Browse content similar to Andrea Chénier from the Royal Opera House. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Superb. Exquisitely realised. | 0:00:02 | 0:00:05 | |
Gold-plated. Perfection incarnate. | 0:00:05 | 0:00:08 | |
Just some of the glowing reviews | 0:00:08 | 0:00:11 | |
for this brand-new production of Andrea Chenier, | 0:00:11 | 0:00:14 | |
directed by David McVicar, | 0:00:14 | 0:00:17 | |
in its first staging here at the Royal Opera House for 30 years. | 0:00:17 | 0:00:21 | |
When it was premiered in Milan in 1896, | 0:00:31 | 0:00:34 | |
Andrea Chenier caused a sensation, | 0:00:34 | 0:00:37 | |
particularly for the dramatic lyrical music | 0:00:37 | 0:00:40 | |
for the tenor of the title role. | 0:00:40 | 0:00:42 | |
This is, essentially, a love story | 0:00:42 | 0:00:44 | |
set against the backdrop of the French Revolution | 0:00:44 | 0:00:46 | |
and the bloody Reign of Terror. | 0:00:46 | 0:00:48 | |
At its heart are a poet and a servant | 0:00:48 | 0:00:51 | |
vying for the love of the same young aristocratic girl, Maddalena. | 0:00:51 | 0:00:55 | |
The composer of the piece, Umberto Giordano, | 0:00:55 | 0:00:57 | |
was a contemporary of Puccini's. | 0:00:57 | 0:00:59 | |
In fact, their lives seemed almost to run in parallel. | 0:00:59 | 0:01:02 | |
This opera was premiered within weeks of La Boheme | 0:01:02 | 0:01:05 | |
and both composers used the same librettist, Luigi Illica. | 0:01:05 | 0:01:09 | |
Now, assembling a top-notch cast | 0:01:09 | 0:01:11 | |
is the key to any successful performance of Andrea Chenier | 0:01:11 | 0:01:15 | |
and, tonight, we have one of the world's greatest | 0:01:15 | 0:01:17 | |
and most sought-after tenors in the lead role - | 0:01:17 | 0:01:21 | |
Jonas Kaufmann. | 0:01:21 | 0:01:23 | |
Singing opposite him as his sweetheart | 0:01:23 | 0:01:25 | |
is the soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek. | 0:01:25 | 0:01:28 | |
And on the podium, Antonio Pappano. | 0:01:28 | 0:01:31 | |
We caught up with our gold-plated cast and creative team | 0:01:31 | 0:01:35 | |
during rehearsals. | 0:01:35 | 0:01:36 | |
PIANO PLAYS | 0:01:36 | 0:01:39 | |
Music is so gorgeous and so cantabile | 0:01:43 | 0:01:46 | |
and so broad and so lush | 0:01:46 | 0:01:48 | |
and all the stuff that, you know, we all want. | 0:01:48 | 0:01:52 | |
It has a special allure for singers, | 0:01:52 | 0:01:54 | |
the way it's written for the voice, the way... | 0:01:54 | 0:01:57 | |
the spectacular jumps to the high notes. | 0:01:57 | 0:01:59 | |
It's so full of life and so true to the drama. | 0:01:59 | 0:02:03 | |
We're telling a story which has, you know, | 0:02:03 | 0:02:06 | |
the names of real people, real characters, real locations, | 0:02:06 | 0:02:10 | |
set in late-18th-century France. | 0:02:10 | 0:02:13 | |
We begin in a chateau of a very wealthy aristocratic family, | 0:02:13 | 0:02:18 | |
cocooned from the outside world, | 0:02:18 | 0:02:20 | |
and we're about to see this family | 0:02:20 | 0:02:22 | |
fall at the hands of the French Revolution. | 0:02:22 | 0:02:25 | |
SHOUTING | 0:02:29 | 0:02:32 | |
The story is about the French Revolution. | 0:02:35 | 0:02:38 | |
The part of the people is very, very strong. | 0:02:38 | 0:02:43 | |
The feeling of rebellion is there. | 0:02:43 | 0:02:46 | |
And through Andrea Chenier, we see this great thinker, | 0:02:46 | 0:02:52 | |
this person who has ideals about humanity | 0:02:52 | 0:02:55 | |
and how people should be treated. | 0:02:55 | 0:02:57 | |
HE SINGS IN ITALIAN | 0:02:57 | 0:03:01 | |
We see him the first time in the first act | 0:03:01 | 0:03:04 | |
entering a very glamorous party. | 0:03:04 | 0:03:06 | |
And he's been asked, "Just do some poetry for us," | 0:03:06 | 0:03:12 | |
like stand-up comedy of nowadays, and he just says... | 0:03:12 | 0:03:15 | |
He refuses. He says, "I can't. I don't have my inspiration." | 0:03:15 | 0:03:18 | |
And then they're mocking him. | 0:03:18 | 0:03:20 | |
And so he stands up and actually does a poem, | 0:03:20 | 0:03:24 | |
but it's not one that they like, | 0:03:24 | 0:03:26 | |
because it is criticising the society. | 0:03:26 | 0:03:29 | |
