From the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Continuing the series of broadcasts from the ambitious, long-term festival in which the Royal Opera presents all Verdi's operas, performed over the period leading up to the centenary of the composer's death in 2001. Tonight, Nabucco, the composer's third opera and his first great success, originally performed in 1842 at La Scala, Milan. The opera's libretto - by Temistocle Solera - is based on a French play about the biblical period of the Jewish captivity in Babylon. Sung in Italian, and introduced by Donald Macleod and Michael Oliver.
Verdi Nabucco
Royal Opera Chorus,
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, conductor Mark Elder
Parts 1 and 2 8.50 Verdi and Producers
Christopher Cook investigates the problems of producing Verdi operas.
9.15 Parts 3 and 4