0:00:06 > 0:00:09# Questa o quella, per me pari sono
0:00:09 > 0:00:12# A quant'altre d'intorno
0:00:12 > 0:00:14D'intorno mi vedo...#
0:00:14 > 0:00:17I am Rolando Villazon and as a singer,
0:00:17 > 0:00:20I have the pleasure of living and breathing the music
0:00:20 > 0:00:23of a true genius of the operatic stage.
0:00:24 > 0:00:26Giuseppe Verdi.
0:00:28 > 0:00:33# Di que il fato ne infiora la vita... #
0:00:33 > 0:00:37To sing his music is to connect directly with the human soul,
0:00:37 > 0:00:41with its joy, its suffering, its force.
0:00:42 > 0:00:45His music tells us what it means to be human
0:00:45 > 0:00:49with such truth that watching and listening, no matter who you are,
0:00:49 > 0:00:51you cannot but recognise yourself.
0:00:53 > 0:00:57Verdi composed a huge body of music for the opera house,
0:00:57 > 0:00:59which, today, is performed all over the world.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04But by looking at just six of my favourites
0:01:04 > 0:01:08and meeting some of my colleagues along the way, I want to show you
0:01:08 > 0:01:13why this music has come to be loved by everyone who hears it,
0:01:13 > 0:01:16how his characters are able to speak to us so meaningfully.
0:01:16 > 0:01:22# Degli amanti le smanie, derido... #
0:01:22 > 0:01:23And why he remains, for me,
0:01:23 > 0:01:28one of the most important opera composers of all time.
0:01:28 > 0:01:37# Se mi punge
0:01:37 > 0:01:40# Una qualche belta. #
0:01:47 > 0:01:51Think of opera and you think Giuseppe Verdi, La Traviata,
0:01:51 > 0:01:55Rigoletto, Aida, some of the most famous operas in the world.
0:01:55 > 0:01:58Verdi's long and hugely successful career
0:01:58 > 0:02:00spanned most of the 19th century.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03Everything Verdi composed had an impact.
0:02:03 > 0:02:07The subjects he chose covered a whole arch of the human experience.
0:02:07 > 0:02:12Politics and religion, tragedy and comedy, power and love.
0:02:15 > 0:02:21# La mia latizia infondere
0:02:21 > 0:02:27# Vorrei nel suo bel core... #
0:02:29 > 0:02:32For me, Verdi was the consummate artist,
0:02:32 > 0:02:34but he was famously inscrutable.
0:02:35 > 0:02:38Through his letters, we learn about him as a working composer,
0:02:38 > 0:02:42but little about the intensely private man himself.
0:02:43 > 0:02:47He left his ideas and beliefs to be played out through his music.
0:02:49 > 0:02:54His fabulous tunes reveal a man who knows how to reach out
0:02:54 > 0:02:56and connect with everyone.
0:02:56 > 0:03:01# Al cielo, ed ergermi... #
0:03:01 > 0:03:03People in the street cheered Verdi.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06People in the street sang Verdi tunes,
0:03:06 > 0:03:09but I don't think he wants to impress us.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12He wanted to move people.
0:03:12 > 0:03:16Absolutely. But one of the gifts of great, great composers
0:03:16 > 0:03:18is precisely this.
0:03:18 > 0:03:23Because it is so important to talk,
0:03:23 > 0:03:27to be very close to the generation of today
0:03:27 > 0:03:33and Verdi sounds as fresh today as it sounded fresh in his time.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38Verdi came from a humble background.
0:03:38 > 0:03:42He was born in 1813 in the small farming village of Roncole,
0:03:42 > 0:03:46about 100 miles from Milan.
0:03:46 > 0:03:48His parents were innkeepers.
0:03:48 > 0:03:52Here, Verdi would have been exposed to the ordinary pressures of life
0:03:52 > 0:03:54and what people cared about.
0:03:54 > 0:03:59The family were regular churchgoers and it was as a part-time organist
0:03:59 > 0:04:03in the local church that Verdi's musical roots took hold.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08He is so much a child of his country and what it went through,
0:04:08 > 0:04:12Italy, of the 19th century, at the time when he was born,
0:04:12 > 0:04:15it was not a unified country at all.
0:04:15 > 0:04:19It was a number of kingdoms and dialects.
0:04:21 > 0:04:25The Italian people were subjects ruled over by the Austrians,
0:04:25 > 0:04:28French and Spanish, all jostling for supremacy.
0:04:29 > 0:04:34Censorship was commonplace and large gatherings were banned.
0:04:34 > 0:04:40However, the one place people were allowed to meet was the theatre.
0:04:42 > 0:04:47The opera scene in Europe wasn't as widespread as it is today.
0:04:47 > 0:04:52In Germany, Wagner had still to make his mark with his mythical epics.
0:04:52 > 0:04:54The main focus was in Paris,
0:04:54 > 0:04:58where the theatrical extravaganzas of Meyerbeer dominated.
0:05:00 > 0:05:02And closer to home in Milan,
0:05:02 > 0:05:04the three giants of Italian music ruled.
0:05:04 > 0:05:09Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini.
0:05:09 > 0:05:12Presenting love stories or tragedies that audiences expected,
0:05:12 > 0:05:16told through a formalised set of arias, duets and choruses.
0:05:18 > 0:05:24# Ah, non credea mirarti...#
0:05:24 > 0:05:27This was the musical establishment
0:05:27 > 0:05:30and Verdi knew he had to conquer it
0:05:30 > 0:05:33to then take the art form to new heights.
0:05:37 > 0:05:41So, it was to Milan, intellectual and operatic capital of Italy,
0:05:41 > 0:05:46that he first set his sights and it was here at La Scala opera house,
0:05:46 > 0:05:51where high society, the movers, shakers and taste-makers met.
0:05:55 > 0:05:59Publishers, theatre managers, opera houses,
0:05:59 > 0:06:03you don't get any affection from Verdi for these places.
0:06:03 > 0:06:05They were necessary evils.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08Without them, he couldn't write his operas,
0:06:08 > 0:06:09but he was at their mercy.
