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BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

Kate Molleson

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)

Composer of the Week: Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901): Episode 2: 'Viva Verdi!'

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)

Episode 2

Episode 2: 'Viva Verdi!'

'Viva Verdi!'

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901), 'Viva Verdi!'

Donald Macleod investigates the role of Verdi's operas in Italy's fight for independence.

Donald Macleod investigates the role of Verdi's operas in Italy's fight for independence and the challenges he faced in his battle with the Austrian censors.

Donald Macleod investigates the challenges facing Verdi, while Italy was under Austrian rule, as he tried to cope with the strict censorship applied to operas such as Rigoletto and Un ballo in maschera, and the role played by Nabucco and La battaglia di Legnano in the movement for the unification of Italy. In the turbulent years of the 19th century, when Italy was struggling to gain independence from its Austrian rulers, Verdi's patriotic choruses seemed to embody the spirit of the movement for the unification of Italy, and an entire mythology has grown up around Verdi as hero of the Risorgimento. Donald Macleod investigates the role Verdi's music was thought to have played in Italy's fight for freedom, and the challenges he faced in his own battle with the Austrian censors.

Questa o quella' (Rigoletto) 
Duke ..... Roberto Alagna (tenor)
Orchestra of La Scala, Milan Conductor, Riccardo Muti 

'Va pensiero' (Nabucco) 
Chorus and Orchestra of Deutsche Oper, Berlin 
Conductor, Giuseppe Sinopoli 

La battaglia di Legnano (extract from Act I)
Arrigo ..... José Carreras (tenor) 
Rolando ..... Matteo Manuguerra (baritone) 
ORF Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Vienna 
Conductor, Lamberto Gardelli 

È il sol dell'anima (Rigoletto)
Duke ..... Roberto Alagna (tenor)
Gilda ..... Andrea Rost (soprano) 
Orchestra of La Scala, Milan 
Conductor, Riccardo Muti 

Rigoletto (extract from Act II)
Rigoletto ..... Renato Bruson (baritone)
Gilda ..... Andrea Rost (soprano)
Orchestra of La Scala, Milan 
Conductor, Riccardo Muti 

Un ballo in maschera (extract from Act II)
Amelia ..... Margaret Price (soprano)
Riccardo ..... Luciano Pavarotti (tenor) 
Renato ..... Renato Bruson (baritone) 
National Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor, George Solti.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Giuseppe Verdi

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Giuseppe Verdi, a leading figure in 19th-century Italian opera

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Composer of the Week

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)

Episode 2: 'Viva Verdi!'

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