman Empire. In Voltaire’s famous remark this was not in the least holy, not very Roman, and never really an empire, despite which it gave rise to an especially potent brand of nostalgia. That nostalgia is distilled into its purest form as a waltz, the hypnotic dance in three-time which began life as the last word in daring (partners facing each other in highly unsuitable physical proximity) and ended up as a symbol of lost innocence. The quality of Die Fledermaus is clear from just a few seconds of the overture. Composers agree that the first few bars of an opera create an indelible impression, often producing the expectation of success or failure. The beginning of Die Fledermaus reminds us of the explosive uncorking of champagne bottles – and quite right too, as the benign influence of bubbly will be as decisive in shaping the action as is Chianti in The Elixir of Love, or Brangaene’s potion in Tristan und Isolde, or Albert Herring’s spiked lemonade, or… you can see the point. The celebrated Fledermaus waltz, with its swirling, downward-rushing melody, suggests a sort of half-inebriated gaiety, and the accelerando trio, appearing first in the overture, hints at one reason why Die Fledermaus enjoys such universal admiration among both newcomers to opera and seasoned experts. Strauss had a genius for using conventions of grander opera – like the so-called ‘Rossini crescendo’ – to incredible comic effect. Later in the opera we shall hear great concerted ensembles, big set arias, melodrama (speaking over music), even a travesti role (a woman in trousers playing a man’s part). All the trimmings of grandeur but applied to a story which is as light and frothy as the cream on a slice of sachertorte. Before the action the hero Eisenstein had publicly embarrassed Dr Falke (The Bat of the title). By tricking a disguised Eisenstein into wooing his own wife, also disguised, Falke is able to return the embarrassment and secure ‘The Bat’s Revenge’, which is the unofficial subtitle of the piece. Strauss’s score will exploit every opportunity for gaiety, pathos, high comedy, and, above all, sweet nostalgia. Nostalgia, the cynics may say, is not what it used to be, but as long as Die Fledermaus is performed, it is. Tracklist: - Opera or operetta? - The history of the times and the Strauss family - The background to Die Fledermaus and the overture - The story begins - Dr Falke - Act I – Finale - Act II – Prince Orlofsky’s palace - Mistaken identities - Rosalinde’s Czardas - Act II – Finale - Strauss dance numbers - Act III – in the jail - The Bat’s revenge Performance: Gabriele Fontana, Josef Hopferwieser, John Dickie, Brigitte Karwautz, Rohangiz Yachmi-Caucig Slovak RSO, Bratislava City Chorus Conducted by Johannes Wildner

"An Introduction to...Debussy - Pelléas et Mélisande" written by Thomson Smillie, narrated by David Timson. Dating from the last decade of the nineteenth century, Pelléas et Mélisande points the way into the twentieth century. The score is hauntingly beautiful, but there is more to the work than shifting panels of elusive, impressionistic sound. Debussy retains the text of Maeterlinck’s play, allowing its linguistic subtleties to be matched perfectly by the musical detail. Taking a little time to explore the romantic, elusive world of this opera is particularly rewarding. Prince Golaud has married a waif-princess Mélisande and brought her home to the gloomy castle of his grandfather King Arkel, where she meets and eventually falls in love with Golaud’s half-brother Prince Pelléas. Golaud’s suspicion and mounting jealousy are the driving force of the drama. It culminates in a love scene as impassioned in its understatement as Tristan’s more full-blooded outpourings; and the eventual murder of Pelléas and slow death of Mélisande are as deeply affecting as anything inWagner’s great love/death drama Tristan und Isolde. Comparisons between these two works are inevitable, and it is not surprising that Debussy’s impressionistic masterpiece has been dubbed ‘the French Tristan’. The literary source of Debussy’s masterpiece was a play of the same title by the Belgian poet, playwright and philosopher Maurice Maeterlinck. When Debussy attended a performance of the play he asked permission to set it, realising that its subtle use of language, its qualities of understatement and its deeply atmospheric mood exactly suited his developing musical style. He made some cuts in the text but otherwise retained the language of the play and no attempt was made to recast the text in verses suitable for musical setting. The result is a work in which the special cadences, patterns and flow of the French text are perfectly matched by the music, causing some people to refer to Pelléas et Mélisande as ‘the most perfect opera ever written’. Of course there is no such thing – everyone has an opinion on which opera qualifies for that title – but there is no doubting that if opera, music drama, music theatre, call it what you will, is to be defined as a perfect marriage of words and musical expression then the candidacy of Pelléas et Mélisande for the title is assured. However, Debussy’s masterpiece is admired for more than just its musical historical significance; indeed, this alone would not be enough to justify its place in the repertory. The qualities of orchestral scene-painting so admired in the composer of L’après midi d’un faune and the tone poem La Mer are brilliantly in evidence as Debussy depicts the gloom and menace of the old castle, the effects of moonlight on water, the shifting power of the sea, and the mounting sexual attraction of the ardent Pelléas for the gentler Mélisande. The beauty of the French language and the subtle power of vocal expression are sensuously expressed in this evocation of a romantic and elusive world. Tracklist: - Background - Introduction to Claude Debussy - The influence ofWagner and atonality - Debussy’s childhood and development - Maurice Maeterlinck Pelléas et Mélisande: - The story and opening - Golaud encounters Mélisande - King Arkel’s acceptance and the entrance of Pelléas - Pelléas and Mélisande together - Golaud lies ill - Mélisande at the window and Golaud’s suspicion - Golaud uses Yniold - Act IV: Pelléas to depart; Arkel and Mélisande; Golaud’s anger - Yniold’s scene; the love duet - Pelléas: ‘We have broken the ice with red hot irons’ Performance: Mélisande: Mireille Delunsch, soprano Pelléas, Arkel’s grandson: Gérard Théruel, baritone Golaud, Arkel’s grandson: Armand Arapian, baritone Arkel, King of Allemonde: Gabriel Bacquier, bass Geneviève, mother of Pelléas and Golaud: Hélène Jossoud, mezzo-soprano Yniold, Golaud’s son: Françoise Golfier, soprano Le médecin, Le berger: Jean-Jacques Doumène, bass Choeur Régional Nord/Pas-de-Calais Eric Deltour, chorus-master Orchestre National de Lille-Région Nord/Pas-de-Calais Conducted by Jean-Claude Casadesus