0:06:13 > 0:06:18But the forces of destiny weren't going to give Verdi an easy ride.
0:06:18 > 0:06:22Aged 18, he auditioned here for the Milan Conservatory,
0:06:22 > 0:06:24but was rejected.
0:06:24 > 0:06:26What's more, a few years later,
0:06:26 > 0:06:30both Verdi's children died in infancy,
0:06:30 > 0:06:35shortly followed by his young wife. Verdi was just 26.
0:06:37 > 0:06:39He was completely transformed, I think,
0:06:39 > 0:06:41by the death of his wife and children,
0:06:41 > 0:06:47following which he was by nature lonely, melancholic and depressive.
0:06:47 > 0:06:51The loneliness, I think, gave him this extraordinary desire,
0:06:51 > 0:06:56urge and need to reach out and speak, which is
0:06:56 > 0:07:02where his phenomenally populist and popular talent, I think, comes from.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06Verdi's theatrical career really took off thanks to
0:07:06 > 0:07:11his persistence and an uncanny ability to know the right people.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16With his opera, Nabucco, Verdi proved he knew what could capture
0:07:16 > 0:07:19an audience's appetite.
0:07:19 > 0:07:21Rousing tunes and powerful theatre.
0:07:58 > 0:08:00And the Chorus Of The Hebrew Slaves,
0:08:00 > 0:08:03would assume a much bigger significance later in his life.
0:08:03 > 0:08:07But for now, the young man who failed to get into the Conservatory
0:08:07 > 0:08:12was firmly on the musical map and he was hungry for success.
0:08:15 > 0:08:19Verdi felt he had to find something that set him apart from the rest.
0:08:19 > 0:08:24One thing that mattered deeply to him was his choice of plots.
0:08:24 > 0:08:27The subjects that Verdi chose were a platform
0:08:27 > 0:08:29not only for telling a good story, but most important,
0:08:29 > 0:08:32one that allowed him to explore themes and emotions
0:08:32 > 0:08:35that really meant something to him.
0:08:37 > 0:08:39I find it fascinating that next to his bed,
0:08:39 > 0:08:44Verdi kept a well thumbed copy of The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare.
0:08:45 > 0:08:47Here was a goldmine of stories
0:08:47 > 0:08:51that most of his audiences would not have heard before.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56Of course, today, everybody in the world knows who Shakespeare was.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59But in 19th century Italy, illiteracy was common
0:08:59 > 0:09:02and Shakespeare's work was hardly known.
0:09:02 > 0:09:07So, for Verdi, this was extraordinary unfamiliar material
0:09:07 > 0:09:11that inspired him to be innovative and new.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19Macbeth was Verdi's first Shakespearean opera.
0:09:19 > 0:09:24Out of the blue, he produced a dark study of power, ambition and evil.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31There are very few set pieces to break up the action.
0:09:31 > 0:09:35Instead, Verdi gives us a continuous and theatrical rite.
0:09:35 > 0:09:39He turned a very complex, psychological drama
0:09:39 > 0:09:41into a Tim Burton movie.
0:09:44 > 0:09:47It has its own visual, colour, atmosphere.
0:09:47 > 0:09:51It's all cries, groans, darkness, mood.
0:09:55 > 0:09:59There is a whole horrible nightmare world around Macbeth...
0:10:01 > 0:10:05..which is physical in Verdi, not only psychological.
0:10:14 > 0:10:18For me, Macbeth shows Verdi's real mastery of theatre.
0:10:19 > 0:10:25You understand the stress he put on the theatrical element.
0:10:25 > 0:10:30You have three groups of witches. Each one singing a sentence.
0:10:30 > 0:10:32# Che faceste?
0:10:32 > 0:10:34# Dite su!
0:10:34 > 0:10:37# Ho sgozzato un verro.
0:10:37 > 0:10:39# E tu?
0:10:39 > 0:10:43# M'e frullata nel pensier
0:10:43 > 0:10:46# M'e frullata nel pensier... #
0:10:46 > 0:10:50Verdi, on the writing of The Witches, he writes,
0:10:50 > 0:10:54please, never forget that they're witches speaking.
0:10:54 > 0:10:56It is almost not singing.
0:10:56 > 0:10:57You don't need that.
0:10:57 > 0:11:01Not to sing a beautiful line, but you have to throw the words.
0:11:03 > 0:11:06THEY SING
0:11:13 > 0:11:17I think rhythm is extremely important in how Verdi creates,
0:11:17 > 0:11:21through the orchestra and the combination of all the voices,
0:11:21 > 0:11:25this very particular atmosphere. Not all the composers can do that.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28They are a very nocturnal colour.
0:11:28 > 0:11:33What Verdi will say again, you can describe not only as a colour
0:11:33 > 0:11:37but really a shade, a particular nuance.
0:11:41 > 0:11:45By expanding Shakespeare's Three Witches to more than 30,
0:11:45 > 0:11:49Verdi establishes a dramatic role for the supernatural,
0:11:49 > 0:11:50as a character in its own right.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56He was something altogether different,
0:11:56 > 0:11:58a distinctive mood in music.
0:12:01 > 0:12:03In music, we often talk about colour,
0:12:03 > 0:12:06and colour was something of particular importance for Verdi.
0:12:06 > 0:12:11It is almost as if he created these subconscious layers
0:12:11 > 0:12:13that define each of his operas,
0:12:13 > 0:12:17gives them a unified feel, a personality.
0:12:17 > 0:12:18How does he achieve that?
0:12:18 > 0:12:22Well, through words, rhythm, melody,
0:12:22 > 0:12:24through orchestration.
0:12:24 > 0:12:28Nobody illustrates better than him the inner forces of the characters.
0:12:29 > 0:12:32Traditionally, the hero in opera would be a tenor,
0:12:32 > 0:12:36but for this troubled anti-hero, Verdi broke with the norm
0:12:36 > 0:12:39and cast Macbeth as a baritone.
0:12:39 > 0:12:44A darker voice better suited to Macbeth's troubled character.
