Verdi - La traviata

La Traviata Royal Opera House. Richard Eyre’s highly acclaimed 1994 production conducted by Music Director Antonio Pappano Renee Fleming Violetta Valery Thomas Hampson Giorgio Germont Joesph Calleja Alfredo Germont Eddie Wade Baron Douphol Monika-Evelin Liiv Dr Grenvil Haoyin Xue Glastone de Letorieres Sarah Pring Annina https://www.digitaltheatre.com/consumer/production/la-traviataAn Introduction to La traviata (The Royal Opera) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qA9HyzRMId4 La traviata - 'Sempre libera' (Verdi; Renée Fleming, The Royal Opera) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGlugsYQZgg La traviata - Brindisi aka The Drinking Song (The Royal Opera) starring Venera Gimadieva https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK-NUuTCras

Carl Orff: Carmina Burana

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEllLECo4OM

Dvořák Symphony No 9 "New World"

Dvořák Symphony No 9 "New World" Celibidache, Münchner Philharmoniker, 1991 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9RT2nHD6CQ

George Bizet - Carmen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNvHXHMfxNw TERESA BERGANZA* sings "L´amour est un oiseau rebelle"(Habanera) from Bizet´s Carmen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oby-hCgZLJc

Mozart - The Magic Flute

The Magic Flute - Papagena ! Papagena ! & Halt ein! o Papageno, und sei klug https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZo0klTdVGg Diana Damrau sings 'Der Hölle Rache', the famous Queen of the Night aria https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuBeBjqKSGQ

Giacomo Puccini - La bohème

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW7py67QqZU La Boheme - Pavarotti- "Che gelida manina" Fiamma Izzo d' Amico "Si, mi chiamano Mimi" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkHGUaB1Bs8 Che gelida manina, se la lasci riscaldar. Cercar che giova? Al buio non si trova. Ma per fortuna é una notte di luna, e qui la luna labbiamo vicina. Aspetti, signorina, le dirò con due parole chi son, e che faccio, come vivo. Vuole? Chi son? Sono un poeta. Che cosa faccio? Scrivo. E come vivo? Vivo. Vuole? Chi son? Sono un poeta. Che cosa faccio? Scrivo. E come vivo? Vivo. In povertà mia lieta scialo da gran signore rime ed inni damore. Per sogni e per chimere e per castelli in aria, lanima ho milionaria. Talor dal mio forziere ruban tutti i gioelli due ladri, gli occhi belli. Ventrar con voi pur ora, ed i miei sogni usati e i bei sogni miei, tosto si dileguar! Ma il furto non maccora, poiché, poiché vha preso stanza la speranza! Or che mi conoscete, parlate voi, deh! Parlate. Chi siete? Vi piaccia dir! English Translation What a frozen little hand, let me warm it for you. What's the use of looking? We won't find it in the dark. But luckily it's a moonlit night, and the moon is near us here. Wait, mademoiselle, I will tell you in two words, who I am, what I do, and how I live. May I? Who am I? I am a poet. What do I do? I write. And how do I live? I live. In my carefree poverty I squander rhymes and love songs like a lord. When it comes to dreams and visions and castles in the air, I've the soul of a millionaire. From time to time two thieves steal all the jewels out of my safe, two pretty eyes. They came in with you just now, and my customary dreams my lovely dreams, melted at once into thin air! But the theft doesn't anger me, for their place has been taken by hope! Now that you know all about me, you tell me who you are. Please do! Sì. Mi chiamano Mimì ma il mio nome è Lucia. La storia mia è breve. A tela o a seta ricamo in casa e fuori... Son tranquilla e lieta ed è mio svago far gigli e rose. Mi piaccion quelle cose che han sì dolce malìa, che parlano d'amor, di primavere, di sogni e di chimere, quelle cose che han nome poesia... Lei m'intende? Mi chiamano Mimì, il perché non so. Sola, mi fo il pranzo da me stessa. Non vado sempre a messa, ma prego assai il Signore. Vivo sola, soletta là in una bianca cameretta: guardo sui tetti e in cielo; ma quando vien lo sgelo il primo sole è mio il primo bacio dell'aprile è mio! Germoglia in un vaso una rosa... Foglia a foglia la spio! Cosi gentile il profumo d'un fiore! Ma i fior ch'io faccio, Ahimè! non hanno odore. Altro di me non le saprei narrare. Sono la sua vicina che la vien fuori d'ora a importunare. English Translation Yes, they call me Mimi but my true name is Lucia. My story is short. A canvas or a silk I embroidery at home and abroad... I am happy happy and at peace and my pastime is to make lilies and roses. I love all things that have gentle sweet smells, that speak of love, of spring, of dreams and fanciful things, those things that have poetic names ... Do you understand me? They call me Mimi, I do not know why. Alone, I make lunch by myself. I do not go to church, but I pray a lot to the Lord. I stay all alone there in a white room and look upon the roofs and the sky but when the thaw comes The first sun, like my first kiss, is mine! Buds in a vase... Leaf and leaf I spy! That gentle perfume of a flower! But the flowers that I make, Alas! no smell. Other than telling you about me, I know nothing. I am only your neighbour who comes out to bother you. Renata Tebaldi Jussi Bjoerling sing La Boheme's "O Soave Fanciulla" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZJqR_8uE9s

