For me, no one nails opera like Puccini and ‘Un bel dì’ is possibly the essence of romantic opera.” Tim Lihoreau: “This is a beautiful, tragic love story. It was an immediate success, and has been ever since. Three months later, and Madam Butterfly returned to the stage, this time with a third act and the famous ‘Humming Chorus’. Like many composers before him (and since), Puccini had left it a little too late to complete the work and even his star-studded cast couldn’t pull it off with such little rehearsal. Puccini’s first attempt at Madam Butterfly in February 1904 didn’t quite go to plan. Nikoloz Lagvilava as Rigoletto and Vuvu Mpofu as Gilda, at Glyndebourne Opera House. When Rigoletto opens the sack to find the body of his daughter, not the Duke whom he had paid to have killed, the howl he emits is one of the most heart-rending moments in all opera.” Here a father’s unconditional love for his daughter unwittingly causes her death. John Suchet: “The father-daughter relationship occurs and recurs in Verdi’s operas, and nowhere more dramatically than in Rigoletto. The aria ‘La donna è mobile’ was sung in the streets the following morning, and the opera attracted praise from cultural greats such as Rossini and the playwright George Bernard Shaw, frustrating Victor Hugo, author of Le roi s’amuse which the opera was based on. It finally received its premiere in Venice, 1851, to great success. At the time it was written, Austrian censors were in control of the theatres in the north of Italy and they objected to some of the more controversial moments that arguably make the opera the powerful work it is. The premiere to Verdi’s Rigoletto almost didn’t happen. ‘Che gelida manina’, Musetta’s Waltz and ‘Si, mi chiamano Mimi’ are just heartbreakers which make you feel as if you’re there in Paris with the lovers.” Tim Lihoreau: “A great first opera experience, where the combination of a good staging and Puccini’s genius for tunes can combine to take you far away. The joys of love and sorrow and some of the most memorable melodies of all time.” A love story at its heart, Mimì and Rodolfo are sent on a journey of heartbreak and hardship that gives rise to some of the most heart-wrenching music ever written, including ‘O soave fanciulla’ and more.Īnne-Marie Minhall: “This Puccini opera about young bohemians has everything. When I was little, I used to sing the Anvil Chorus with my brother and sister, but we never knew the words so we just made up our own!”īased on a set of 1851 short stories, Puccini’s La bohème is set in the Latin quarter of early 19th-century Paris. Music you might recognise from it includes the ‘Anvil Chorus’ which, as the title might suggest, depicts anvils being struck at dawn.Īlexander Armstrong: “ Il trovatore holds a sentimental place in my heart. It arrived amidst a flurry of musical activity in the early 1850s, as Verdi was busy with Rigoletto, and four other opera projects, around the time. Il trovatore, or The Troubadour was premiered in Rome on 19 January 1853, with a libretto by Salvadore Cammarano. Gaelle Arquez as Carmen at the Bregenz Festival. Read more: Did you know that Carmen had a completely disastrous premiere? Packed with memorable tunes – who does not know the Toreador’s Song? – it is rightly recognised today as one of the finest of all operas.” John Suchet: “Carmen was ground-breaking at the time, seducing the hapless Don Jose to get what she wants, although she knows it will destroy his career. Hits from start to finish and a great story of love, jealousy, tragedy, and a woman remaining true to herself.” Despite an unsuccessful run in France, it achieved great popularity throughout the rest of Europe within its first decade and remains a firm opera house favourite to this day, providing us with the ‘ Habañera’ and the ‘Toreador Song’ – two of the most popular opera arias today.Īnne-Marie Minhall: “Carmen is one of the strongest roles for a feisty mezzo soprano.

When it was first performed in Paris, the scandalous story of Georges Bizet’s Carmen shocked 1875 audiences with its wild tale of a single-minded woman who knew exactly what she wanted, and would stop at nothing to get it. Read more: Best Puccini operas of all time

Best verdi opera