0:13:06 > 0:13:11One of the biggest challenges is to try and manipulate people
0:13:11 > 0:13:14through colour, through sound and not just through text.
0:13:15 > 0:13:19It's very true of Verdi, that Macbeth, so much, is the colour.
0:13:19 > 0:13:21He's an extreme for me.
0:13:23 > 0:13:25You don't want any joy, you don't want any pathos,
0:13:25 > 0:13:27you don't want any sentimentality.
0:13:27 > 0:13:29He doesn't deserve it and shouldn't get it.
0:13:29 > 0:13:34The hooded nature of this...filthy character
0:13:34 > 0:13:37has got to be in the sound, I think.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47Macbeth, general of King Duncan's army, is consumed by ambition.
0:13:50 > 0:13:54He has planned to kill the King and take the crown for himself.
0:13:59 > 0:14:04To take on a new tranche of colours, Verdi reinvented the baritone voice.
0:14:04 > 0:14:09You have great new vocal vistas open to you.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20He's increased the opportunities for the baritone's top register
0:14:20 > 0:14:22by about an octave.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24He actually, to a large extent,
0:14:24 > 0:14:26invented modern singing for the baritone.
0:14:58 > 0:15:00Macbeth was hugely successful.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04Verdi took the baritone to new heights, but most interesting,
0:15:04 > 0:15:06he broke with some established conventions.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09This opera had no love story.
0:15:09 > 0:15:13However, Verdi's own life was not devoid of love.
0:15:13 > 0:15:15Seven years after his wife died,
0:15:15 > 0:15:19he began an affair with soprano Giuseppina Strepponi.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27Strepponi was a gifted actress and singer who had appeared
0:15:27 > 0:15:29in Nabucco at La Scala.
0:15:32 > 0:15:34By the time of the affair, she was teaching young singers,
0:15:34 > 0:15:38promoting the particular approach that Verdi's operas demanded.
0:15:42 > 0:15:45And one of the fundamental building blocks to that approach
0:15:45 > 0:15:48was the significance that Verdi attached to the text.
0:15:51 > 0:15:54It wasn't what the words sounded like,
0:15:54 > 0:15:56it's what they meant that he cared about.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59It's what the words contained.
0:16:34 > 0:16:37Verdi was dependent on the poets to give him the text
0:16:37 > 0:16:42that was as vivid as he needed it to be
0:16:42 > 0:16:45for the kind of music that he wanted to write.
0:16:50 > 0:16:54The libretto for Il Cosaro was written by Francesco Maria Piave,
0:16:54 > 0:16:59a poet who was to go on to write the words for 10 of Verdi's operas.
0:16:59 > 0:17:02He would know full well what Verdi demanded from his text.
0:17:13 > 0:17:17Verdi was so demanding towards his librettist.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19He was never happy and he was...
0:17:19 > 0:17:22"Please, that's too much, that's too long.
0:17:22 > 0:17:26"You need to be really essential, you need to go to the focus,
0:17:26 > 0:17:27"you need to go to the essential."
0:17:34 > 0:17:36Don't attack.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39But it isn't just the librettist that has to get it right.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42For us singers, the key to fathom Verdi's intentions,
0:17:42 > 0:17:45is to understand the drama in the text.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51Janine Reiss, has coached some of the greatest singers
0:17:51 > 0:17:53in the business.
0:17:53 > 0:17:57Domingo, Pavarotti, Callas.
0:17:58 > 0:18:03It's almost as if one would hear Verdi saying why he chose to compose
0:18:03 > 0:18:06almost exclusively for the human voice,
0:18:06 > 0:18:09because it allowed him
0:18:09 > 0:18:13- to work with words.- Absolutely.- To express through music and the word
0:18:13 > 0:18:15the emotions and the feelings of the characters.
0:18:18 > 0:18:24I am a prisoner. What does it mean for a human being to be a prisoner?
0:18:24 > 0:18:30It means to be separated from the whole world.
0:18:30 > 0:18:35If the interpretation of the artist is as it should be,
0:18:35 > 0:18:40you don't see any more of the stage.
0:18:40 > 0:18:44You are with the interpreter in prison with him.
0:19:00 > 0:19:08Verdi was really, not only inspired by the text, but he wrote
0:19:08 > 0:19:16the music of the feelings which were expressed in the text.
0:19:16 > 0:19:20So you have a score and you have to respect the score
0:19:20 > 0:19:24and try to go as far as you can
0:19:24 > 0:19:29to find exactly what the composer wanted.
0:19:40 > 0:19:43One of the things Verdi wanted most was to give us
0:19:43 > 0:19:47convincing characters, truly three-dimensional portrayals.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52For me, one of the most multifaceted is Rigoletto.
0:19:53 > 0:19:57Here we have a Duke presiding over a bigoted court.
0:19:57 > 0:20:02There is rape, murder, corruption, professional assassins.
0:20:02 > 0:20:06It's the damnation of the ruling elite in a complex morality tale.
0:20:14 > 0:20:17Rigoletto, jester at the court of the lecherous Duke of Mantua,
0:20:17 > 0:20:19leads a double life.
0:20:19 > 0:20:25A public one as a cynical foil to jeering courtiers
0:20:25 > 0:20:28and a private one as the overprotective father
0:20:28 > 0:20:31to his daughter Gilda.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33These two worlds brutally collide
0:20:33 > 0:20:37with the Duke's seduction of his willing daughter.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40Rigoletto swears vengeance.
0:20:40 > 0:20:44There is no doubt that for the audiences in mid-19th century Italy,
0:20:44 > 0:20:46the subject matter was shocking.
0:20:46 > 0:20:50But it was also a hot potato politically.
0:20:50 > 0:20:54Rigoletto is based on Victor Hugo's play Le Roi S'Amuse,
0:20:54 > 0:20:57which shows the French King as a libertine.
0:20:57 > 0:21:01In France, this was perceived as an attack of the natural order
0:21:01 > 0:21:05and it was banned just after the first performance.
0:21:05 > 0:21:09Verdi knew that in Italy he would have the same problem with his opera.
