Audiobook1 hour
Rigoletto
Written by Thomson Smillie
Narrated by David Timson
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
5/5
()
About this audiobook
Rigoletto is simply wonderful entertainment. It is uncanny to listen to the opening ten minutes or so and recognise a dozen superb tunes. It is also much more – a daring (for its time) attack on aristocratic privilege, a tender love story, and an impassioned appeal on behalf of the disadvantaged, all set to music of such wealth and beauty that, with its sister operas La traviata and Il trovatore, it has almost defined Italian opera for 150 years. Overcoming initial trouble with the censors, Verdi’s Rigoletto was a smash hit at its premiere and has not been out of the repertoire since. It’s not hard to see why. From Thomson Smillie’s accessible account, the opera comes alive on just one download. As he tells us, Verdi captures the gaiety of the court in Mantua: it ‘to borrow a famous phrase, shines like rotting mackerel by moonlight – it glitters and stinks’. David Timson is the perfect exponent of Smillie’s vivacious writing, securing a thoroughly entertaining and informative disc.
More audiobooks from Thomson Smillie
Mozart: Così Fan Tutte Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Carmen Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Magic Flute Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pelléas et Mélisande Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Orfeo ed Euridice Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Puccini: Turandot Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tosca Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Die Fledermaus Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Orfeo Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Cavalleria rusticana Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Falstaff Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gilbert and Sullivan Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tancredi Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pagliacci Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Fidelio Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Werther Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Puccini: La Bohème Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Aida Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Barber of Seville Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Madama Butterfly Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Il trovatore Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5L'elisir d'amore Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5La Traviata Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Flying Dutchman Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Don Giovanni Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5La sonnambula Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related to Rigoletto
Related audiobooks
Fidelio Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Cavalleria rusticana Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Don Giovanni Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tosca Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Aida Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5L'elisir d'amore Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Barber of Seville Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Il trovatore Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Puccini: La Bohème Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Madama Butterfly Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Werther Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tancredi Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Falstaff Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Puccini: Turandot Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Orfeo Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5La Traviata Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pagliacci Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5La sonnambula Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Flying Dutchman Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Die Fledermaus Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wagner: His Life and Music Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wagner: The Ring of the Nibelung Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The History of Opera Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Discover Music of the Baroque Era Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gilbert and Sullivan Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tristan und Isolde Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Life and Works of Liszt Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Discover Music of the Romantic Era Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Life of Mozart Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Music For You
Gold Dust Woman: The Biography of Stevie Nicks Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Paris: The Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5IT'S ALL IN YOUR HEAD Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Music Theory: A Complete Guide to Understand the Fundamental of Music for Beginners Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5A Framework for Jazz Mastery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All You Need to Know About the Music Business: 11th Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Heroin Diaries: Ten Year Anniversary Edition: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Storyteller: Expanded: ...Because There's More to the Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Adversity for Sale: Ya Gotta Believe Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Killing the Legends: The Lethal Danger of Celebrity Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sing From Within: A guide to developing a dynamic singing voice using techniques used by the professionals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Perfect Union of Contrary Things Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Effortless Mastery: Liberating the Master Musician Within, Book & Includes Online Downloadable code Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sweat the Technique: Revelations on Creativity from the Lyrical Genius Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Open Book Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Relativity: The Special and General Theory Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My Effin' Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bad Fat Black Girl: Notes from a Trap Feminist Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fail Until You Don't: Fight Grind Repeat Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Where Are Your Boys Tonight?: The Oral History of Emo's Mainstream Explosion 1999-2008 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rememberings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin): A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Music Lesson: A Spiritual Search for Growth Through Music Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5More Myself: A Journey Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Rigoletto
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
5/5
7 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5splendid writing, perfect reading, I want more from them soon...