Highlights From Famous Operas - CD 1 - Verdi, Donizetti, Smetana, Tchaikovsky, Gluck, Wagner, Gounod, Mascagni / Brilliant Classics Audio CD 1994 / 280735

UPC 5028421807355

Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (Italian: [dʒuˈzɛppe ˈverdi]; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian opera composer. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the help of a local patron. Verdi came to dominate the Italian opera scene after the era of Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti, and Vincenzo Bellini, whose works significantly influenced him.

Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was an Italian composer, best known for his almost 70 operas. Along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini, he was a leading composer of the bel canto opera style during the first half of the nineteenth century and a probable influence on other composers such as Giuseppe Verdi. Donizetti was born in Bergamo in Lombardy. At an early age he was taken up by Simon Mayr who enrolled him with a full scholarship in a school which he had set up. There he received detailed musical training. Mayr was instrumental in obtaining a place for Donizetti at the Bologna Academy, where, at the age of 19, he wrote his first one-act opera, the comedy Il Pigmalione, which may never have been performed during his lifetime.

Bedřich Smetana (/ˌbɛdərʒɪxˈsmɛtənə/ BED-ər-zhikh SMET-ə-nə, Czech: [ˈbɛdr̝ɪx ˈsmɛtana]; 2 March 1824 – 12 May 1884) was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style that became closely identified with his people's aspirations to a cultural and political "revival." He has been regarded in his homeland as the father of Czech music. Internationally he is best known for his opera The Bartered Bride and for the symphonic cycle Má vlast ("My Fatherland"), which portrays the history, legends and landscape of the composer's native Bohemia. It contains the famous symphonic poem "Vltava", also popularly known by its German name "Die Moldau" (in English, "The Moldau").

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (/tʃaɪˈkɒfski/ chy-KOF-skee; Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский, IPA: [pʲɵtr ɨˈlʲjitɕ tɕɪjˈkofskʲɪj]; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He was honored in 1884 by Tsar Alexander III and awarded a lifetime pension.

Tracklist:

1.  G. Verdi: I Trovatore - The Gipsies Chorus (Act II)   2:51

2.  G. Donizetti: Don Pasquale - The Servants' Chorus (Act III)   3:29

3.  B. Smetana: The Bartered Bride - The Introductory Chorus   2:50

4.  P. I. Tchaikovsky: Eugen Onegin - Waltz And Chorus (Act II)   6:08

5.  Ch. W. Gluck: Orpheus and Eurydice - The Introductory Chorus   3:43

6.  R. Wagner: Lohengrin - The Bridal Chorus (Act II)   4:42

7.  R. Wagner: Tannhauser - The Guests' Arrival In Wartburg (Act I)   6:55

8.  P. Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana - The Intruoductory Chorus   6:34

9.  Ch. Gounod Faust - Waltz   4:15