0:21:12 > 0:21:17Rigoletto was a commission from La Fenice Opera House in Venice,
0:21:17 > 0:21:20at the time under Austrian control.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23Their censor saw this as a criticism of the establishment,
0:21:23 > 0:21:25and subversive.
0:21:26 > 0:21:28But Verdi was undaunted.
0:21:28 > 0:21:33He described it as "great, immense and has a character that is one
0:21:33 > 0:21:36"of the most important creations of theatre".
0:21:42 > 0:21:46So, to get around the censors, Verdi changed the location
0:21:46 > 0:21:49from the Court of France to the Dukedom of Mantua,
0:21:49 > 0:21:51which had long ceased to exist.
0:21:51 > 0:21:56The elements of the story, however, remained intact.
0:21:56 > 0:22:02It takes like the tops, the cream of all human emotion,
0:22:02 > 0:22:08of disgusting, of beautiful, and he experiments with the mix.
0:22:08 > 0:22:10Like a cocktail,
0:22:10 > 0:22:12which the public has to drink.
0:22:15 > 0:22:19Rigoletto is probably Verdi's most significant,
0:22:19 > 0:22:24most complete and most disturbing opera.
0:22:24 > 0:22:30It's where he matches brilliantly this Shakespearean idea of comedy,
0:22:30 > 0:22:35of wit, of humour, interspersed with a great tragedy.
0:22:35 > 0:22:37Um...
0:22:38 > 0:22:45And he creates a character of awe-inspiring selfishness.
0:22:51 > 0:22:55In the first act, Rigoletto is sycophantic and manipulative.
0:22:55 > 0:22:59And his music is close to the character of the Duke's.
0:23:13 > 0:23:19In Verdi, the revolution is we have every time, but every time,
0:23:19 > 0:23:23and it is really amazing, the perfect connection
0:23:23 > 0:23:27between the character of the music and the drama.
0:23:33 > 0:23:37Then, in Act Two, Verdi shows us a different side to Rigoletto.
0:23:37 > 0:23:40The sympathetic and loving father,
0:23:40 > 0:23:43comforting his daughter after the Duke has had his way with her.
0:24:24 > 0:24:26Intent on revenge,
0:24:26 > 0:24:29the last act sees an altogether different, dark side
0:24:29 > 0:24:31of Rigoletto's character,
0:24:31 > 0:24:34as he arranges to have the Duke assassinated.
0:24:37 > 0:24:44Verdi's great talent, that he writes of profound, dark, ugly emotions.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47He confronts who we are...
0:24:49 > 0:24:53..and he does it with fantastically popular melodies
0:24:53 > 0:24:57that attracts everybody to the material.
0:25:00 > 0:25:04In the last act, Verdi wrote a tune that perfectly encapsulates
0:25:04 > 0:25:08the character of the Duke - shallow and two-dimensional.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30The tenor in the Rigoletto is the lover,
0:25:30 > 0:25:34but in this case he is a really bad character.
0:25:35 > 0:25:39He's the bad way of lover.
0:25:55 > 0:25:59Verdi knew what a hit this would be, banning his cast from singing
0:25:59 > 0:26:03or even whistling it in public before the premiere.
0:26:08 > 0:26:11This famous aria is much more than just a hit tune.
0:26:11 > 0:26:15It shows how Verdi was a master of the theatre.
0:26:15 > 0:26:18Not only does it encapsulate the Duke's amoral
0:26:18 > 0:26:22and devil-may-care character, but by the end of the opera,
0:26:22 > 0:26:25it serves a far more shocking purpose.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32The assassin has brought Rigoletto a sack.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35He believes it holds the dead Duke.
0:26:35 > 0:26:39But the audience knows that it is actually his daughter.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42And then Verdi delivers the lightning strike.
0:26:45 > 0:26:48THE DUKE SINGS ARIA
0:26:50 > 0:26:52The impact is huge.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56A deeply distressing moment of pure theatre
0:26:56 > 0:26:59conveyed through a lightweight song.
0:26:59 > 0:27:04Verdi satisfies the dramatic element, not in any melodramatic way -
0:27:04 > 0:27:08in a real, interesting, theatrical investigation.
0:27:08 > 0:27:12He gives you real theatre, not just tableaux.
0:27:19 > 0:27:24Unable to renounce her love for the Duke, Gilda has sacrificed herself.
0:27:40 > 0:27:46That courage to put so unsympathetic a man on the stage,
0:27:46 > 0:27:54ugly not only in body but ugly in soul, is quite fascinating
0:27:54 > 0:27:58because often it's the ugliness of Rigoletto which lifts
0:27:58 > 0:28:00an audience to its feet cheering.
0:28:02 > 0:28:06Rigoletto is a testament to Verdi's skill at fusing all
0:28:06 > 0:28:10the elements to create a powerful dramatic experience.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13At the premiere, audiences loved it and it took
0:28:13 > 0:28:17no time at all for La donna e mobile to be heard in the streets.
0:28:20 > 0:28:24Aged 38, Verdi was the undisputed king of Italian opera.
0:28:24 > 0:28:29He was rich, famous and at the height of his powers.
0:28:29 > 0:28:34But there were still aspects of his life that were troubled.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37His affair with Strepponi had blossomed, but rather like
0:28:37 > 0:28:41one of his characters, she had a questionable reputation,
0:28:41 > 0:28:45having had at least four illegitimate children before meeting Verdi.
0:28:47 > 0:28:49Verdi took her to live with him in Busseto,
0:28:49 > 0:28:52the town of his deceased wife's family.
0:28:52 > 0:28:55Of course, this didn't go down at all well
0:28:55 > 0:28:58with the small-minded and bourgeois locals,
0:28:58 > 0:29:02who whilst proud of their famous son, shunned his mistress.
0:29:04 > 0:29:08Amidst this turmoil, Verdi was still travelling abroad
0:29:08 > 0:29:10and accepting commissions.
0:29:10 > 0:29:16In 1852, Verdi was eager to find new material for a commission
0:29:16 > 0:29:18at La Fenice Opera House in Venice.
