The People vs Verdi

Available for 29 days

Success only makes Verdi more defiant. Kate Molleson explores a period in which the composer repeatedly challenged convention, taking on censors, scandalising polite society and testing the limits of what opera could portray. As his relationship with Giuseppina Strepponi attracts gossip and disapproval, Verdi fights battles both on and off the stage. From Rigoletto to La Traviata, he turns controversial subjects into some of the most enduring works in the operatic repertoire. Rigoletto: La donna è mobile Jonas Kaufmann, tenor Orchestra dell'Opera di Parma Pier Giorgio Morandi, conductor Rigoletto, Act I scenes Sherrill Milnes, baritone Joan Sutherland, soprano Gillian Knight, mezzo-soprano London Symphony Orchestra Richard Bonynge, conductor Luisa Miller, Act I: Ti desta, Luisa Marina Rebeka, soprano Munich Radio Symphony Orchestra Ivan Repušić, conductor Stiffelio: Overture ORF Symphony Orchestra and Chorus Lamberto Gardelli, conductor La Traviata, Act I scenes Maria Callas, soprano Francesco Albanese, tenor RAI Chorus and Orchestra Turin Gabriele Santini, conductor Produced by Ellie Ajao for BBC Audio Wales