The young Maddalena that you see in Act I | 0:03:31 | 0:03:33 | |
is a bit of a...you know, a bit of a spoiled brat, in a way. | 0:03:33 | 0:03:38 | |
But she then meets Andrea Chenier. | 0:03:38 | 0:03:41 | |
He's, of course, very beautiful, very handsome. | 0:03:41 | 0:03:44 | |
But, also, he has an amazing passion to fight against injustice, | 0:03:44 | 0:03:50 | |
and she falls in love with him because of it. | 0:03:50 | 0:03:53 | |
THEY SING IN ITALIAN | 0:03:53 | 0:03:56 | |
Carlo Gerard is a servant | 0:03:59 | 0:04:02 | |
at the palace where Maddalena lives as well | 0:04:02 | 0:04:06 | |
and is secretly in love with her. | 0:04:06 | 0:04:11 | |
Of course, she falls in love with somebody else, that's Chenier. | 0:04:12 | 0:04:17 | |
And... | 0:04:17 | 0:04:19 | |
Well, you know, because of my feelings to her, | 0:04:19 | 0:04:23 | |
I kind of respect that. | 0:04:23 | 0:04:25 | |
SHE SINGS IN ITALIAN | 0:04:25 | 0:04:27 | |
Bersi is the servant companion of Maddalena. | 0:04:31 | 0:04:37 | |
She's a little bit more of a sister, but in any case, that's what she is. | 0:04:37 | 0:04:43 | |
HE SINGS IN ITALIAN | 0:04:43 | 0:04:45 | |
Gerard is very angry about the fact that his father, for example, | 0:04:48 | 0:04:54 | |
has spent his entire life working for the countess and is old now, | 0:04:54 | 0:04:58 | |
and the people on the streets who are hungry and who need help, | 0:04:58 | 0:05:02 | |
and what we see from Bersi is that she's aligned with his sentiment. | 0:05:02 | 0:05:07 | |
So, I would say that, politically, | 0:05:07 | 0:05:08 | |
she's very much, you know, in sync with the common people. | 0:05:08 | 0:05:14 | |
Giordano is an absolutely phenomenal composer | 0:05:18 | 0:05:22 | |
and he writes so wonderful for the voice. | 0:05:22 | 0:05:26 | |
It's refined, but it has these amazing melodies. | 0:05:26 | 0:05:30 | |
PIANO PLAYS | 0:05:30 | 0:05:32 | |
One of the features of this score | 0:05:34 | 0:05:36 | |
is a parody or a reworking of rococo ideals. | 0:05:36 | 0:05:41 | |
Think powdered wigs and dance steps... | 0:05:41 | 0:05:46 | |
HE PLAYS A JAUNTY TUNE | 0:05:46 | 0:05:50 | |
This music denotes or underlines the aristocracy. | 0:05:50 | 0:05:55 | |
Now the servants' music. | 0:06:02 | 0:06:04 | |
HE PLAYS A DISPIRITING TUNE | 0:06:04 | 0:06:09 | |
This music is much more Italian in character | 0:06:14 | 0:06:18 | |
with strongly poignant accents. | 0:06:18 | 0:06:21 | |
So, you have this amazing contrast, | 0:06:25 | 0:06:27 | |
which Illica, the librettist, and Giordano, | 0:06:27 | 0:06:31 | |
wanted to, right away, put the audience in front of this... | 0:06:31 | 0:06:35 | |
..imbalance - the haves and the have-nots. | 0:06:37 | 0:06:40 | |
Which then, of course, creates the terrain for the revolution. | 0:06:40 | 0:06:45 | |
APPLAUSE | 0:06:56 | 0:06:57 | |
ORCHESTRA PLAYS | 0:07:15 | 0:07:17 | |
THEY LAUGH | 0:15:57 | 0:16:00 | |
HE LAUGHS | 0:16:40 | 0:16:41 | |
CLAPPING | 0:19:47 | 0:19:48 | |
HARPSICHORD PLAYS | 0:24:42 | 0:24:45 | |
THEY LAUGH | 0:26:02 | 0:26:04 | |
APPLAUSE | 0:31:42 | 0:31:44 | |
APPLAUSE | 0:36:25 | 0:36:28 | |
ORCHESTRA PLAYS | 0:37:13 | 0:37:15 | |
SHE CRIES OUT IN DELIGHT | 0:50:37 | 0:50:39 | |
HE SINGS TO HIMSELF | 0:52:57 | 0:52:59 | |
HE CONTINUES SINGING TO HIMSELF | 0:53:37 | 0:53:39 | |
APPLAUSE | 1:02:11 | 1:02:13 | |
HE CRIES OUT | 1:02:50 | 1:02:52 | |
APPLAUSE | 1:04:07 | 1:04:09 | |
APPLAUSE | 1:04:43 | 1:04:45 | |
ORCHESTRA PLAYS | 1:05:06 | 1:05:08 | |
HE LAUGHS | 1:18:18 | 1:18:20 | |
APPLAUSE | 1:22:52 | 1:22:54 | |
APPLAUSE | 1:33:55 | 1:33:57 | |
MURMURING | 1:37:06 | 1:37:08 | |
THEY LAUGH | 1:38:09 | 1:38:11 | |
THEY LAUGH | 1:38:58 | 1:39:00 | |
THEY LAUGH | 1:39:14 | 1:39:16 | |
THEY CALL OUT | 1:39:20 | 1:39:22 | |
THEY SHOUT OUT | 1:44:40 | 1:44:43 | |
APPLAUSE | 1:45:07 | 1:45:09 | |
ORCHESTRA PLAYS | 1:45:32 | 1:45:35 | |
MAN SINGS TUNE OF "LA MARSEILLAISE" | 1:50:06 | 1:50:09 | |
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE | 2:00:32 | 2:00:35 | |
APPLAUSE CONTINUES | 2:00:48 | 2:00:50 | |
CHEERING | 2:01:27 | 2:01:30 | |
CHEERING | 2:01:53 | 2:01:54 | |
CHEERING | 2:02:12 | 2:02:14 | |
CHEERING | 2:02:49 | 2:02:51 |