Georges Bizet - Les pêcheurs de perles

Les pêcheurs de perles (The Pearl Fishers) is an opera in three acts by the French composer Georges Bizet, to a libretto by Eugène Cormon and Michel Carré. Jussi Björling & Robert Merrill / Pearl Fishers Duet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PYt2HlBuyI

Mozart - Cosi fan tutte

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM5MBjviK68 Cosi fan tutte, Mozart, Scala, Muti, Sottotitoli Italiano Fiordiligi: Daniela Dessi Dorabella: Dolores Ziegler One of my favourite Duets - "Ah guarda sorella" with Renee Fleming & Joyce DiDonato FIORDILIGI Ah, guarda, sorella, Se bocca più bella, Se petto più nobile Si può ritrovar. DORABELLA Osserva tu un poco, Che fuoco ha ne' sguardi! Se fiamma, se dardi Non sembran scoccar. FIORDILIGI Si vede un sembiante Guerriero ed amante. DORABELLA Si vede una faccia Che alletta e minaccia. FIORDILIGI Io sono felice. DORABELLA Felice son io. FIORDILIGI E DORABELLA Se questo mio core Mai cangia desio, Amore mi faccia Vivendo penar. English Translation: FIORDILIGI Ah tell me sister, If one could ever find A nobler face, A sweeter mouth. DORABELLA Just look, See what fire Is in his eye, If flames and darts Do not seem to flash forth! FIORDILIGI This is the face Of a soldier and a lover. DORABELLA This is a face Both charming and alarming. FIORDILIGI AND DORABELLA How happy I am! If ever my heart Changes its affection, May love make me Live in pain. https://www.glyndebourne.com/tickets-and-whats-on/events/2017/cosi-fan-tutte This Nicholas Hytner's 2006 production for Glyndebourne featured Topi Lehtipuu, Anke Vondung, Miah Persson & Luca Pisaroni and was conducted by Iván Fischer. See my Digital Theatre purchase. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_0FHyF3Pyk

Delibes: Lakmé - Duo des fleurs

Delibes: Lakmé - Duo des fleurs (Flower Duet), Sabine Devieilhe & Marianne Crebassa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1ZL5AxmK_A Sous le dôme épais Où le blanc jasmin À la rose s’assemble Sur la rive en fleurs, Riant au matin Viens, descendons ensemble. Doucement glissons de son flot charmant Suivons le courant fuyant Dans l’onde frémissante D’une main nonchalante Viens, gagnons le bord, Où la source dort et L’oiseau, l’oiseau chante. Sous le dôme épais Où le blanc jasmin, Ah! descendons Ensemble! Sous le dôme épais Où le blanc jasmin À la rose s’assemble Sur la rive en fleurs, Riant au matin Viens, descendons ensemble. Doucement glissons de son flot charmant Suivons le courant fuyant Dans l’onde frémissante D’une main nonchalante Viens, gagnons le bord, Où la source dort et L’oiseau, l’oiseau chante. Sous le dôme épais Où le blanc jasmin, Ah! descendons Ensemble! English Translation of the Flower Duet Under the thick dome where the white jasmine With the roses entwined together On the river bank covered with flowers laughing in the morning Let us descend together! Gently floating on its charming risings, On the river’s current On the shining waves, One hand reaches, Reaches for the bank, Where the spring sleeps, And the bird, the bird sings. Under the thick dome where the white jasmine Ah! calling us Together! Under the thick dome where white jasmine With the roses entwined together On the river bank covered with flowers laughing in the morning Let us descend together! Gently floating on its charming risings, On the river’s current On the shining waves, One hand reaches, Reaches for the bank, Where the spring sleeps, And the bird, the bird sings. Under the thick dome where the white jasmine Ah! calling us Together! This part of the story The Brahmin high priest, Nilakantha, has been forbidden to practice his religion when British forces arrive in the city. Secretly, he leads a group of people back the temple to worship. Nilakantha's daughter, Lakme, stays behind with her servant, Mallika, gathering flowers to prepare for a bath in the river. As they remove their jewels and clothing, the women sing their Flower Duet, describing the white jasmine, roses, and other flowers that adorn the riverbanks. As the two women disappear into the river, two British officers, Gerald and Frederic, and their girlfriends are having a picnic and stroll alongside the riverbank.

Rossini - Il barbiere di Siviglia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvW9cUCuPQI Teresa BERGANZA singing "Una voce poco fa" John Rawnsley's Figaro singing 'Largo al factotum' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq_0wPYFp9A

Mozart's - The Marriage of Figaro by The Royal Opera

Probably my favourite https://www.roh.org.uk/productions/the-marriage-of-figaro-by-david-mcvicar But my favourite Cherubino is Teresa Berganza see Teresa Berganza: "Voi che sapete" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJKalCbpBvI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEqAXXD98hQ and singing the aria of Cherubino "Non so piu cosa son cosa facchio" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz8LGBvPcgg

Beethoven Symphony 9 "Choral" André Cluytens, Berlin Philarmonic, 1958

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9Z8NsQ1JZc This is the first record Dad bought and it opened my eyes .... Good old 'Classics for Pleasure" Mind you Kubrick's sound track to a "Clockwork Orange" was the reason I have always loved the 2nd Movement or Scherzo of this symphony. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaqvFHuZaJY Then there is The Berlin Celebration Concert - Beethoven, Symphony No 9 Bernstein 1989 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IInG5nY_wrU