Musical Tinkerings
Evening Music | May 6, 2010
Ludwig van Beethoven was famous for tinkering with his musical scores ad infinitum to get them "just right." This obsessive perfectionism led to no less than four different versions of the overture to his opera "Fidelio" (originally called "Leonore," after the opera's heroine). Tonight, Nikolaus Harnoncourt leads the Chamber Orchestra of Europe through the "Leonore" Overture No. 3 (which was actually written before No. 1, but that's a different story!).
Sir Edward Downes and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra give us a glimpse of symphonic Verdi in the ballets from his opera "Jerusalem"; just to give Verdi his vocal due, we'll also hear the exciting young tenor Rolando Villazon in Alfredo's aria from Verdi's great opera, "La Traviata."
But then back to musical tinkerings: anyone who's ever seen Leonard Bernstein discussing Beethoven's 5th Symphony on the old "Omnibus" T.V. series knows how many fits and starts Beethoven went through in just getting his symphony off the ground. Of course, the final result was well worth the birth pangs; we'll hear the famous 5th later on in a classic performance from the Vienna Philharmonic under Sir Georg Solti.
Sir Edward Downes and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra give us a glimpse of symphonic Verdi in the ballets from his opera "Jerusalem"; just to give Verdi his vocal due, we'll also hear the exciting young tenor Rolando Villazon in Alfredo's aria from Verdi's great opera, "La Traviata."
But then back to musical tinkerings: anyone who's ever seen Leonard Bernstein discussing Beethoven's 5th Symphony on the old "Omnibus" T.V. series knows how many fits and starts Beethoven went through in just getting his symphony off the ground. Of course, the final result was well worth the birth pangs; we'll hear the famous 5th later on in a classic performance from the Vienna Philharmonic under Sir Georg Solti.