0:29:18 > 0:29:21But he complained that he couldn't find the right subject.
0:29:21 > 0:29:25He wrote, "It is easy to find commonplace stories,
0:29:25 > 0:29:28"but it is very, very difficult to find one that has all
0:29:28 > 0:29:32"the qualities needed if it is to have an impact.
0:29:32 > 0:29:36"One that is also original and provocative."
0:29:40 > 0:29:44And it was here in Paris that he found what he needed,
0:29:44 > 0:29:48a poignant story based on the real life of a tragic young woman.
0:29:51 > 0:29:54This is the grave of Marie Duplessis,
0:29:54 > 0:29:58a notorious courtesan and mistress of many wealthy and powerful men.
0:29:58 > 0:30:00Extremely beautiful and witty,
0:30:00 > 0:30:04she was a legendary figure of mid-19th-century Paris.
0:30:04 > 0:30:06But her life ended tragically.
0:30:06 > 0:30:11She died of consumption at the age of just 23.
0:30:11 > 0:30:15One of her lovers was the great writer Alexandre Dumas
0:30:15 > 0:30:19and he was about to immortalise her on the stage.
0:30:21 > 0:30:25Their short love affair would go on to form the basis of his play
0:30:25 > 0:30:27La Dame Aux Camelias,
0:30:27 > 0:30:30The Lady Of The Camelias, which was an instant hit.
0:30:32 > 0:30:36On seeing Dumas' play La Dame Aux Camelias, Verdi finally found
0:30:36 > 0:30:39the raw material he had been searching for.
0:30:39 > 0:30:44The story goes that as soon as the curtain fell, he ran immediately
0:30:44 > 0:30:48into his apartment and started sketching the music for La Traviata.
0:30:52 > 0:30:57La Traviata, or The Fallen Woman, is a story that must have had
0:30:57 > 0:31:01echoes with Verdi's own relationship with Strepponi.
0:31:01 > 0:31:05At its centre is Violetta, a courtesan, a kept woman,
0:31:05 > 0:31:08admired but never really accepted into society.
0:31:09 > 0:31:14But what I think is wonderful is the way Verdi makes the audience
0:31:14 > 0:31:18not only accept her, but actually care about her.
0:31:20 > 0:31:22Audiences love her.
0:31:22 > 0:31:24What I think people love most about this opera,
0:31:24 > 0:31:28besides the way it's composed, the beautiful tunes
0:31:28 > 0:31:30and the power of the music, that's number one.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33Number two is that she ultimately has more integrity
0:31:33 > 0:31:35than every other character in the piece.
0:31:35 > 0:31:39And she is supposed to be the one who has the lowest morals
0:31:39 > 0:31:43and in fact, she rises above everyone else.
0:32:02 > 0:32:04Violetta knows she is dying,
0:32:04 > 0:32:08but she lives a life of endless parties, liaisons and lovers.
0:32:08 > 0:32:11Into her world steps a young man named Alfredo,
0:32:11 > 0:32:14who offers her a chance of true love.
0:32:16 > 0:32:19La Traviata is about the choices she has to make
0:32:19 > 0:32:23between the superficial life she's accustomed to
0:32:23 > 0:32:25and the sacrifices for love.
0:32:27 > 0:32:30Passionate, that's what it is.
0:32:30 > 0:32:35It's passion, raw feeling, raw emotion and ultimately
0:32:35 > 0:32:39if someone comes to an Italian opera, they're expecting to feel something.
0:32:39 > 0:32:44They're expecting to have a visceral, emotional,
0:32:44 > 0:32:47physical reaction to the opera.
0:32:47 > 0:32:52Not cerebral, not, "Oh, that was lovely," but...in the gut.
0:32:59 > 0:33:04Alfredo has declared his love, and Violetta is left confused.
0:33:04 > 0:33:08What follows is ten minutes of some of Verdi's most intimate theatre,
0:33:08 > 0:33:11as she shares her innermost thoughts with us.
0:33:11 > 0:33:15I love the way Verdi does this. By putting such a woman on stage,
0:33:15 > 0:33:20alone, Verdi is pushing us to embrace her predicament
0:33:20 > 0:33:23as something we will recognise and accept.
0:33:50 > 0:33:53That's where the drama plays out and where the real story plays out
0:33:53 > 0:33:55and the questions, all of the sort of -
0:33:55 > 0:33:59is it this or is it that, is this real love? What about my life?
0:34:17 > 0:34:21She's completely out of control at this point.
0:34:21 > 0:34:25And she's fighting the truth, which is that she's already in deep,
0:34:25 > 0:34:28you know. That's the way love is sometimes, it just hits you
0:34:28 > 0:34:32when you least expect it and when you least want it sometimes.
0:34:36 > 0:34:39But by putting a character such as Violetta on stage,
0:34:39 > 0:34:43Verdi was again going to get into hot water.
0:34:43 > 0:34:47The Venetian censors and the opera management objected to Verdi's wish
0:34:47 > 0:34:51to stage La Traviata in contemporary times and in modern dress.
0:34:52 > 0:34:55It was far too close for comfort.
0:34:55 > 0:34:59They insisted that Verdi set it at a safe distance,
0:34:59 > 0:35:01around the 1700s,
0:35:01 > 0:35:03far from any direct comparison with their own audience.
0:35:03 > 0:35:06And in the Second Act,
0:35:06 > 0:35:10Violetta comes up against the same bourgeois attitudes.
0:35:13 > 0:35:15Violetta has given up her life
0:35:15 > 0:35:19and is living a blissful existence with Alfredo.
0:35:19 > 0:35:24Then, Alfredo's father Germont comes to demand that the liaison ends,
0:35:24 > 0:35:27as it jeopardises his own daughter's marriage.
0:35:29 > 0:35:32Germont is the representation
0:35:32 > 0:35:35of the society and the oppressive world
0:35:35 > 0:35:38in which this beautiful flower Traviata
0:35:38 > 0:35:42and this wonderful love story is trapped in.
