Verdi

Ferruccio Furlanetto (at the Met last year) as the sleepless King Philip in his study -- with the fateful jewel box

by KenI've thought of another loose end I'd really hate not to tie up: our gradual traversal of the great scene in King Philip's study in Act IV (Act III of the four-act version) of Verdi's Don Carlos.We've already covered the Spanish king's bleak pre-dawn monologue ("Verdi's King Philip -- a man in crisis," January 2013), where he makes clear that he knows his young wife

"La Traviata at the foot of Masada"VERDI: La Traviata: Prelude and Opening Scene(through Alfredo and Violetta's Brindisi)[You can find an Italian-English libretto for La Traviataat "DM's opera site."][in English] Valerie Masterson (s), Violetta Valéry; Della Jones (ms), Flora Bervoix;

Marcelo Álvarez and Sondra Radvanovsky sing the Act II duet from Verdi's A Masked Ball at the Met, Dec. 8, 2012.by KenIn Friday's preview we heard answering soprano and tenor snippets from three great Verdi duets, and I hope you heard what causes them, as I noted, to blend in my head.

by KenOkay, so we've got these three duet-chunks for soprano and tenor -- duet-chunks that for reasons which I hope will become apparent have a way of merging and mingling in my head. They're very different, and yet . . .

"Reverenza!": Mistress Quickly approaches Falstaff in the Garter Inn.

Bryn Terfel and Anthony Michaels-Moore as Falstaff and Ford in Act II, Scene 1 of Covent Garden's Falstaff, 2003Excerpt 1 (three performances)Is it a dream? or reality?Two enormous hornsare growing from my head.Is it a dream? Master Ford!Master Ford! Are you sleeping?Excerpt 2 (three performances)The time is fixed,the trick fullly planned;you're cheated and swindled!And yet they'll say that a jealous husband is a madman!Excerpt 3 (three performances)I'll explode.