Monteverdi To Rossini - Italian Opera

Series

Episode

First
Broadcast

Comments

2010

20100503

Pasta, pizza and opera - just three of Italy's gifts to the world. But while pasta may have originated in China and the Ancient Greeks appear to have had a form of pizza, there's no doubt that the origins of opera are thoroughly Italian. So as part of the BBC's focus on opera in 2010, Donald Macleod conducts a whistlestop tour through two centuries and more of Italian opera, from Monteverdi to Rossini.

Monday's programme starts with opera in its infancy, as Donald explores the origins of the form in the courtly entertainments of late-16th-century Florence, and we hear from the earliest true opera to have survived intact. Then Monteverdi comes on the scene and the infant's growth accelerates rapidly - we hear from the first operatic masterpiece, then from one of the first operas to offer a realistic portrayal of human relations and motivations. It's about Poppea, a courtesan who sleeps her way to the very top. Finally, a look at the two composers who more than any others dominated the genre in the immediate aftermath of Monteverdi - Francesco Cavalli and Antonio Cesti. They're hardly famous names today, but between them they produced the most popular operas of the entire 17th century.

Donald Macleod focuses on the first opera and the first operatic masterpiece.

2010

20100504

Continuing Donald Macleod's exploration of two centuries of Italian opera from Monteverdi to Rossini. The second programme focuses on a single decade, the 1720s, and the work of three giants of their day, whom history has treated rather differently: Alessandro Scarlatti; Antonio Vivaldi; and George Frideric Handel. Today Alessandro Scarlatti's reputation is outshone by that of his son Domenico, but he was one of the major musical figures of his time, with over 100 operas to his credit - of which very few are ever performed today.

Unlike Scarlatti, Vivaldi's operatic 'rehabilitation' is well under way, but despite his considerable output - he's known to have composed at least 50 operas, 16 of which have survived - he's still far better known for his instrumental music. Time has been kinder to Handel's operas, many of which are regularly staged today. Handel was German by birth, but he spent a good chunk of his early professional life in Italy, writing opera in the Italian language and the Italian tradition, and he carried on doing so after he settled in London in 1712.

It's a sign of the enormous international success of Italian opera that its leading exponent in the late Baroque, only a century or so after its invention, wasn't actually an Italian!

Donald Macleod focuses on Italian opera in the 1720s, and the work of Vivaldi and Handel.

2010

20100505

Continuing Donald Macleod's exploration of two centuries of Italian opera from Monteverdi to Rossini. Wednesday's programme picks up where Tuesday's left off, to chart a course through the 18th-century tradition of opera seria - serious opera - with music by some very familiar names and some relatively obscure ones. Giovanni Battista Pergolesi is probably best known today for his comic intermezzo Il serva padrona, and for providing some of the source material for Stravinsky's ballet Pulcinella.

We hear from him here in his serious mode, in an opera written three years before his untimely death at the age of 26. Baldassare Galuppi and Niccol Jommelli were two of the foremost operatic composers of the mid-18th century, now almost entirely overlooked; Jommelli in particular is a master of thrillingly expressive music, and well overdue for a revival. Christoph Willibald Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice was one of the most influential operas of its time, still widely performed today. Finally, extracts from an early opera by Mozart and a late one by Haydn. Mozart's, the work of a dazzlingly precocious 14-year-old, was shelved for two centuries despite the great success of its opening run. Haydn's never even got the opening run, planned for London in 1791 - it fell foul of local political rivalries and had to wait nearly 160 years for its first performance.

Donald Macleod explores Italian opera, focusing on the tradition of opera seria.

2010

20100506

Continuing Donald Macleod's exploration of two centuries of Italian opera from Monteverdi to Rossini. This fourth programme delves into the batty world of opera buffa, with lecherous masters and saucy maids gamboling about suggestively in ludicrous plots. First up is Pergolesi's Il serva padrona - 'The Maid as Mistress' - originally designed as light relief between the acts of a 'serious' opera. In the event, it achieved such popularity in its own right that it came to be widely performed as a standalone work, and its serious counterpart was forgotten.

Very few people today have heard of Gaetano Latilla, but in his own time he was considered one of the most important composers of Italian opera. His La finta cameriera - 'The Fake Maid' - was one of the few full-length comic operas successfully exported from Naples in the 1730s. Baldassare Galuppi cropped up in Wednesday's programme as a composer of serious opera. Like many composers of the period, he also did comedy; his La diavolessa - 'The She-Devil' - is a delightful work with a completely implausible plot.

The curtain comes down with Mozart, who brought the buffa line to an unsurpassable peak of perfection with his three comic operas to librettos by Lorenzo da Ponte.

Donald Macleod explores opera buffa, a comic style, often with ludicrous plots.

2010

05 LAST

20100507

Continuing Donald Macleod's exploration of two centuries of Italian opera from Monteverdi to Rossini. In the final course of this week-long operatic banquet we reach Signor Crescendo himself, Gioacchino Rossini. Rossini is known above all for his dazzling comic masterpiece The Barber of Seville, but like many of his musical forbears he also cultivated his 'serious' side. It's a side that many listeners may be only dimly aware of, and it's never been particularly good box office.

After a shaky start, The Barber became a perennial favourite with audiences. By contrast, the searing tragedy of Ermione just didn't catch on; the opera ran for a handful of nights before the composer withdrew it, after which it went into suspended animation until it was finally revived over a century and a half later. When they met in 1822, Beethoven advised Rossini to stick to comic opera. Ermione proves how wrong he was. We also hear from the two leading composers of Italian opera in the generation before Rossini, Ferdinando Paër and Simon Mayr - as with several of this week's composers, little-known now but major players in their own day.

Donald Macleod explores operas by Rossini, Ferdinando Paer and Simon Mayr.

