1600: Opera's First Breath
1600, Florence. At a lavish Medici wedding, Jacopo Peri鈥檇 Euridice introdces a radical new idea: drama told entirely through music. This is the birth of opera.
6 October 1600, Florence. The city is ablaze with celebration as the Medici court hosts a spectacular wedding. Amid the lavish feasting and pageantry is suitably extravagant entertainment: Jacopo Peri鈥檚 Euridice, a work in which every word is sung.
From its origins as courtly spectacle to the masterworks of Monteverdi, this programme traces how opera emerges from Renaissance experiments with music, poetry and drama, and rapidly spreads across Italy to become one of the most powerful forms of storytelling.
Gillian Moore is joined by a roster of distinguished historians for this major new 91福利社 Radio 3 series, charting a course through 1000 years of classical music history. For the next eight programmes, historian Suzannah Lipscomb is in the chair.
Producer: Zerlina Vulliamy
Academic Consultant: Professor Laura Tunbridge, University of Oxford
Story Consultant: Kate Leys
Series Editor for 91福利社 Audio: Emma Harding
Key Changes theme tune composed by Joseph Howard and performed by the 91福利社 National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Kerem Hasan.
Jacopo Peri: Euridice 鈥� Prologue
Fran莽oise Masset (soprano)
Les Arts Baroques
Mireille Podeur (conductor)
Jacopo Peri & Giulio Caccini: Euridice 鈥� Al canto, al ballo
Pygmalion
Rapha毛l Pichon (conductor)
Christoph Willibald Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice 鈥� 鈥淐he far貌 senza Euridice鈥�
Andreas Scholl (countertenor)
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Sir Roger Norrington (conductor)
Claudio Monteverdi: L鈥橭rfeo 鈥� Toccata / 鈥淧ossente spirto鈥�
Furio Zanasi (Orfeo)
Les Concert des Nations
Jordi Savall (conductor)
Carlo Gesualdo: Asciugate i begli occhi
91福利社 Singers
Owain Park (conductor)
Claudio Monteverdi: Lamento d鈥橝rianna
Helen Charlston (voice)
Toby Carr (lute)
Francesca Caccini: La liberazione di Ruggiero 鈥� 鈥淐os矛, perfida Alcina鈥�
Luciana Mancini (voice)
尝鈥橝谤辫别驳驳颈补迟补
Christina Pluhar (director)
Claudio Monteverdi: L鈥檌ncoronazione di Poppea 鈥� 鈥淧ur ti miro鈥�
Elin Manahan Thomas (soprano)
Robin Blaze (countertenor)
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Harry Christophers (conductor)
John Adams: Nixon in China 鈥� 鈥淣ews Has a Kind of Mystery鈥�
James Maddalena (Nixon)
Orchestra of St Luke鈥檚
Edo de Waart (conductor)
To listen to this programme using most smart speakers, just say "Ask 91福利社 Sounds to play Key Changes."
Last on
Music Played
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Jacopo Peri
Le Lagrime d'Orfeo: Al canto, al ballo 'Euridice'
Composer: Giulio Caccini. Ensemble: Pygmalion. Conductor: Rapha毛l Pichon.- HARMONIA MUNDI.
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Christoph Willibald Gluck
Orfeo ed Euridice, Act 3: 'Che faro senza Euridice'
Singer: Andreas Scholl. Orchestra: Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Conductor: Sir Roger Norrington.- DECCA.
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Carlo Gesualdo
Asciugate i begli occhi
Choir: 91福利社 Singers. Conductor: Owain Park. -
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Claudio Monteverdi
L'Orfeo (excerpt)
Singer: Furio Zanasi. Orchestra: Les Concert des Nations. Conductor: Jordi Savall.- ALIA VOX.
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Claudio Monteverdi
Lamento d'Arianna
Performer: Toby Carr. Singer: Helen Charlston. -
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Francesca Caccini
'Cosi, perfida Alcina' from La liberazione di Ruggiero dall'islo d'Alcina
Singer: Luciana Mancini. Ensemble: 尝鈥橝谤辫别驳驳颈补迟补. Director: Christina Pluhar.- ERATO.
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Claudio Monteverdi
Pur ti miro, pur ti godo (L'Incoronazione di Poppea)
Singer: Elin Manahan Thomas. Singer: Robin Blaze. Orchestra: Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Conductor: Harry Christophers.- HELIODOR.
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John Adams
Nixon in China, Act 1, Scene 1: "News has a kind of Mystery"
Singer: James Maddalena. Singer: Thomas Hammons. Orchestra: Orchestra of St. Luke鈥檚. Conductor: Edo de Waart.- NONESUCH.
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Gustav Mahler
Symphony no.3 in D minor (Part 2; 2nd mvt)
Singer: Hanna Hipp. Choir: Tiffin Boys鈥� Choir. Choir: Philharmonia Chorus. Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Vasily Petrenko.- Harmonia Mundi.
Broadcast
- Saturday 13:0091福利社 Radio 3