Composer of the Week - Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848) - Episode 5

Donald Macleod explores Donizetti's life and work, focusing on his commission to write Linda di Chamonix, a new opera for the Karntnertor theatre in Vienna, as well as his appointment to a prestigious honorary position as court composer to the Austrian emperor Ferdinand I . Donizetti once quipped that this was 12,000 francs 'for doing nothing'. The programme ends with a complete performance of the final act of Maria di Rohan, also written for Vienna, and considered to be one of the most tautly constructed of Donizetti's romantic melodramas. Arrete... (Dom Sebastien - 1843, Act 4) Dom Juan de Sylva, Grand Inquisitor ...... Alastair Miles Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Mark Elder (conductor) Opera Rara ORC33, CD 3 Tr 5 Linda di Chamounix - 1841-2 (Sinfonia to Act 1) Orchestra del Teatro di San Carlo di Napoli Tullio Serafin (conductor) Philips 442 093-2, CD 1 Tr 1 Ah, cosi santo affetto; Avvi un Dio; Bella e di sol vestita; So per prova il tuo bel core; Scena e terzetto finale (Maria di Rohan - 1843, Act 3) Enrico ...... Paolo Coni Maria ...... Mariana Nicolesco Riccardo ...... Giuseppe Morino De Fiesque ...... Giacomo Colafelice Orchestra Internazionale d'Italia Opera Massimo de Bernart (conductor) Brilliant Classics 92462, CD 2 Trs 4-8.