Episodes

Series	Episode	First Broadcast	Comments
2010	01	20100503	Pasta, pizza and opera - just three of Italy's gifts to the world. But while pasta may have originated in China and the Ancient Greeks appear to have had a form of pizza, there's no doubt that the origins of opera are thoroughly Italian. So as part of the BBC's focus on opera in 2010, Donald Macleod conducts a whistlestop tour through two centuries and more of Italian opera, from Monteverdi to Rossini. Monday's programme starts with opera in its infancy, as Donald explores the origins of the form in the courtly entertainments of late-16th-century Florence, and we hear from the earliest true opera to have survived intact. Then Monteverdi comes on the scene and the infant's growth accelerates rapidly - we hear from the first operatic masterpiece, then from one of the first operas to offer a realistic portrayal of human relations and motivations. It's about Poppea, a courtesan who sleeps her way to the very top. Finally, a look at the two composers who more than any others dominated the genre in the immediate aftermath of Monteverdi - Francesco Cavalli and Antonio Cesti. They're hardly famous names today, but between them they produced the most popular operas of the entire 17th century. Donald Macleod focuses on the first opera and the first operatic masterpiece.
2010	02	20100504	Continuing Donald Macleod's exploration of two centuries of Italian opera from Monteverdi to Rossini. The second programme focuses on a single decade, the 1720s, and the work of three giants of their day, whom history has treated rather differently: Alessandro Scarlatti; Antonio Vivaldi; and George Frideric Handel. Today Alessandro Scarlatti's reputation is outshone by that of his son Domenico, but he was one of the major musical figures of his time, with over 100 operas to his credit - of which very few are ever performed today. Unlike Scarlatti, Vivaldi's operatic 'rehabilitation' is well under way, but despite his considerable output - he's known to have composed at least 50 operas, 16 of which have survived - he's still far better known for his instrumental music. Time has been kinder to Handel's operas, many of which are regularly staged today. Handel was German by birth, but he spent a good chunk of his early professional life in Italy, writing opera in the Italian language and the Italian tradition, and he carried on doing so after he settled in London in 1712. It's a sign of the enormous international success of Italian opera that its leading exponent in the late Baroque, only a century or so after its invention, wasn't actually an Italian! Donald Macleod focuses on Italian opera in the 1720s, and the work of Vivaldi and Handel.
2010	03	20100505	Continuing Donald Macleod's exploration of two centuries of Italian opera from Monteverdi to Rossini. Wednesday's programme picks up where Tuesday's left off, to chart a course through the 18th-century tradition of opera seria - serious opera - with music by some very familiar names and some relatively obscure ones. Giovanni Battista Pergolesi is probably best known today for his comic intermezzo Il serva padrona, and for providing some of the source material for Stravinsky's ballet Pulcinella. We hear from him here in his serious mode, in an opera written three years before his untimely death at the age of 26. Baldassare Galuppi and Niccol Jommelli were two of the foremost operatic composers of the mid-18th century, now almost entirely overlooked; Jommelli in particular is a master of thrillingly expressive music, and well overdue for a revival. Christoph Willibald Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice was one of the most influential operas of its time, still widely performed today. Finally, extracts from an early opera by Mozart and a late one by Haydn. Mozart's, the work of a dazzlingly precocious 14-year-old, was shelved for two centuries despite the great success of its opening run. Haydn's never even got the opening run, planned for London in 1791 - it fell foul of local political rivalries and had to wait nearly 160 years for its first performance. Donald Macleod explores Italian opera, focusing on the tradition of opera seria.
2010	04	20100506	Continuing Donald Macleod's exploration of two centuries of Italian opera from Monteverdi to Rossini. This fourth programme delves into the batty world of opera buffa, with lecherous masters and saucy maids gamboling about suggestively in ludicrous plots. First up is Pergolesi's Il serva padrona - 'The Maid as Mistress' - originally designed as light relief between the acts of a 'serious' opera. In the event, it achieved such popularity in its own right that it came to be widely performed as a standalone work, and its serious counterpart was forgotten. Very few people today have heard of Gaetano Latilla, but in his own time he was considered one of the most important composers of Italian opera. His La finta cameriera - 'The Fake Maid' - was one of the few full-length comic operas successfully exported from Naples in the 1730s. Baldassare Galuppi cropped up in Wednesday's programme as a composer of serious opera. Like many composers of the period, he also did comedy; his La diavolessa - 'The She-Devil' - is a delightful work with a completely implausible plot. The curtain comes down with Mozart, who brought the buffa line to an unsurpassable peak of perfection with his three comic operas to librettos by Lorenzo da Ponte. Donald Macleod explores opera buffa, a comic style, often with ludicrous plots.
2010	05 LAST	20100507	Continuing Donald Macleod's exploration of two centuries of Italian opera from Monteverdi to Rossini. In the final course of this week-long operatic banquet we reach Signor Crescendo himself, Gioacchino Rossini. Rossini is known above all for his dazzling comic masterpiece The Barber of Seville, but like many of his musical forbears he also cultivated his 'serious' side. It's a side that many listeners may be only dimly aware of, and it's never been particularly good box office. After a shaky start, The Barber became a perennial favourite with audiences. By contrast, the searing tragedy of Ermione just didn't catch on; the opera ran for a handful of nights before the composer withdrew it, after which it went into suspended animation until it was finally revived over a century and a half later. When they met in 1822, Beethoven advised Rossini to stick to comic opera. Ermione proves how wrong he was. We also hear from the two leading composers of Italian opera in the generation before Rossini, Ferdinando Paër and Simon Mayr - as with several of this week's composers, little-known now but major players in their own day. Donald Macleod explores operas by Rossini, Ferdinando Paer and Simon Mayr.