1822: Opera Fever

1822, Vienna. When composer Gioachino Rossini arrives in the Austrian capital, he is greeted like an international celebrity. His operas pack theatres, his melodies are sung in the streets, and admirers celebrate him with everything from fashionable accessories to elaborate restaurant dishes. In an age when opera dominates musical life, Rossini has become its biggest star.

As opera houses multiply across Europe and beyond, opera becomes the primary form of musical entertainment and one of the defining cultural industries of the nineteenth century. From The Barber of Seville and The Italian Girl in Algiers to Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor and Meyerbeer's grand historical dramas, opera grows ever more ambitious in scale and influence. Romantic heroes, political rebels, tragic heroines and spectacular stage effects draw vast audiences.

Gillian Moore is joined by a roster of distinguished historians for this major new BBC Radio 3 series, charting a course through 1000 years of classical music history. Today, historian Simon Schama is in the chair.

Producer: Chris Taylor
Academic Consultant: Professor Laura Tunbridge, University of Oxford
Story Consultant: Kate Leys
Series Editor for BBC Audio: Emma Harding

Key Changes theme tune composed by Joseph Howard and performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Kerem Hasan.

Gioachino Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia – "Largo al factotum"
Roberto Servile (Figaro, baritone)
Budapest Failoni Chamber Orchestra
Will Humburg (conductor)

Gioachino Rossini: L'italiana in Algeri – "Va sossopra il mio cervello"
Patrizia Pace (Elvira, soprano)
Anna Gonda (Zulma, soprano)
Agnes Baltsa (Isabella, mezzo-soprano)
Frank Lopardo (Lindoro, tenor)
Alessandro Corbelli (Taddeo, baritone)
Enzo Dara (Mustafà, bass-baritone)
Ruggero Raimondi (Haly, bass)
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Vienna State Opera Orchestra
Claudio Abbado (conductor)

Gaetano Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor – "Spargi d'amore pianto"
Dame Joan Sutherland (Lucia, soprano)
Luciano Pavarotti (Edgardo, tenor)
Pier Francesco Poli (Arturo, tenor)
Ryland Davies (Normanno, tenor)
Huguette Tourangeau (Alisa, mezzo-soprano)
Sherrill Milnes (Enrico, baritone)
Nicolai Ghiaurov (Raimondo, bass-baritone)
Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
Royal Opera House Orchestra, Covent Garden
Richard Bonynge (conductor)

Gioachino Rossini: Guillaume Tell – Overture
Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna
Michele Mariotti (conductor)

Giacomo Meyerbeer: Le Prophète – "Roi du ciel et des anges"
James McCracken (Jean de Leyde, tenor)
Marilyn Horne (Fidès, mezzo-soprano)
Renata Scotto (Berthe, soprano)
Christian du Plessis (Le Comte d'Oberthal, baritone)
Jules Bastin (Zacharie, bass)
Jerome Hines (Mathisen, bass)
Ambrosian Singers
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Henry Lewis (conductor)

Gioachino Rossini: Chant funèbre à Meyerbeer
Victor Jacob
Chœur de l'Opéra Royal
Pierre-Olivier Schmitt (conductor)

Vincenzo Bellini: Norma – "Casta Diva"
Maria Callas (Norma, soprano)
Orchestra and Chorus of La Scala, Milan
Tullio Serafin (conductor)

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