The Final Act

Available for 17 days

Gaetano Donizetti was one of Italy’s most prolific tunesmiths, with almost 70 operas to his name – about as many as Rossini, Bellini and Verdi all combined - whose arias still cut straight to the heart today. All this week, Donald Macleod follows his irresistible rise: from a child brought up in a dark, cramped cellar to become a pioneering master of the style known as bel canto. And like any opera plot, there’s triumph and tragedy, headaches and heartbreak… Today, in a tale of two cities, we’ll see unfold the final act of Donizetti’s career as his productivity ramps up and he gets the long-coveted post of Director of Music to the Austrian Emperor. We hear about his unfortunate fate that mirrored one of his most famous operatic scenes, and the somewhat surprising relic made from his corpse. Trovatella “Sovra il campo della vita” Marie-Nicole Lemieux, soprano Giulio Zappa, piano Don Pasquale, Act II: “Che interminabile andirivieni” Munchner Rundfunkschor Munchner Rundfunksorchester Roberto Abbado, conductor String Quartet No 18 (i. Allegro) Revolutionary Drawing Room Don Pasquale, Act III: “Com’è gentil… Bravo, bravo Don Pasquale” Frank Lopardo, tenor (Ernesto) Eva Mei, soprano (Norina) Renato Bruson, bass (Don Pasquale) Thomas Allen, bass-baritone (Malatasto) Munchner Rundfunkschor Munchner Rundfunksorchester Roberto Abbado, conductor Dom Sebastien: Seul sur la terre Benjamin Bernheim, tenor Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna Frédéric Chaslin, conductor Requiem: Offertorio – Lux Aeterna Marcel Rosca, bass Tiziana K. Sojat, soprano Vittorio Giammarrusco, tenor Jaroslava Horska-Maxová, mezzo-soprano Zdeněk Hlávka, baritone Prague Chamber Chorus Prague Virtuosi Alexander Rahbari, conductor Produced by Amelia Parker for BBC Audio Wales and West.