0:35:42 > 0:35:46It's a world that doesn't allow that to happen.
0:35:46 > 0:35:49And Germont embodies that.
0:35:58 > 0:36:03This cannot happen under the rules of life as he understands it.
0:36:03 > 0:36:07And I think Verdi captures that beautifully.
0:36:11 > 0:36:15And now Verdi really ups the demands on her voice,
0:36:15 > 0:36:19calling for a big dramatic sound to express her intense anger.
0:36:35 > 0:36:40It's the most heartbreaking moment, and the way he does it too,
0:36:40 > 0:36:43because they're singing and arguing and singing and arguing
0:36:43 > 0:36:45and suddenly time stops.
0:36:45 > 0:36:48And just out of nowhere comes this "ah" in the little voice
0:36:48 > 0:36:54that's completely exposed, and in that "ah" is a lifetime of pain.
0:37:45 > 0:37:49That moment is absolutely where the opera turns.
0:37:49 > 0:37:52It's the turning point of the entire piece.
0:37:52 > 0:37:55Every hope and, you know, she...
0:37:55 > 0:37:58It's just one of the most heartbreaking moments
0:37:58 > 0:38:00in all of opera, I think.
0:38:06 > 0:38:11The Final Act finds her back in Paris, alone, penniless and dying.
0:38:40 > 0:38:45I think La Traviata is one of the greatest operas of all time.
0:38:45 > 0:38:49Through the extremes of music and voice,
0:38:49 > 0:38:52Verdi expresses a wide range of emotion.
0:38:52 > 0:38:57He captures our sympathy and we care deeply about Violetta's fate.
0:39:02 > 0:39:05But by putting a classy yet kept woman on stage,
0:39:05 > 0:39:09maybe the characters were too real for the first-night audience.
0:39:09 > 0:39:11It didn't go at all well.
0:39:11 > 0:39:16Verdi himself was deeply frustrated, dismissing the premiere as a fiasco.
0:39:16 > 0:39:20Although Verdi makes no direct link to the character of Violetta,
0:39:20 > 0:39:22you could argue that one of the reasons that he felt
0:39:22 > 0:39:26so attracted to the subject of an ostracised woman was his
0:39:26 > 0:39:31witnessing of Giuseppina Strepponi's own non-acceptance by society.
0:39:31 > 0:39:37Maybe through Violetta, he wanted to thumb his nose to the bourgeoisie.
0:39:39 > 0:39:42It wasn't until a year later,
0:39:42 > 0:39:47with performances at a different theatre and a handpicked cast
0:39:47 > 0:39:49that Verdi's La Traviata triumphed.
0:39:49 > 0:39:52Today it is said that on any night,
0:39:52 > 0:39:56somewhere in the world, La Traviata is being performed.
0:39:59 > 0:40:01Verdi was now very famous.
0:40:01 > 0:40:04The boy from a country inn had become a national icon.
0:40:08 > 0:40:11By now, Verdi was living with Strepponi at Sant'Agata
0:40:11 > 0:40:14in a farm deep in the Italian countryside
0:40:14 > 0:40:16and one removed from society's demands on him.
0:40:16 > 0:40:21But he was not going to drop out of sight completely.
0:40:21 > 0:40:25The diverse states that made up the Italian peninsula were going
0:40:25 > 0:40:29through a period of upheaval, and Verdi himself was to become
0:40:29 > 0:40:33inextricably linked to this spirit of revolutionary change.
0:40:35 > 0:40:40The country was beginning to unite under a new king, Vittorio Emanuele II.
0:40:40 > 0:40:44In 1861, the occupiers were kicked out
0:40:44 > 0:40:48and a new cry was heard in the streets and scrawled on the walls.
0:40:48 > 0:40:50"Viva Verdi."
0:40:53 > 0:40:55Viva Verdi.
0:40:55 > 0:40:59You know, Orlando, in Verdi's times all of the people were celebrating.
0:40:59 > 0:41:02"Viva Verdi." Viva Verdi had a double meaning,
0:41:02 > 0:41:04because Verdi you can use like...
0:41:17 > 0:41:23In 1861, Verdi himself was persuaded to enter Parliament,
0:41:23 > 0:41:28a cultural symbol, as the international face of the new Italy.
0:41:32 > 0:41:36He was not interested in politics as a means of gaining power.
0:41:36 > 0:41:40He didn't need any, he had it. He was worshipped by his own people.
0:41:41 > 0:41:45For whom Va Pensiero, which is the chorus in Nabucco
0:41:45 > 0:41:50has become identified with the call for national independence
0:41:50 > 0:41:52and national identity.
0:41:52 > 0:41:56MUSIC: "Nabucco" by Vivaldi
0:42:20 > 0:42:25Va Pensiero, up until today, it's the most important musical
0:42:25 > 0:42:29and artistic identification of a country. No?
0:42:29 > 0:42:33Yes, for a while we consider the possibility
0:42:33 > 0:42:38- to have it as a national anthem. - Of course. I think that's amazing.
0:42:40 > 0:42:43The Italian nation soon however had its critics.
0:42:43 > 0:42:48In 1864, the Pope Pius IX condemned democracy,
0:42:48 > 0:42:53freedom of the press and the new Italy as anti-Catholic.
0:42:53 > 0:42:56Something that would not have been lost on Verdi.
0:42:59 > 0:43:03Verdi's operas frequently touched on the great themes of liberty,
0:43:03 > 0:43:08power and politics. None more so than Don Carlos.
0:43:08 > 0:43:12An epic five-part opera based on a story by the German poet Schiller.
0:43:13 > 0:43:17But one of the most overwhelming moments is what I think to be
0:43:17 > 0:43:20a very personal statement by Verdi about the place
0:43:20 > 0:43:23and power of organised religion.
0:43:29 > 0:43:32There is a scene in Don Carlos where the king has to
0:43:32 > 0:43:36choose between his duty to the nation and his love for his son.
0:43:36 > 0:43:40He goes to seek advice from the head of the Spanish Inquisition.
