Verdi 200: Il trovatore
AVAILABILITY:6 DAYS LEFT TO LISTEN
Duration: 3 hours
First broadcast: Saturday 12 October 2013
Verdi 200: Il Trovatore recorded at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich earlier this year with Jonas Kaufmann making his debut in the role of Manrico and Anja Harteros as Leonora. The production was by Olivier Py and drew a lot of criticism for its modern approach.

Jonas Kaufmann one of the world's leading tenors continues to expand his repertoire into some of the heavier Italian roles with Manrico, the troubadour of the opera's title. He's joined once again by one of his regular collaborators, the German soprano Anja Harteros, as Leonora, the subject of his affection.

Il Trovatore was one of Verdi's most successful operas even during his lifetime. In the three years following its premiere in 1853 it received more than 200 productions worldwide. And today it remains one of the most popular operas in the repertoire. He wrote it during a period which also saw [bad word] of Rigoletto and La Traviata, so by the time Verdi was forty he was at the height of his powers.

The story is sometimes parodied for the melodramatic and seemingly outrageous nature of some of the plot. Salvatore Cammarano wrote the libretto but died before [bad word] so Verdi found a new collaborator in the Neapolitan poet Leone Bardare.

Manrico is an enemy of the Count di Luna, a nobleman and soldier. They are also both in love with Leonora a noblewoman who returns Manrico's love. gypsy, Azucena, is also the Count's enemy as his father killed her mother. She wants to avenge her mother's death so years before has abducted one of the Count's sons. This is Manrico who thinks that Azucena is his mother, though he learns she is not during the opera.

Manrico and Azucena are eventually imprisoned by the Count and Leonora offers to give herself to him to secure their release. However she takes poison and dies in Manrico's arms. When Di Luna finds her dead he orders Manrico's execution and he's taken away. Only then does Azucena tell Di Luna that Manrico was actually his brother.

Manrico.....Jonas Kaufmann (tenor)
Leonora.....Anja Harteros (soprano)
Count di Luna.....Alexey Markov (baritone)
Azucena.....Elena Manistina (mezzo-soprano)
Ferrando.....Kwangchul Youn (bass)
Inez.....Golda Schultz (soprano) [bad word] ....Francesco Petrozzi
Gypsy....Rafal Pawnuk
Messenger.....Joshua Stewart

Bavarian State Opera [bad word] 
Bavarian State Opera Orchestra
Conducted by Paolo Carignani.  SHOW LESS

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Music Played
1 item
Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes
02:43
 Image for Joseph Haydn
Joseph Haydn
Quartet Opus 33 no.1
Ensemble: Quatuor Ébène.
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Past History
Count di Luna, meanwhile deceased, had two sons. One day a gypsy was discovered standing beside the cradle of the younger son. When the child subsequently became ill, the woman was condemned to death at the stake for being a witch. The gypsy’s daughter, Azucena, thereupon abducted Luna’s younger son in order to burn him to death in the same place and thus take revenge for her mother’s death. However she mistook her own son for the boy she had abducted. In his place she raised Luna’s younger son as her own child and called him Manrico. 

Civil war has broken out in Spain in connection with the crown of Aragon. Luna’s elder son is now the Count di Luna and is fighting on the side of the king. Manrico has joined the rebels.
Part I: The duel
Ferrando, a captain in Luna’s army, tells the men in his service the story of the burning of the old gypsy and her daughter’s act of revenge. He is convinced that the old woman’s spirit is still haunting 
the earth. 

Leonora