Opern für Blasorchester

Rinaldo was the first opera Georg Friederich Händel produced for London and the first Italian opera composed specifically for the London stage. Even now it's still one of his most performed opera's. I...

Der Zigeunerbaron is Strauss's second most popular operetta after Die Fledermaus. Its 1885 premiere had political resonance; the plot popularized the Dual (Austro-Hungarian) Monarchy which was to come...

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) finished his masterpiece Otello in October 1885. The libretto by Arrigo Boito was based on Shakespeare's tragedy. The Bonfire Chorus is sung in the very first act: the peopl...

Giuseppe Verdi's opera Un Ballo in Maschera contains two famous soprano roles, strong male solo roles, fine choruses and sharp dramatic situations. And yet it is not quite as popular as some other Ver...

Giuseppe Verdi's opera Un Ballo in Maschera contains two famous soprano roles, strong male solo roles, fine choruses and sharp dramatic situations. And yet it is not quite as popular as some other Ver...

The famous Meditation from Jules Massenet opera Tha's is the entr'acte for violin and orchestra played between the scenes of the second act and nowadays often performed as a separate concert piece.

The famous Meditation from Jules Massenet opera Thaïs is the entr"acte for violin and orchestra played between the scenes of the second act and nowadays often performed as a separate concert piece.

If we say that zarzuela is Spanish light opera with spoken dialogue we shall be near the mark. José Serrano (1873-1941) is one of the most famous composers of Zarzuela. In 1910 he composed his one act...

Giuseppe Verdi's opera Un Ballo in Maschera contains two famous soprano roles, strong male solo roles, fine choruses and sharp dramatic situations. And yet it is not quite as popular as some other Ver...

With his L'elisir d"amore (The Elixer of Love), composed in 1832 Donizetti wrote something far greater than a mere comic opera: this was perhaps the first example of a moving, middleclass genre of the...

Frederico Chueca (1846-1908) and Joaquin Valverde (1846-1910) had been collaborating since 1875. They had already enjoyed huge success with La canción de la Lola in 1880 and "La Gran Vía" was to eclip...

Don Alvaro's aria 'La vita e inferno all'infelice comes in the third act. It is dawn at the encampment at Velletri in Italy, where Don Alvaro has enrolled under the name of Don Federico Herreros. He s...

Don Alvaro's aria La vita è inferno all"infelice comes in the third act. It is dawn at the encampment at Velletri in Italy, where Don Alvaro has enrolled under the name of Don Federico Herreros. He si...

Giuseppe Verdi composed his opera Rigoletto in 1851 and together with La Traviata (1853) and Il Trovatore (1853) it belongs to the top of his middle period of composing. The duet "Si, vendretta, treme...

Emmerich Kálmán's most beloved operetta "Die Csárdásfürstin" had its first performance at the Vienna "Johann Strauss-Theater" in November 1915. Only in the German speaking countries it was performed 5...

The Austrian composer Carl Zeller (1842-1898) did contribute a great part to the glory of the Golden Era of the Viennese operetta in which Johann Strauss jr., Franz von Suppé and Karl Millöcker were t...

The Austrian composer Carl Zeller (1842-1898) did contribute a great part to the glory of the Golden Era of the Viennese operetta in which Johann Strauss jr., Franz von Suppé and Karl Millöcker were t...

If we say that zarzuela is Spanish light opera with spoken dialogue we shall be near the mark. Frederico Chueca composed many Zarzuela's. The Tango de la Menegilda (Housemaid's Tango) is sung in the 2...

The zarzuela "El barberillo de Lavapiés" (1874) is the comic masterpiece of Spanish composer Francisco Asenjo Barbieri. It's a miracle of raw popular spirit, musical subtlety, ironic wit and political...

Quando me'n vo", also known as Musetta's Waltz, is a soprano aria sung in the second act of Puccini's opera La Bohème" by Musetta in presence of her bohemian friends, and is directed toward Marcello i...

The opera buffa Così fan tutte (Thus do they all )is one of the three Mozart operas for which Da Ponte wrote the libretto. The other two Da Ponte-Mozart collaborations were Le nozze di Figaro and Don...

Emmerich Kálmán (1882-1953) was a contemporary of Bartók and Kodály at the Budapest Academy of Music. He first coupled a career as a music critic with more conventionally serious composition, before,...

Rossini's 'Il Barbiere di Siviglia' (1816) is one of the greatest of all comic operas. Based on an excellent play by Beaumarchais, 'The Barber of Seville' delights audiences with its keenly sketched c...

Rossini's "Il Barbiere di Siviglia" (1816) is one of the greatest of all comic operas. Based on an excellent play by Beaumarchais, "The Barber of Seville" delights audiences with its keenly sketched c...

Tenor and Symphonic Band The score of 'La Gioconda' is best known for its ballet divertimento 'The Dance of the Hours'. The tangled story of passion, intrigue, violence and eventual tragedy is set aga...