0:43:44 > 0:43:48The way the inquisitor is portrayed melodically,
0:43:48 > 0:43:50and harmonically and rhythmically
0:43:50 > 0:43:54is everything but evolution,
0:43:54 > 0:43:57openness of spirit and generosity.
0:43:57 > 0:44:03It is orthodoxy, it is this kind of unflinching refusal
0:44:03 > 0:44:09of anything that would be questioning the accepted forms.
0:44:20 > 0:44:23The grand inquisitor is old and blind.
0:44:23 > 0:44:26Verdi never explicitly stated his views on religion,
0:44:26 > 0:44:30but his depiction of the inquisitor is by no means flattering.
0:44:33 > 0:44:37Verdi is pretty risque with his dealings with the Church
0:44:37 > 0:44:39and how he portrays the Church.
0:44:39 > 0:44:44This adamantine, fearsome character in the inquisitor is not
0:44:44 > 0:44:48a depiction of love, it's an edifice to be feared.
0:44:50 > 0:44:53The King is asking the inquisitor whether he should kill
0:44:53 > 0:44:56his rebellious son for the good of the country
0:44:56 > 0:44:58or spare him out of fatherly love.
0:45:31 > 0:45:34Verdi's portrait of the grand inquisitor in Don Carlos
0:45:34 > 0:45:37can probably help us to understand his views on the Catholic Church
0:45:37 > 0:45:39and formalised religion.
0:45:39 > 0:45:43Verdi himself was a suspected agnostic, someone that
0:45:43 > 0:45:45neither believes nor disbelieves.
0:45:45 > 0:45:50It is quite interesting that one of his most powerful works
0:45:50 > 0:45:53written just a few years after Don Carlos was Requiem.
0:45:56 > 0:45:59It was on the death in 1873 of the poet Manzoni,
0:45:59 > 0:46:03nationalist and fervent supporter of the new Italy,
0:46:03 > 0:46:06that Verdi wrote Requiem in his honour.
0:46:08 > 0:46:13Here was a whole new opportunity for Verdi to apply not only his heart,
0:46:13 > 0:46:17but his well-honed dramatic skills to a different form.
0:46:20 > 0:46:22A traditional mass would normally be sung
0:46:22 > 0:46:26as part of a funeral service, but Verdi invested the full force
0:46:26 > 0:46:29of his dramatic skills for maximum impact.
0:46:29 > 0:46:32More suitable for the concert platform
0:46:32 > 0:46:35in a large chorus of mixed voices.
0:46:35 > 0:46:38Nevertheless, the occasion and subject matter
0:46:38 > 0:46:40demanded a more sober setting.
0:46:41 > 0:46:45Even here, Verdi would have to compromise on some things.
0:46:46 > 0:46:49On the first anniversary of Manzoni's death,
0:46:49 > 0:46:54Verdi's Requiem was premiered here in the church of San Marco.
0:46:54 > 0:46:58Since papal convention decreed that no female voices were allowed
0:46:58 > 0:47:02to perform in church, Verdi petitioned the Archbishop
0:47:02 > 0:47:03and an agreement was reached.
0:47:03 > 0:47:07Not only were the women made to wear veils,
0:47:07 > 0:47:09but they were also shielded by screens.
0:47:11 > 0:47:13MUSIC: "Requiem" by Verdi
0:47:31 > 0:47:33It doesn't do in church,
0:47:33 > 0:47:37because it's a concert piece. But you cannot help, even if
0:47:37 > 0:47:40you are listening to it in the Albert Hall or wherever,
0:47:40 > 0:47:46to be moved by the words, the music
0:47:46 > 0:47:47and what it evokes in your own heart.
0:47:51 > 0:47:54Verdi set his Requiem for vast forces.
0:47:54 > 0:47:58Four soloists backed up by a double choir and orchestra.
0:48:06 > 0:48:09Verdi takes the religious text as a starting point
0:48:09 > 0:48:13then he writes music that, for me, really seeks to capture
0:48:13 > 0:48:16the dramatic and emotional force inherent in it.
0:48:18 > 0:48:22I think his talent was to express any emotional colour
0:48:22 > 0:48:24and put it into harmony.
0:48:24 > 0:48:28And to make it and to build a structure in such a way that
0:48:28 > 0:48:30it becomes visible.
0:48:30 > 0:48:36You can almost touch it. It's 3-D.
0:48:40 > 0:48:43- Those four chords...- They grab you!
0:48:43 > 0:48:45It's the last day of the judgement.
0:48:45 > 0:48:48Doors of heaven, doors of hell, everything is open.
0:48:48 > 0:48:51The day of wrath. Dies irae.
0:48:58 > 0:49:01All his operatic and his dramatic experience,
0:49:01 > 0:49:03obviously he put into this piece.
0:49:03 > 0:49:07He saw this piece in a dramatic way.
0:49:37 > 0:49:41He had a vision of this last judgement where you have
0:49:41 > 0:49:44the great contrast between drama,
0:49:44 > 0:49:47between hope and fear, hope and despair.
0:49:50 > 0:49:52And I think he touches people.
0:50:23 > 0:50:25It was a gigantic achievement on his part
0:50:25 > 0:50:27that was important, first to him
0:50:27 > 0:50:30because he knew what he wanted to express,
0:50:30 > 0:50:34but eventually became so important to the rest of the world.
0:50:34 > 0:50:39But I would say the word, "spiritual" is more adequate than, "religious"
0:50:39 > 0:50:42because there are many religions, but there is only one spirituality.
0:50:53 > 0:50:55Verdi wrote the final movement first.
0:50:55 > 0:50:57In it, the entire journey
0:50:57 > 0:51:01from judgement to eternal rest is summarised.
0:51:01 > 0:51:03But tellingly, Verdi chooses not to say
0:51:03 > 0:51:05where our final resting place may be.
0:51:09 > 0:51:14With no strength, with no power, with no voice,
0:51:14 > 0:51:17he wrote the last, "Libera...me."
0:51:17 > 0:51:19It's like the last breath,
0:51:19 > 0:51:22when the soul comes and leaves your body.
