Opera in five acts: libretto by SCRIBE and DELAVIGNE Music by Auber (sung in French)
Produced in 1828. Auber's best grand opera has further claims to fame: it sparked off the Belgian revolution of 1830; and it contains a dumb heroine who ends the opera by plunging into a stream of molten lava.
BBC NORTHERN SINGERS: chorus-master STEPHEN WILKINSON
BBC NORTHERN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: leader BARRY GRIFFITHS conducted by MYER FREDMAN repetiteur COURTNEY KENNY
Producer ERNEST WARBURTON Act 1
3.25* Wednesday - Revolutionl MICHAEL NORTON tells how a performance of Auber's opera The Dumb Girl of Portici in Brussels in 1830 led to revolution and to Belgian independence.
3.40 pm La Muette de Portici Acts 2 and 3 4.25* Interval Reading
4.30* La Muette de Portici Acts 4 and 5 (Adrian de Peyer broadcasts by permission of Covent Garden)