0:00:29 > 0:00:31Tonight, in their second concert here at the BBC Proms
0:00:31 > 0:00:35the Orchestra of the Academy of Santa Cecilia, Rome,
0:00:35 > 0:00:37conducted by Antonio Pappano,
0:00:37 > 0:00:41bring an authentically Italian flavour to the Royal Albert Hall
0:00:41 > 0:00:44in our series Orchestras of the World.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47From an Italian orchestra, a Prom of music by the great 19th-century
0:00:47 > 0:00:51Italian composer of dramatic opera, Giuseppe Verdi.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54Yet, there's not a note of opera in tonight's concert.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57You might think that's strange given the orchestra's heritage
0:00:57 > 0:01:00and that Sir Antonio Pappano is music director
0:01:00 > 0:01:03of the Royal Opera House here in London, where Verdi forms
0:01:03 > 0:01:05a staple part of the repertoire.
0:01:05 > 0:01:09But tonight Pappano celebrates the bicentenary of Verdi's birth
0:01:09 > 0:01:12with a thrilling programme of his lesser-known works.
0:01:12 > 0:01:14Later, the orchestra will be joined by the chorus
0:01:14 > 0:01:17of the Academy to sing Verdi's Four Sacred Pieces,
0:01:17 > 0:01:21and soprano Maria Agresta, a star of La Scala, Milan, performs
0:01:21 > 0:01:25a rarely heard setting of the prayer Ave Maria.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29But, to start, a Proms premiere, Verdi's only chamber work.
0:01:29 > 0:01:30His String Quartet.
0:01:30 > 0:01:34Tonight it will be played in an expanded version by the strings of the orchestra.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37Verdi composed it while he was in Naples overseeing
0:01:37 > 0:01:40the preparation for performances of his opera Aida.
0:01:40 > 0:01:42When the soprano singing the title role became ill,
0:01:42 > 0:01:43the performances were postponed
0:01:43 > 0:01:47and Verdi found himself with time on his hands.
0:01:47 > 0:01:49"I wrote it for mere amusement" he told friends
0:01:49 > 0:01:52who gathered to hear the first performance in the hotel
0:01:52 > 0:01:54where Verdi was staying.
0:01:54 > 0:01:56"I don't know whether it's beautiful or ugly," he said.
0:01:56 > 0:01:58"I only know it is a quartet."
0:01:58 > 0:02:00APPLAUSE
0:02:02 > 0:02:06Here is Antonio Pappano to conduct, then, the first Proms performance
0:02:06 > 0:02:08of Carl Hermann's arrangement
0:02:08 > 0:02:11of Verdi's String Quartet, with the strings
0:02:11 > 0:02:13of the Santa Cecilia Orchestra.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34APPLAUSE
0:25:40 > 0:25:43Verdi's String Quartet, Antonio Pappano conducting
0:25:43 > 0:25:46the Orchestra of Santa Cecilia, Rome.
0:25:50 > 0:25:51APPLAUSE CONTINUES
0:25:53 > 0:25:56The modern Santa Cecilia Orchestra, just over 100 years old
0:25:56 > 0:25:59but it's part of a much older institution,
0:25:59 > 0:26:02the National Academy of Santa Cecilia, based in Rome.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06Founded by papal decree in 1585,
0:26:06 > 0:26:09one of the oldest musical institutions in the world.
0:26:13 > 0:26:16Well, it's no surprise that Antonio Pappano,
0:26:16 > 0:26:19music director of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, has brought
0:26:19 > 0:26:23a great Italian opera singer with him - Maria Agresta.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26She's sung at La Fenice in Venice, La Scala, Milan
0:26:26 > 0:26:28and the Teatro San Carlo in Naples -
0:26:28 > 0:26:31all opera houses closely associated with Verdi.
0:26:31 > 0:26:35This evening she will sing two of his religious pieces.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38Verdi's statement "I believe in nothing" would seem to make him
0:26:38 > 0:26:41an unlikely composer of religious music.
0:26:41 > 0:26:45His faith was not straightforward, he had a complicated relationship with the priesthood.
0:26:45 > 0:26:47The Church is painted as ruthless
0:26:47 > 0:26:49and scheming in his opera Don Carlos.
