Rossini was born in 1792 in Pesaro, Italy and died in France in 1868. Amongst other works he was a prolific writer of operas, both tragic and comic. He wrote thirty-nine in less than twenty years, becoming one of the most successful and popular operatic composers of his time. The Italian Girl in Algiers (L’Italiana … Read more
Felix Mendelssohn was born in 1809 in Hamburg, the second son of a distinguished intellectual artistic and banking family. He studied piano, theory and composition, producing his first piece at the age of 11. Thereafter he wrote a profusion of sonatas, concertos, string symphonies, piano quartets and singspiels. Mendelssohn’s music shows the influence of Bach, … Read more
This opera was first performed at the Burgtheater, St. Michael’s Square Vienna, which later became the “K.K. Hoftheater nächst der Burg”, on the 26th of January 1790, the day before Mozart’s 34th birthday and only two years before his death. It was well received, and ten performances were given in that year. Mozart, accompanied by … Read more
Wagner was born in 1813 and completed his Tannhäuser opera in 1845. The opera was premiered in Dresden on 19th October the same year. Tristan and Isolde was completed 1859 and premiered in Munich on 10th June 1865. Wagner was in his early thirties when he composed Tannhäuser, and in his mid forties when he … Read more
Figaro was first performed in 1786, based on a play by da Ponte who was the leading librettist at that time. The play had everything to commend it, not least the thrill of being banned because of its subversive nature. Figaro teems with plots and intrigues. The play is reminiscent of a French farce, with … Read more
Rossini was an acclaimed master of the comic opera (opera buffa). Although only a handful of his 39 operas are performed today, the popularity of his overtures has never waned. The Thieving Magpie, The Barber of Seville, William Tell, Italian Girl in Algiers etc. all proclaim the sensuous vitality and brilliance of Rossini’s musical imagination, … Read more
Between 1828 and 1833 Mendelssohn wrote three overtures, each with sea connotations: the Hebrides Op 26, The Fair Melusine Op32, and the one included in this programme, which was inspired by two short poems by the German writer and poet Gõethe (1749-1832). The first was entitled Calm at Sea, and the second, The Prosperous Voyage. … Read more
The setting is Seville and the libretto by Da Ponte is his free adaptation of an old Spanish “legend” which tells of the exploits of the libertine Don Juan (Don Giovanni). In Act 1, the Don has murdered the Commendatore whose statue in the final act comes to life, and whose ice cold hand casts … Read more
Imagine a tale which is a cross between Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and a medieval legend, complete with damsels in distress, knights in shining armour and a band of marauding pirates and there you have the essence of the plot of Weber’s last opera, “Oberon”. Commissioned by Covent Garden, the work received its first … Read more
In 1829 Beethoven received a commission to write incidental music for the Viennese Imperial Court production of Goethe’s drama the following year. Beethoven’s music consists of ten numbers, but it is only the Overture that has found a permanent place in our present day orchestral repertoire. If the Overture is essentially in Sonata Form. The … Read more
