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The Great Opera Choruses

The Great Opera Choruses - Servants, Soldiers, Sailors, Monks, Toreadors, Gipsies, Geishas, Prisoners and Slaves.

In a new four part series Strictly judge and choreographer Bruno Tonioli talks about his great passion for opera.

'What's not to like?' says Bruno. 'Divine music, exquisite voices, passion, stories that take you to places you could never imagine'. Bruno hails from the Emilio Romagna region of Northern Italy - also the birth place of the great Guiseppe Verdi. Bruno's home town of Ferrara boasts its own opera house where a young Gioachino Rossini launched his career. 'Opera is in the Italian DNA, as children we were taught to sing Va Pensiero and La Donna e Mobile before we learnt nursery rhymes. It touches your soul. The effect of seeing and hearing something so perfect is magical鈥�.

In this second programme Bruno discusses the great opera choruses. We meet an assorted cast of Servants, Soldiers, Sailors, Monks, Toreadors, Gipsies, Geishas, Prisoners and Slaves. The chorus don鈥檛 just stand at the back singing 鈥渙o鈥�, 鈥渁h鈥� and 鈥渢ra la la la鈥� - they play an important part in opera 鈥� moving the plot along and setting the scene. The programme includes choruses from Carmen(Bizet), Cavalleria Rusticana(Mascagni), Iolanthe(Gilbert and Sullivan) , La Forza del Destino(Verdi) and Mose In Egitto(Rossini). We end with Verdi鈥檚 best loved chorus 鈥� Va Pensiero. Written at a particularly sad patch in his life. His wife and two infant children had died and in his grief he shut himself away and vowed never to write opera again. But La Scala still had a contract with him - and pestered Verdi continually. They sent him the libretto of Nabucco based on biblical stories about the plight of Hebrew slaves in exile in Babylon. In a rage he threw the libretto on the table and it fell open at the third act where the Hebrew Slaves are longing for their homeland and a return to happier times. He read "Va, pensiero, sull'ali dorate", meaning "Go, thought, on golden wings". The words inspired Verdi and he set to work. At its first rehearsal at La Scala the whole theatre stopped and everyone demanded an encore.

55 minutes

Last on

Sun 22 Dec 2019 21:00
大象传媒 Radio 2

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Music Played

  • Philharmonia Orchestra & Riccardo Muti

    Leoncavallo: I Pagliacci: Prologue

    • I Pagliacci.
    • EMI.

  • Orchestra and Chorus of Toulouse Capitole

    Bizet: Carmen: Les Voici! Voici Le Quadrille

    • Carmen.
    • EMI.
    • 11.

  • Pauline Tinsley, Chorus And Orchestra Of The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden: L

    Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana: Easter Hymn

    • The HMV Classics Collection: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter CD1.
    • HMV Classics.
    • 16.

  • Vienna State Opera Choir

    Puccini: Madame Butterfly: Humming Chorus

    • Madame Butterfly.
    • DECCA.
    • 7.

  • Ambrosian Singers

    Donizetti: Don Pasquale: Servants' Chorus

    • Opera Choruses Volume 2.
    • 12.

  • Leontyne Price

    Verdi: La Forza Del Destino: La Vergine Degli Angeli

    • Verdi Heroines.
    • RCA.

  • D'Oyly Carte Opera Chorus

    Sullivan: Iolanthe: March of the Peers

    • The World Of Gilbert And Sullivan.
    • Decca.
    • 15.

  • Ruggero Raimondi, June Anderson, Sigmund Nimsgern, Philharmonia Orchestra & Claudio Scimone

    Rossini: Mose In Egitto: Dal Tuo Stellato Soglio

    • Mose In Egitto.
    • Phillips.

  • Vienna State Opera Choir

    Wagner: The Flying Dutchman: Sailors Chorus

  • Robert Shaw Chorale

    Gounod: Faust: Soldiers Chorus

    • Great Opera Choruses.
    • ALTO.
    • 7.

  • Bulgarian National Chorus, Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra & Georgi Robev

    Beethoven: Fidelio: The Prisoners' Chorus

    • Masters of Opera.
    • Laserlight.

  • Chorus And Orchestra Of La Scala Milan

    Verdi: Nabucco: Va Pensiero (Chorus Of The Hebrew Slaves)

Broadcast

  • Sun 22 Dec 2019 21:00
    大象传媒 Radio 2