Verdi: I due Foscari (Live)

Featuring

Ivan Repušić
Ivan Magrì
Bernadett Fodor
Guanqun Yu
Leo Nucci
Matthias Ettmayr

István Horváth
Miklós Sebestyén
Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Münchner Rundfunkorchester
Giuseppe Verdi

Did you know?

1/7

Recording & Production

This album is a live recording from performances in Munich and Budapest in November 2018.

Critical Reception

In its early reception, I due Foscari became an 'opera di ripiego' (a fallback opera) due to its brevity and focus on main characters, useful when a new work was delayed.

Composition History

Verdi's opera I due Foscari is based on a text by Lord Byron (1788-1824), a text from Verdi's own century.

Performer Biography

Ivan Repušic, the conductor, began his career at the Croatian National Theatre in Split, where he developed a broad Italian repertoire.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Verdi's main interest in I due Foscari lay in depicting the extreme mental states of his characters, such as Jacopo's descent into near-insanity.

Compositional Technique

The opera uses an ominous, jagged orchestral motif to represent the merciless Council of Ten, and the clarinet's timbre introduces Jacopo's scenes.

Compositional Technique

Verdi's librettist Francesco Maria Piave significantly intervened in I due Foscari, especially regarding the characters, at the composer's request to create more dramatic effect.