DONIZETTI: Roberto Devereux

When asked whether he believed Rossini had composed Il Barbiere di Siviglia in thirteen days, nineteen-year-old Donizetti is supposed to have replied,

NICOLAI: Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor

Klaus-Edgar Wichmann, in the booklet essay to this Capriccio recording from 2002 of Otto Nicolai’s Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor, describes the work as having “asserted itself in the opera repertoire for more than a hundred years.”

Flights of Madness — Munich’s New “Orlando”

Returning from Munich’s new production of Handel’s “Orlando” at thirty thousand feet above clouds which might have done service as props for that opera when first staged in 1733, it occurred that the great man himself could have had things to say about what might be director David Alden’s valedictory baroque piece for the Bayerische Staatsoper.

Enter David Gockley, stage left

http://www.ebar.com/arts/art_article.php?sec=music&article=158

Duke Bluebeard’s Castle/Erwartung, Royal Opera House, London

http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/features/article583906.ece

Valkyries ride in to surround sound

http://www.smh.com.au/news/arts/valkyries-ride-in-to-surround-sound/2006/05/25/1148524815182.html

Remembering A Peerless Wagnerian

http://www.nysun.com/article/33362

BACH: Alles mit Gott

A little over a year ago Bach scholar Michael Maul found himself in the exceedingly unusual position of having discovered a hitherto unknown Bach composition, a birthday ode for Duke Wilhelm Ernst of Weimar, entitled “Alles mit Gott und nichts ohn’ ihn.

SCHUBERT: Die schˆne M¸llerin

Franz Schubert’s song cycle Die schöne Müllerin has received, in recent years, frequent attention with several fine recordings having been issued during this period.

Orchestral Excerpts from Wagner Operas

Among the plentiful selections of orchestral music from the operas of Richard Wagner, it is rare to find recordings that truly stand out, and this recent release of performances conducted by the late Klaus Tennstedt merits distinction.