0:26:49 > 0:26:52Yet, he had a chapel built in the grounds of his house -
0:26:52 > 0:26:55perhaps "free thinker" is a good description of Verdi, who was
0:26:55 > 0:26:58happy to write liturgical music.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01Well, shortly, a movement he contributed to a mass in honour
0:27:01 > 0:27:03of his colleague Rossini, but first,
0:27:03 > 0:27:07a tender setting of the prayer to the Virgin Mary - Ave Maria.
0:27:07 > 0:27:09Verdi was in his late 60s
0:27:09 > 0:27:12when he wrote it for a benefit concert at La Scala - the words
0:27:12 > 0:27:16are sung in Italian rather than the Latin of the Catholic Liturgy.
0:27:19 > 0:27:23APPLAUSE
0:27:24 > 0:27:30Maria Agresta with Antonio Pappano make their way onto the Proms stage
0:27:30 > 0:27:33to sing Verdi's setting of the prayer, Ave Maria.
0:29:08 > 0:29:11SHE SINGS IN ITALIAN
0:33:35 > 0:33:37APPLAUSE
0:33:46 > 0:33:51Ave Maria. Set by Verdi and sung by Maria Agresta.
0:33:52 > 0:33:57The Orchestra of Santa Cecilia, Rome, conducted by Antonio Pappano.
0:34:00 > 0:34:04The year 1868 saw the death of Rossini, the popular and
0:34:04 > 0:34:08successful composer of nearly 40 operas. Verdi, who was a huge admirer,
0:34:08 > 0:34:11wanted to mark the passing of his illustrious predecessor
0:34:11 > 0:34:14so asked fellow Italian composers each to contribute a movement
0:34:14 > 0:34:16to a collective requiem mass.
0:34:16 > 0:34:19Alas, a bitter falling out between those involved in the project
0:34:19 > 0:34:22meant the performance was cancelled and largely forgotten.
0:34:22 > 0:34:25Verdi's contribution was the Libera me -
0:34:25 > 0:34:27"Deliver me, oh, Lord, from eternal death."
0:34:27 > 0:34:33Later, with a later reworking, Verdi made use of the music he'd written in his own great Requiem.
0:34:33 > 0:34:36APPLAUSE
0:34:49 > 0:34:52SHE SINGS IN LATIN
0:35:14 > 0:35:17CHORUS SINGS IN LATIN
0:47:50 > 0:47:54LOUD APPLAUSE
0:48:04 > 0:48:08Verdi setting the Libera me. Sung by Maria Agresta
0:48:08 > 0:48:11and the Chorus of the Academy of Santa Cecilia.
0:48:13 > 0:48:17The Santa Cecilia Orchestra conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano.
0:48:19 > 0:48:23As used by Verdi in his great Requiem,
0:48:23 > 0:48:28but that performance the original version - first written for
0:48:28 > 0:48:30a complete requiem in honour of Rossini.
0:48:30 > 0:48:3312 composers, in total, contributing.
0:48:34 > 0:48:37Never performed in those years after Rossini's death -
0:48:37 > 0:48:40remained in the archives for more than a century.
0:48:40 > 0:48:43Wasn't heard in its entirety until 1988...
0:48:44 > 0:48:46..that Rossini tribute mass,
0:48:46 > 0:48:49when it was performed at the Stuttgart Bach Festival.
0:48:57 > 0:48:58Well, Verdi's female operatic roles
0:48:58 > 0:49:02central to Maria Agresta's repertoire.
0:49:02 > 0:49:04Identifying him as a great composer she says,
0:49:04 > 0:49:07"because his women are always special and strong,
0:49:07 > 0:49:08"even if fragile."
0:49:10 > 0:49:14Not surprisingly, she's being kept very busy in this bicentenary year.
0:49:14 > 0:49:17After tonight's Prom she heads to Verbier where she'll
0:49:17 > 0:49:21perform in the Requiem Mass, with Gianandrea Noseda conducting.
0:49:43 > 0:49:46Well, tonight's conductor, Antonio Pappano, is one of
0:49:46 > 0:49:50THE great communicators of the music world and a truly international musician.
0:49:50 > 0:49:53He was born in Epping, in Essex, to Italian parents.
0:49:53 > 0:49:56Spent the first part of his childhood in London studying
0:49:56 > 0:49:58with his father who was a voice coach.
0:49:58 > 0:50:02He was just 13 when he went to New York to continue his studies.
0:50:02 > 0:50:05Later, he began his professional life there with New York City Opera.
0:50:05 > 0:50:08These days he works all over the world - he began his
0:50:08 > 0:50:12working partnership with the Santa Cecilia Orchestra in 2005,
0:50:12 > 0:50:16since when the orchestra has enjoyed a major renaissance.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19Earlier, I spoke with Antonio Pappano about Verdi
0:50:19 > 0:50:21and the final work in tonight's Prom -
0:50:21 > 0:50:24his Four Sacred Pieces.
0:50:24 > 0:50:27The thing about the pieces we're doing tonight is that
0:50:27 > 0:50:30it's quite a special type of Verdi. I mean, it's a...
0:50:30 > 0:50:34Of course, they are used to doing the Requiem, you know...
0:50:34 > 0:50:36over and over again with this chorus,
0:50:36 > 0:50:39and, you know, it's a speciality piece for them, of course.
0:50:39 > 0:50:42But the Four Sacred Pieces are not done so often and they demand
0:50:42 > 0:50:46a tremendous rigour and a tremendous discipline...
0:50:46 > 0:50:50intonation, dynamics, erm...
0:50:50 > 0:50:57and not always the blood and guts thrust of Verdi's operatic music
0:50:57 > 0:51:00but a certain elegance and a certain...
0:51:00 > 0:51:03erm...tenderness.
0:51:03 > 0:51:07Which is so, so important um...
0:51:09 > 0:51:11They...naturally...
0:51:13 > 0:51:16I'm sure for every singer in the chorus what it
0:51:16 > 0:51:19feels like in their throats must be like the greatest thing in the world.
0:51:19 > 0:51:22But, erm...
0:51:22 > 0:51:25but, of course, they are choral pieces and therefore they have to
0:51:25 > 0:51:29maybe stymie some of their individuality
0:51:29 > 0:51:34which would normally be the case in singing Verdi, you know, to...
0:51:34 > 0:51:38and here everything has to be just that little bit more compact.
0:51:38 > 0:51:40He wasn't the most obvious composer of
0:51:40 > 0:51:42so much wonderful religious music, was he?
0:51:42 > 0:51:48Well, so much was made, of course, with his tremendous...
0:51:48 > 0:51:51tremendously difficult relationship with the Church.
0:51:53 > 0:51:55He thought the Church had too much power politically
0:51:55 > 0:51:57and he would say so,
0:51:57 > 0:52:02so he really was not a man of the Church, didn't support... In fact...
0:52:02 > 0:52:06spoke really, really strongly and aggressively against them.
0:52:06 > 0:52:09But, of course, Verdi was a man who grew up with these texts, you know,
0:52:09 > 0:52:11the Stabat Mater, for instance.
0:52:11 > 0:52:14This is a text that Pergolesi, Rossini had set
0:52:14 > 0:52:18and so many other composers, and so it's really in the tradition
0:52:18 > 0:52:22and even when we talk about something like the Requiem...
0:52:22 > 0:52:25his response is very personal...
0:52:25 > 0:52:30to texts that are very dramatic, very full of the fear of God,
0:52:30 > 0:52:32full of, um...
0:52:35 > 0:52:38..theatre, if you like.
0:52:38 > 0:52:40And, you know, the number of times I've been asked,
0:52:40 > 0:52:43"Well, is it an opera? Are these pieces operatic?"
0:52:43 > 0:52:48They're not, they are a theatre man's response to texts that he's
0:52:48 > 0:52:49probably grown up with
0:52:49 > 0:52:52since he was a kid. And they are very vivid.
0:52:52 > 0:52:54The texts are very vivid.
0:52:54 > 0:52:57And they, and...
0:52:57 > 0:53:00the call to God, the people really calling to God
0:53:00 > 0:53:05and talking as if they were talking to...really something concrete.
0:53:05 > 0:53:08And that fear that goes along with it
0:53:08 > 0:53:11makes for an amazing response.
0:53:11 > 0:53:14It's lovely, in the Four Sacred Pieces, the combination of
0:53:14 > 0:53:18a cappella - two a cappella pieces, um...first and third
0:53:18 > 0:53:23and in the second and fourth you have these two big tableaux - Stabat Mater
0:53:23 > 0:53:25and the Te Deum,
0:53:25 > 0:53:29with big orchestra, double chorus in the Te Deum.