0:51:22 > 0:51:25It always happens after the "Libera Me."
0:51:25 > 0:51:27It meant silence after that,
0:51:27 > 0:51:30and I thought that's what Verdi wanted.
0:51:44 > 0:51:48By the late 1870s, Verdi had all but retired.
0:51:48 > 0:51:50Thanks to the huge popularity of his works
0:51:50 > 0:51:54and vigorous copyright that came with their performance,
0:51:54 > 0:51:56he was a very rich and comfortable man.
0:51:56 > 0:52:00It would not have been surprising if he HAD retired.
0:52:00 > 0:52:03But maybe he still had something to say.
0:52:06 > 0:52:11It was in 1879 that Verdi met with Arrigo Boito,
0:52:11 > 0:52:12a brilliant librettist
0:52:12 > 0:52:16who was keen on the operatic possibilities in Shakespeare.
0:52:16 > 0:52:19Given Verdi's own passion for the playwright,
0:52:19 > 0:52:22this was an opportunity too tempting to ignore.
0:52:24 > 0:52:27It took eight years, but in 1887,
0:52:27 > 0:52:31La Scala saw the fruit of their collaboration - Otello.
0:52:31 > 0:52:34And this is where Verdi really showed what he could do,
0:52:34 > 0:52:37not just with voice, but with the orchestra.
0:52:37 > 0:52:40Verdi and Boito,
0:52:40 > 0:52:45they thought that if you open with a disaster,
0:52:45 > 0:52:46naturalistic disaster,
0:52:46 > 0:52:49the people will be inside of the story immediately.
0:52:49 > 0:52:53- Immediately! - And they opened with a storm.
0:52:53 > 0:52:57HE SCREAMS AND MIMICS ORCHESTRA
0:52:57 > 0:52:59"Oh, my God! Where we are?!"
0:52:59 > 0:53:02And then the diminuendo. Of course, the evolution of Verdi
0:53:02 > 0:53:05is bring the people to the drama immediately.
0:53:08 > 0:53:11The atmosphere and terror of a storm at sea.
0:53:11 > 0:53:14Verdi uses the orchestra for thrilling sound effects.
0:53:14 > 0:53:18The people in the audience, they don't know, but he used the organ.
0:53:18 > 0:53:20HE MIMICS ORGAN WHOOSHING
0:53:20 > 0:53:24- In the organ, uh-huh.- Yeah, but you don't understand it is the organ.
0:53:24 > 0:53:28It is inside. For ten minutes. HE MIMICS ORGAN WHOOSHING
0:53:28 > 0:53:31But it's something that disturbs you.
0:53:37 > 0:53:40- Then he combines that with... - With the storm!
0:53:40 > 0:53:43Horns, violins, wind...
0:53:43 > 0:53:45The chorus!
0:53:45 > 0:53:48And for ten minutes, you are completely...
0:53:48 > 0:53:51- Drawn into this... - Drawn in the chair!
0:53:51 > 0:53:54We're not understanding what's going on.
0:53:54 > 0:53:56What's happened to your life?!
0:54:21 > 0:54:25The orchestra is not only telling what is happening in nature,
0:54:25 > 0:54:26but it is another character.
0:54:26 > 0:54:28Like, he understood that at some point,
0:54:28 > 0:54:32he had to change the attitude of the orchestra, or of orchestration.
0:54:32 > 0:54:35Immediately, he becomes something.
0:54:35 > 0:54:39Suddenly, he starts to speak without words.
0:54:39 > 0:54:41The music serves herself.
0:54:41 > 0:54:46It is joined with the text, but you can do the music without the words.
0:54:46 > 0:54:48It works.
0:54:50 > 0:54:53And here is a great example.
0:54:53 > 0:54:57Out of jealousy, Otello is intending to kill his wife, Desdemona.
0:54:57 > 0:55:00TENTATIVE, MELANCHOLY STRINGS
0:55:00 > 0:55:02He walks in, stealthily.
0:55:09 > 0:55:12Apprehensive and nervous, yet still unsure.
0:55:15 > 0:55:17Verdi puts it all in the music.
0:55:29 > 0:55:32And the music tells us his decision.
0:55:37 > 0:55:40STRINGS BECOME URGENT AND STACCATO
0:55:50 > 0:55:54Verdi would go on to write another opera in his 80th year.
0:55:54 > 0:55:58But the last music he composed were Four Sacred Pieces,
0:55:58 > 0:56:00set for choir and orchestra.
0:56:09 > 0:56:12CHOIR SINGS
0:56:14 > 0:56:16Verdi spent the last years of his life
0:56:16 > 0:56:20mainly in the quiet of the country, back at St Agata.
0:56:29 > 0:56:33But at the age of 88, the great maestro died.
0:56:33 > 0:56:35At his funeral in Milan,
0:56:35 > 0:56:40a vast gathering of 200,000 lined the streets.
0:56:40 > 0:56:44Verdi remained inscrutable to the last,
0:56:44 > 0:56:47but I find it telling that, of all the music he wrote,
0:56:47 > 0:56:51it is said that he wished to be buried with one of these.
0:56:51 > 0:56:55The Te Deum. "Thee, O God, We Praise."
0:57:00 > 0:57:03Giuseppe Verdi is the quintessential artist.
0:57:03 > 0:57:05Not only did he push the human voice to new heights,
0:57:05 > 0:57:08but through his mastery of text
0:57:08 > 0:57:10and genius use of orchestral colour,
0:57:10 > 0:57:14he created pure, intense drama in music
0:57:14 > 0:57:18and carried the opera from 19th to 20th century.
0:57:18 > 0:57:20For him, opera was not only for the elite,
0:57:20 > 0:57:23but should really be for everybody.
0:57:23 > 0:57:26Today, we can all relate to his three-dimensional characters,
0:57:26 > 0:57:31but most important, we can also sing along with his wonderful tunes.
0:57:31 > 0:57:36And that is why Verdi and his music will never, ever die.
0:57:36 > 0:57:37Viva Verdi!
0:58:06 > 0:58:10Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd