Dramatic soprano Frida Leider was regarded by many colleagues, critics, and opera enthusiasts as the finest Wagnerian soprano during the interwar years. She was admired not only for a powerful voice of considerable beauty and flexibility, but also for her artistic integrity and histrionic gifts that compared favorably with those of the finest stage actresses. She had seen Eleanora Duse on stage and had been impressed with the legendary Italian actress' power and economy of gesture. Likewise, the musical comedy star Fritzi Massary proved an enduring icon for her poise and concentration.

Das Orchester l'arte del mondo unter der Leitung von Werner Ehrhardt ist immer auf der Suche nach herausragenden musikalischen Wiederentdeckungen und sorgt mit den Weltersteinspielungen in der Reihe »Opern aus den Archiven der Welt« immer wieder für Aufsehen.

Operowa twórczość Stanisława Moniuszki najczęściej kojarzona jest z tematyką narodową oraz licznymi odniesieniami do patriotyzmu i propagowania wzorców związanych z kulturą polską. Okazuje się jednak, że kompozytor za główny cel nie zawsze stawiał sobie promowanie rodzimej tradycji. Beata, ostatnia, jednoaktowa opera Stanisława Moniuszki jest kompozycją wyrazowo mniej złożoną od chociażby Strasznego Dworu. Dzieło za życia kompozytora nie doczekało się aprobaty polskiej publiczności, oczekującej od kompozytora raczej dzieł ku pokrzepieniu serc niż wodewilu. Akcja tej opery komicznej oparta jest o liczne intrygi oraz miłosne perypetie głównej bohaterki, Beaty. Niniejszy album w pewnym sensie ukazuje nam operową twórczość Stanisława Moniuszki z innej, nie tak oczywistej, perspektywy.

A rendition of a tango operita, commissioned by the Argentinian Ministry of Culture (this rendition anyway), was revived by violinist Gidon Kremer, who had such a love for the original LPs from Piazzolla and Horacio Ferrer that he wanted to recreate the music. Ferrer was kept on as El Duende (the Goblin) – the role that he created when he wrote the libretto thirty years earlier. Regrettably, Piazzolla had passed on prior to the remake. Nonetheless, the arrangements and orchestrations are remarkable. The suffering and the passion of Maria (the main character in the show) are perfectly portrayed by the tango. The music changes forms as her character progresses, taking on traditional tangos, modern tangos, milongas, waltzes, and other styles to reflect changes in Maria. The music is always well-composed. This is an opera for the display of modern music, and the tango of Piazzolla is modern music at its finest.

A sumptuous selection of operatic arias interpreted by Maija Kovalevska, who, with the Liepaja Symphony Orchestra, performs her favourite heroines from operas by Puccini, Mozart, Massenet, Gluck and Tchaikovsky.

For a long time, a large portion of Handel’s early opera Rodrigo was thought to have been lost. It was not until 1974 that the printed libretto turned up again and nine years later the third act was found in the Earl of Shaftesbury’s Handel collection. On August 29, 1984, finally, the work was revived during the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music and in 2019 it’s on the programme at the Göttingen International Handel Festival. The opera narrates a freely adapted version of the end to the regency of the Last Visigoth King Roderich. In the libretto by Francesco Silvani, however, the reason behind it is less the lust for power on the part of his opponents than the thirst for vengeance of his spurned mistress. It was back in 1707 in Rome that George Frideric Handel wrote Rodrigo.

History hasn't been kind to La Muette de Portici. Premiered in Paris in 1828, Auber's opera deals with a 17th-century Neapolitan uprising against Spanish rule, led by the fisherman Masaniello, whose mute sister, Fenella, has been seduced by Alphonse, son of the Spanish viceroy. Morally, the work is complex. Though Masaniello is in the right, his distrust of revolutionary violence is confirmed when he encounters Elvire, Alphonse's blameless wife, who is victimised by both sides in the conflict. Masaniello's fanatical deputy, Pietro, however, advocates indiscriminate carnage, and the power struggle that ensues has catastrophic consequences.

