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Few composers have made their mark on the world of opera like Giuseppe Verdi. He wrote a host of eminently hummable tunes as he rose to fame, paralleling the growing sense of identity which Italy was forging for itself in the 19th century, and establishing himself as the most successful Italian composer of his generation. Tracing his life is riddled with difficulties however, due to the artistic licence Verdi himself used when taking about his own history. Donald Macleod pieces together the truths as he traces Verdi's life and music and finds a story of shrewd investments, run-ins with the authorities, driving ambition, and emotional tragedy.
In Wednesday's programme, Donald focuses on the three hugely popular Operas which Verdi wrote in the early 1850s - Rigoletto, Il Trovatore and La Traviata, works which all have highly controversial subject matters.

Stiffelio - Overture
Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala
Riccardo Muti (conductor)

Rigoletto - Act 3 - E l'ami?; La donna e mobile; Un di, se ben rammentomi; Bella figlia dell'amore
Maria Callas (Gilda)
Tito Gobbi (Rigoletto)
Giuseppe di Stefano (Il Duca)
Adriana Lazzarini (Maddalena)
La Scala Milan Chorus & Orchestra
Tullio Serafin (cond)

Il Trovatore - Act 2 - Vedi! Le fosche notturne spoglie (Anvil Chorus); Stride la vampa; Mesta e la tua canzon!
Elena Zaremba (Azucena)
Andrea Boceli (manrico)
Salvatore Todaro (uno zingaro)
Chorus and Orchestra of Teatro Massimo Bellini di Catania
Steven Mercurio (cond)

La Traviata - Act 1 - Prelude; Dell'invito trascorsa è già l'ora; Libiamo ne'lieti calici; Che è ciò?; Un dì felice, eterea; Ebben? che diavol fate?; Si ridesta in ciel l'aurora
Frank Lopardo (Alfredo)
Robin Leggate (Gastone)
Angela Gheorghiu (Violetta)
Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
Georg Solti (conductor)

Producer: Sam Phillips