Headaches and Heartbreak

Gaetano Donizetti was one of Italy’s most prolific tunesmiths, with almost 70 operas to his name – about as many as Rossini, Bellini and Verdi all combined - whose arias still cut straight to the heart today. All this week, Donald Macleod follows his irresistible rise: from a child brought up in a dark, cramped cellar to become a pioneering master of the style known as bel canto. And like any opera plot, there’s triumph and tragedy, headaches and heartbreak…

Today, we find Donizetti in deep trouble with the censors who shut down his opera Maria Stuarda, and he’s hit by a series of terrible family bereavements, including the loss of his wife and unborn child. We also hear perhaps the most influential scene in any of his operas, from Lucia di Lammermoor– which provided the model for many future composers’ “mad scenes”.

Lucia di Lammermoor, Act II: Per te d’immenso giubilo
Chorus of the Royal Opera House
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Bernard Haitink, conductor

String Quartet No 16 (ii. Largo)
Quartetto Mitja

Maria Stuarda, Act II: “Figlia impura di Bolena… Va preparati furente”
Edita Gruberová, soprano (Maria)
Agnes Baltsa, mezzo-soprano (Elizabetta)
Francesco Araiza, tenor (Leicester)
Iris Vermillion, mezzo-soprano (Anna)
Francesco Ellero D'Artegna, bass (Talbot)
Simone Alaimo, baritone (Cecil)
Munich Radio Orchestra
Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Giuseppe Patanè, conductor

Lucia di Lammermoor, Act III: “Il dolce suono”
Montserrat Caballé (Lucia)
Samuel Ramey (Raimondo),
Ambrosian Singers
New Philharmonia Orchestra
Jesús López Cobos, conductor

Messa di Requiem: Judex ergo; Rex tremendae majestatis
Zdenek Hlavka, baritone
Marcel Rosca, bass
Prague Chamber Chorus
Prague Virtuosi
Alexander Rahbari, conductor

ll sogno “Nostre misere menti”
Il sospiro “Donna felice, stanca d’amore”
Lawrence Brownlee, tenor
Carlo Rizzi, piano

Poliuto: Sinfonia – O nume pietoso
Chor der Wiener Singakademie
Wiener Symphoniker
Oleg Caetani, conductor

Produced by Amelia Parker for BBC Audio Wales and West.