For decades there has been only one recording of Admeto available: a quite splendid performance from 1977 (Virgin Records 5613692) directed by Alan Curtis with Il complesso barocco. One of the first baroque operas to be recorded with original instruments, it reflects the best of the historical performance movement. It is thus with considerable anticipation and curiosity that one approaches this new release of Handel’s Admeto, sung in English (to a fine translation by Geoffrey Dunn), directed by Sir Anthony Lewis, and recorded just nine years earlier in 1968. The cast for this recording is no less remarkable. Dame Janet Baker plays the self-sacrificing Alcestis; Admetus is sung elegantly and expressively by Maureen Lehane; Sheila Armstong is a brilliant and stylish Antigona, and the mezzo soprano Margaret Lensky provides a touching portrayal of the lovesick Thrasymedes.

Alexander’s Feast or the Power of Musick was first performed at the Covent Garden Theatre in 1736, at a time when the interest of Londoners in Italian opera was waning and Georg Friedrich Händel increasingly turned towards English-language oratorios. The libretto is based on the eponymous and highly popular ode by John Dryden (1697) celebrating Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of music. Along with the Messiah, the ode quickly became one of Händel’s most acclaimed works. His art, which “is of Arcadian beauty at times” (Karl-Heinz Ott), is celebrated in all its facets in The Power of Musick. The period instrument ensemble Barucco, the Wiener Singakademie Kammerchor and a trio of outstanding soloists under the baton of Heinz Ferlesch hold out the promise of a splendid baroque feast.

This version of Mozart's Magic Flute, which was performed for the first time at the Herrenchiemsee Festival in 2010 under the direction of Enoch zu Guttenberg, draws on a common 19th-century practice: in aristocratic families, putting on classic German theatre works in extravagant amateur performances was a ritual designed to show off a good education. Ludwig II of Bavaria also stood in this tradition of aristocratic passion for the theatre. However, the scenario as presented here is fictitious. The role of the 'real' Papageno is played by the actor Gerd Anthoff. Simultaneously involved in the plot and yet detached from it, he recounts to the audience the 'true' story of the Magic Flute, making comments and corrections, all while entering into fantastical collaborations with his singer double.

Marking the 150th anniversary of Berlioz’s death, this performance of the mighty Requiem or Grande Messe des Morts - took place in St Paul’s Cathedral, London, in March 2019. Conducted by John Nelson, it involved over 300 musicians, including tenor Michael Spyres. As Nelson said: “Every measure resonates deeply with me and I feel there is sincerity, even in the great moments of bombast.” The Times wrote: “The surpassing virtue of this performance … was that both aspects, the spine-shakingly spectacular and the heart-rendingly haunting, were allowed to make their impact.

The opera opened in 1786, the same year as Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro , and both were revived in Vienna three years later. In the revival of Il bubero di buon cuore , since Martín y Soler was then in the court of Catherine the Great in St. Petersburg, Mozart wrote two new arias for Madama Lucilla. “Chi sa qual sia l’affano” and “Vado, ma dove, o Dei?,” which are beautifully sung on this recording by Véronique Gens, the first aria on CD 1, track 18, and the second on CD 2, track 4.

Even though Dame Clara Butt engaged in operatic performances at venues such as Covent Garden, her fame was founded in her appearances on the concert stage as well as at festivals. Celebrated for her sturdy and broad lower range, she achieved musical success in Britain quickly after she completed her academic studies. She went on to lead a charmed life, eventually marrying and touring with the prominent baritone Kennerley Rumford.

La fille du régiment (The Daughter of the Regiment) is an opéra comique in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti, set to a French libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Jean-François Bayard. It was first performed on 11 February 1840 by the Paris Opéra-Comique at the Salle de la Bourse.

For the last 400 years, operas have been based around themes of real human emotion: life, death, joy, anger, and most predominantly, love. From two impoverished bohemians, to lovers who can only be together in death, we’ve chosen some of opera’s greatest love stories.