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Opera Explained: VERDI - Rigoletto (Smillie)

Opera Explained
An Introduction to... VERDI: Rigoletto
Author: Thomson Smillie
Narrator: David Timson
1 CD
8-page booklet
Naxos 8.558048
ISBN: 1-84379-038-6

Rigoletto is simply wonderful entertainment. It is uncanny to listen to the opening ten minutes or so and recognise a dozen superb tunes. It is also much more - a daring (for its time) attack on aristocratic privilege, a tender love story, and an impassioned appeal on behalf of the disadvantaged, all set to music of such wealth and beauty that, with its sister operas La traviata and Il trovatore, it has almost defined Italian opera for 150 years.

Overcoming initial trouble with the censors, Verdi's Rigoletto was a smash hit at its premiere and has not been out of the repertoire since. It's not hard to see why. From Thomson Smillie's accessible account, the opera comes alive on just 1 CD. As he tells us, Verdi captures the gaiety of the court in Mantua: it 'to borrow a famous phrase, shines like rotting mackerel by moonlight - it glitters and stinks'. David Timson is the perfect exponent of Smillie's vivacious writing, securing a thoroughly entertaining and informative disc.

Verdi, Giuseppe

An Introduction to... VERDI Rigoletto

1.	Introduction 00:08:12

2.	Rigoletto and the censors 00:04:43

3.	Verdi's career - the long view 00:03:17

4.	Act I - Prelude 00:04:58

5.	Monterone's curse 00:04:06

6.	Rigoletto and Sparafucile 00:03:51

7.	Rigoletto's love for his daughter - Gilda's entrance 00:03:33

8.	The Duke and Gilda 00:03:24

9.	Gilda's aria 'caro nome' - Gilda's abduction 00:07:39

10.	Act II 00:06:44

11.	Rigoletto's grief 00:05:52

12.	Gilda's love - Rigoletto's call for revenge 00:04:24

13.	Act III 00:05:01

14.	Quartet - the Duke, Maddalena, Gilda, Rigoletto 00:05:16

15.	'Ah, la maledizione!' - 'The curse!' 00:07:55

Total Playing Time: 01:18:55

Author(s):
Smillie, Thomson

Composer(s):
Verdi, Giuseppe

Reader(s):
Timson, David

Label: Naxos Educational

Series: Opera Explained

Genre: Music Education

Period: Romantic

Catalogue No: 8.558048

Barcode: 0636943804827

Physical Release: 04/2002


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7:27:16 AM, 24 November 2009

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Opera Explained: VERDI - Rigoletto (Smillie)