The Gentleman Farmer
Donald Macleod focuses on Verdi's activities in the 1860s, in the build-up to writing Aida. These included politics, a mid-life crisis and possibly a love affair.
[Donald Macleod explores Verdi's later life and music when, after years of honing his craft, he unleashed an outpouring of innovative masterworks that would propel opera from the world of the 19th century into the modern age. It wasn't a smooth road, though, and the aging composer had to be persuaded out of retirement several times as he found himself increasingly at odds with the world around him.]
Donald Macleod looks at Verdi's activities in the build-up to writing Aida, by which time he had become a major landowner. His life as a 'gentleman farmer' distracted him from composition - instead of writing music, he wrote to a friend, 'I only plant beans and cabbages'. In addition he tried his hand at a political career, had a mid-life crisis, and possibly an affair. But in the midst of all this he completed Aida for the opening of the Suez canal, and the eyes of the world were on him once more.
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Giuseppe Verdi
Aida - Act 2 Scene 1
Singer: Aprile Millo. Singer: Dolora Zajick. Orchestra: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Choir: Metropolitan Opera Chorus.- SONY CLASSICAL: S3K45973.
- 6 - 9.
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Giuseppe Verdi
Aida - Act 4 Scene 2
Singer: Aprile Millo. Singer: Dolora Zajick. Orchestra: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Choir: Metropolitan Opera Chorus.- SONY CLASSICAL: S3K45973.
- 22-27.
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Giuseppe Verdi
Un Ballo in maschera - end of Act 2
Singer: Pl谩cido Domingo. Singer: Katia Ricciarelli. Singer: Renato Bruson. Singer: Ruggero Raimondi. Singer: Giovanni Foiani. Choir: Chorus of La Scala, Milan. Orchestra: Orchestra of La Scala, Milan. Conductor: Claudio Abbado.- DG 415 685-2.
- 2.
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Giuseppe Verdi
Don Carlos - De quels transports poignants
Singer: Karita Mattila. Singer: Roberto Alagna. Singer: Anat Efraty. Choir: Chatelet Theatre Choir. Conductor: Sir Antonio Pappano.- EMI 5 56152 2.
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Broadcasts
- Tue 8 Oct 2013 12:00成人快手 Radio 3
- Tue 8 Oct 2013 18:30成人快手 Radio 3
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