Tag Archives: La Forza Del Destino

Finale 24 – La Forza Del Destino

Verdi started to threaten to retire before he was 50. After composing Un Ballo in Maschera he said he was done and that the life of a gentleman farmer was to be his for the remainder of his life. In 1861 he was approached by the great tenor Enrico Tamberlick, acting as an agent for…


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Tutto Verdi: La Forza del Destino

Parma’s production of Verdi’s epic opera is one of the weakest in its march through all the master’s operas. Forza is often criticized as the weakest of Verdi’s latter masterpieces because of its episodic nature, its length (when given uncut), and because of its “dry” patches. In my opinion, none of these criticisms apply when…


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La Forza Del Destino in Munich

Yesterday the Bavarian State Opera streamed a live performance of Verdi’s La Forza Del Destino. The cast was headed by Jonas Kaufmann’s impersonation of Don Alvaro, one of the most challenging tenor roles in the standard operatic repertory. The quality of the streaming was excellent. I watched the show on a 69″ HD TV and…


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La vita è inferno all’infelice…O tu che seno agli angeli

Verdi’s apotheosis to misery and self pity is one of opera’s greatest arias. The recitative which starts the scena is better than most composers’ best arias. The aria itself is sublime. It requires an extraordinary tenor to bring it off. For no reason other than I like it so much here are three performances of…


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