Verdi 200: Verdi - Conflict and Liberty Duration: 1 hour, 15 minutes First broadcast: Sunday 06 October 2013 Verdi 200: texts read by David Sibley and Jemma Redgrave. Verdi's life seems to have been marked, both on and off stage, by two words: conflict and liberty, both of which constitute the backbone of this Words and Music. When you examine the composer's artistic life soon you see the image of a man fighting against old ways of making opera: rigid musical structures dominated by singers as well as opera houses subject to censorship. Only his sheer talent and determination saw Verdi succeed to the point of breaking free and creating at will. This particular personal, perilous journey is followed through letters of the man himself and his wife Giuseppina Strepponi. The drama on stage referred to, which expresses a fight against political oppression or invisible social constraints, is provided here by some of the original sources, texts by Lord Byron, Shakespeare, Victor Hugo, Dumas and Schiller which inspired Verdi to write some of his most memorable masterpieces, among them La Traviata, Rigoletto, Don Carlos and Otello. Finally, to paint a full picture of Verdi and his time, the so-called Risorgimento, the fight of Italy for its independence and its true identity, and to see also the stature of the composer as a leading figure in the new-born country, this programme combines texts from national idols like Mazzini, with poems by other of his contemporaries, like Giusti, Tasca or Maffei - the later saying: 'You are the Apex of Glory. The words Verdi and Victory ring out together'. SHOW LESS
Add "Words and Music, Verdi 200: Verdi - Conflict and Liberty" to FavouritesAdd to Favourites Share Facebook Twitter QR code Music and featured items 53 items Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes 00:00 Image for Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Verdi Aida: Grand March Performer: Orchestra of the Teatro dellOpera, Rome, Sir Georg Solti. DECCA 475 8558, CD4 TR5 Add "Giuseppe Verdi || Aida: Grand March" to PlaylisterAdd Giuseppe Verdi Extract from letter, reader David Sibley Benjamin Britten Extract from text, reader Jemma Redgrave 00:03 Image for Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Verdi Rigoletto: Bella figlia dellamore Performer: Renato Bruson, Neil Schicoff, Edita Gruberova, Brigitte Fassbaender, Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Rome, Giuseppe Sinopoli. DECCA 475 8556, CD2 TR20 Add "Giuseppe Verdi || Rigoletto: Bella figlia dellamore" to PlaylisterAdd Giuseppe Verdi Extract from letter, reader David Sibley 00:08 Image for Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Verdi Rigoletto: Cortigliani, vil razza dannata Performer: Renato Bruson, Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Rome, Giuseppe Sinopoli. DECCA 475 8556, CD2 TR10 Add "Giuseppe Verdi || Rigoletto: Cortigliani, vil razza dannata" to PlaylisterAdd Victor Hugo Extract from The King Enjoys Himself, reader David Sibley 00:09 Image for Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Verdi Rigoletto: Ebben piango Performer: Renato Bruson, Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Rome, Giuseppe Sinopoli. DECCA 475 8556, CD2 TR11 Add "Giuseppe Verdi || Rigoletto: Ebben piango" to PlaylisterAdd Giuseppe Verdi Extract from letter, reader David Sibley 00:12 Giuseppe Verdi-Tarrega Fantaisie sur La Traviata en re majeur (D major) Performer: Liat Cohen. WCJ 2564 68530-7, TR1 Add "Giuseppe Verdi-Tarrega || Fantaisie sur La Traviata en re majeur (D major)" to PlaylisterAdd 00:14 Image for Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Verdi La Traviata Performer: Ileana Cotrubas; Placido Domingo, Bayerisches Staatsorchester, Carlos Kleiber. DG 477 7115, TR9 Add "Giuseppe Verdi || La Traviata" to PlaylisterAdd Alexandre Dumas, the Younger Extract from The Lady of the Camellias, re