0:53:31 > 0:53:32Huge gestures.
0:53:34 > 0:53:37Tonight's conductor, Antonio Pappano.
0:53:37 > 0:53:40Always such a great advocate for Verdi's music.
0:53:40 > 0:53:41So, to the Four Sacred Pieces -
0:53:41 > 0:53:45starting with an unaccompanied setting of the prayer, Ave Maria.
0:53:45 > 0:53:46Followed by the Stabat Mater,
0:53:46 > 0:53:49which portrays the scene of Christ's crucifixion.
0:53:49 > 0:53:52Then Laudi alla Vergine Maria, with words from
0:53:52 > 0:53:55Saint Bernard's Prayer to the Virgin
0:53:55 > 0:53:57and ending with a hymn of praise, a Te Deum.
0:54:01 > 0:54:04APPLAUSE
0:54:04 > 0:54:09Antonio Pappano walks back out onto the Royal Albert Hall stage
0:54:09 > 0:54:12to continue this celebration of Verdi's bicentenary,
0:54:12 > 0:54:15with Verdi's Four Sacred Pieces
0:54:15 > 0:54:17performed by the Santa Cecilia Orchestra
0:54:17 > 0:54:20and Chorus of the Academy of Santa Cecilia.
0:54:35 > 0:54:37CHORUS SINGS IN LATIN
1:00:36 > 1:00:39CHORUS SINGS IN LATIN
1:13:45 > 1:13:48FEMALE MEMBERS OF CHORUS SING IN ITALIAN
1:20:19 > 1:20:21CHORUS SINGS IN LATIN
1:36:35 > 1:36:39APPLAUSE
1:36:56 > 1:36:59The Four Sacred Pieces by Verdi.
1:36:59 > 1:37:01Performed by the Chorus
1:37:01 > 1:37:05and Orchestra of the Academy of Santa Cecilia, Rome,
1:37:05 > 1:37:08conducted here at the Proms by Antonio Pappano.
1:37:30 > 1:37:35The works composed over the decade when Verdi entered his 80s.
1:37:36 > 1:37:38Could scarcely bring himself to part with the scores,
1:37:38 > 1:37:41perhaps knowing that they might be his last.
1:37:41 > 1:37:44Sending them to his publisher, he commented "As long as they
1:37:44 > 1:37:46"were on my writing desk
1:37:46 > 1:37:51"I look at them so often with pleasure and they seem to be mine.
1:37:51 > 1:37:53"Now they are no longer mine it is truly sad."
1:37:59 > 1:38:03Donika Mataj, the soprano, performing that solo
1:38:03 > 1:38:05in the last of the four pieces.
1:38:14 > 1:38:18And Ciro Visco, the chorus master.
1:38:18 > 1:38:20LOUD APPLAUSE
1:38:20 > 1:38:22A graduate of the Naples Conservatoire,
1:38:22 > 1:38:27he's been chorus master of the Santa Cecilia Chorus since 2010.
1:38:34 > 1:38:36CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
1:38:39 > 1:38:44It was the Te Deum that was Verdi's favourite of these late works.
1:38:44 > 1:38:47He said he wanted the score of the Te Deum to be buried with him.
1:38:51 > 1:38:53Well, I hope you've enjoyed this evening.
1:38:53 > 1:38:56If you'd like to know more about any of tonight's music or performers,
1:38:56 > 1:38:59much more information on the BBC Proms website.
1:38:59 > 1:39:02That's all for tonight, do join Suzy Klein tomorrow evening
1:39:02 > 1:39:04at half past seven here on BBC Four
1:39:04 > 1:39:08for an evening of Bach oratorios with John Eliot Gardiner.
1:39:08 > 1:39:13And don't forget, every Prom is live on BBC Radio 3.
1:39:13 > 1:39:15Next Thursday another visiting orchestra,
1:39:15 > 1:39:20the Rotterdam Philharmonic performing Tchaikovsky, Wagner and Prokofiev.
1:39:20 > 1:39:21But for now, from me, Petroc Trelawny,
1:39:21 > 1:39:24good night from the Royal Albert Hall.
1:39:31 > 1:39:34Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd