Verdi: The King of Melody

This colorful dramatic feature film on DVD, Verdi: The King of Melody, explores the life, loves, & struggles of the great operatic composer, Guiseppe Verdi, and is performed against a background of the great operas of the 19th Century. The many arias are beautifully sung by international opera stars Tito Gobbi, Mario Del Monaco, Vito de Taranto, and Orietta Moscucci, and accompanied by the Rome Opera Orchestra. The DVD tells the story of Verdi’s successful and turbulent life, and allows us to hear more than 20 excerpts from Rigoletto, La Traviata, Otelo, Aida, Il Trovatore, Nabucco, Ernani, and Falstaff, and features performances from renown opera stars such as Pierre Cressoy, Anna Maria Ferrero, and Gaby Andre, among others.

 

The Patriarch of Italian opera, Guiseppe Verdi, began his career with the bel canto composers (Bellini, Donizetti, and Rossini) and ended it as a contemporary of Debussy and Richard Strauss. Verdi’s operas voiced his liberal views by making poignant social and political commentary, often bringing him into conflict with political censors. The 26 operas that he composed during his life have become a permanent part of the world’s musical heritage.

 

This DVD, Verdi: The King of Melody, recounts the composer’s struggle for success, love, and his musical triumph over the forces of political domination.  A theatrical and critical success when it was originally released in 1974, this film has been perfectly dubbed into English, while the arias are sung in the original Italian. Poignant and tender, filled with pathos, it is heart-rending in both its sad moments as well as in its times of joy.

 

                            “…A Musical Gem!” - NY Daily News

DVD Bonus Features

Over 45 Scene Selections

Instant Access to Arias

Verdi Biography

Verdi List of Works & Premieres

Verdi Trivia

Bonus Music: ENRICO CARUSO Sings Four Verdi Arias

Dolby Digital Stereo Audio

Digitally Mastered Audio & Video
(118 minutes, plus bonus features)