Lyric Opera 2018-2019 Issue 5 Il Travatore

L Y R I C O P E R A O F C H I C A G O November 17 - December 9, 2018 | 33 Your opera experience doesn’t have to end here! When the performance is over, you can continue your exploration of Il trovatore in conversation with your companions. Here are some topics to consider: • Il trovatore ’s plot is often regarded as far-fetched, to say the least, but a thoughtful production can make it thoroughly believable. How did you respond to the plot as it unfolded in Lyric’s production? • In any great performance of Il trovatore , the singing produces one thrill after another for the audience. What moments of the opera did you find most exhilarating, purely vocally? Most moving? Most beautiful? • Verdi created an opera that is capable of astounding dramatic intensity, especially in the character of Azucena. What did you find particularly riveting in her scenes? • Count di Luna is not a standard, cardboard villain. Where do you think the depth of his feelings emerge most strongly? • In what ways did you see the influence of the paintings of Goya in this production? • What qualities in this opera do you think would have prompted the Marx Brothers to use a performance of it as a key component of their classic 1935 comedy, A Night at the Opera ? • If you had the chance to meet Giuseppe Verdi, what do you think you would ask him about Il trovatore ? To continue exploring Il trovatore Lyric dramaturg and program editor Roger Pines suggests the following performances: CD Plácido Domingo, Leontyne Price, Sherrill Milnes, Fiorenza Cossotto, Bonaldo Giaiotti; New Philharmonia Orchestra, Ambrosian Opera Chorus, cond. Zubin Mehta (RCA) Giuseppe di Stefano, Maria Callas, Rolando Panerai, Fedora Barbieri, Nicola Zaccaria; Chorus and Orchestra of La Scala, cond. Herbert von Karajan (Warner Classics) Franco Corelli, Leontyne Price, Mario Sereni, Irene Dalis, William Wildermann; Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera, cond. Fausto Cleva (Sony Classics) Mario Del Monaco, Renata Tebaldi, Ettore Bastianini, Giulietta Simionato, Giorgio Tozzi; Orchestra and Chorus of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, cond. Alberto Erede (Decca) Carlo Bergonzi, Antonietta Stella, Ettore Bastianini, Fiorenza Cossotto, Ivo Vinco; Orchestra and Chorus of La Scala, cond. Tullio Serafin (DG) Jussi Björling, Zinka Milanov, Leonard Warren, Fedora Barbieri, Nicola Moscona; RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra, Robert Shaw Chorale, cond. Renato Cellini (Naxos Great Opera Recordings Series) DVD Marcelo Álvarez, Sondra Radvanovsky, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Dolora Zajick, Stefan Kocán; cond. Marco Armiliato, dir. Sir David McVicar (DG) Plácido Domingo, Raina Kabaivanska, Piero Cappuccilli, Fiorenza Cossotto, José Van Dam; Vienna State Opera Orchestra and Chorus, cond. and dir. Herbert von Karajan (Arthaus Musik) Manrico (Walter Fraccaro) sings “Di quella pira,” the climax of Act Three of Il trovatore. Lyric production, 2006/07 season. Il trovatore: After the Curtain Falls DAN REST