Verdi
In his early operas, Verdi demonstrated a sympathy with the Risorgimento movement which sought the unification of Italy. He also participated briefly as an elected politician. The chorus "Va, pensiero" from his early opera Nabucco (1842), and similar choruses in later operas, were much in the spirit of the unification movement, and the composer himself became esteemed as a representative of these ideals. An intensely private person, Verdi, however, did not seek to ingratiate himself with popular movements and as he became professionally successful was able to reduce his operatic workload and sought to establish himself as a landowner in his native region. He surprised the musical world by returning, after his success with the opera Aida (1871), with three late masterpieces: his Requiem (1874), and the operas Otello (1887) and Falstaff (1893).
His operas remain extremely popular, especially the three peaks of his 'middle period': Rigoletto, Il trovatore and La traviata, and the 2013 bicentenary of his birth was widely celebrated in broadcasts and performances.
Verdi
In his early ope...
VERDI Un ballo in maschera
Studio recording, 1956
Total duration: 2hr 10:38
Amelia - Maria Callas
Riccardo - Giuseppe Di Stefano
Renato - Tito Gobbi
Ulrica - Fedora Barbieri
Oscar - Eugenia Ratti
Coro e Orchestra del Teatro Alla Scala, Milano
conducted by Antonino Votto
WAGNER Parsifal - Good Friday Spell
VERDI Te Deum
BRAHMS Alto Rhapsody
MONTEVERDI Magnificat
HANDEL Xerxes - Largo
BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 1
HINDEMITH Concert Music For Strings And Brass
Live broadcast concerts, 1956
Total duration: 2hr 15:36
Martha Lipton, alto
Rudolf Firkušný, piano
New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Guido Cantelli
VERDI Il Trovatore
Live broadcast recording
Total duration: 2hr 11:59
Manrico - Franco Corelli
Leonora - Leontyne Price
Azucena - Irene Dalis
Conte di Luna - Mario Sereni
Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra
conducted by Fausto Cleva
BRAHMS Symphony No. 4 in E minor
R. STRAUSS Death and Transfiguration
WAGNER Tristan und Isolde: Prelude & Liebestod
VERDI Aïda: Prelude to Act 1
KODALY Dances of Galánta
RESPIGHI Feste Romane
Studio Recordings · 1939
Total duration: 2hr 06:21
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
VERDI Falstaff
Live performance, 1961
Total duration: 2hr 8:13
Geraint Evans Sir John Falstaff
Robert Bowman Bardolph
Michael Langdon Pistol
Regina Resnik Mistress Quickly
Mirella Freni Anne Ford
Luigi Alva Fenton
Covent Garden Opera Chorus
Covent Garden Orchestra
conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini
VERDI Aïda
Live broadcast recording, 1953
Total duration: 2hr 24:33
Aida - Zinka Milanov
Radamès - Mario Del Monaco
Amneris - Blanche Thebom
Amonasro - George London
Ramfis - Jerome Hines
King - Luben Vichey
Orchestra and Chorus of the Metropolitan Opera
conducted by Fausto Cleva