# Verdi fans......................



## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

I hope Itullian doesn't mind his idea being extended.

Your favourite Verdi scene or moment?

Let's try to make a single instance per post rather than lists.

To kick things off....

From *Don Carlo*

O Don Fatale by Princess Eboli

The great stage-to-herself three part aria with a grand high note in each part. The exciting last part where she realises she can do something to save Don Carlo _Un di mi resta!_ (I still have a day left). It's the only scene I know in all opera with applause during the music as she leaves the stage. It seems so natural that I wonder if Verdi designed it that way.


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

*Don Carlo*, a duet between the King and Grand Inquisitor, which is possibly the most exciting duet of basses in entire opera genre (not that I can remember that many bass duets... let me see... Turco in Italia is one).

It's hard to decide on my favorite singers in this scene.

Ghiaurov (happened to be my favorite Philip II) - Furlanetto
Ghiaurov - Talvela
Ghiaurov - Nesterenko
Raimondi - Foiani
Plishka - Hines
Christoff - Neri
Estes - Roni

are the ones I have in my collection.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Scene 1 Act 4 of Don Carlo: King Filippo's "Ella giamma m'mo" and The Grand Inquisitor scene
(Ghiaurov/Talvela-- hard to beat)


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

nina foresti said:


> Scene 1 Act 4 of Don Carlo: King Filippo's "Ella giamma m'mo" and The Grand Inquisitor scene
> (Ghiaurov/Talvela-- hard to beat)


The whole of Act IV, Scene i of Verdi's *Don Carlo*, from Philip's opening aria right through to Eboli's _O don fatale_ is, IMO, one of the greatest scenes in all opera. I'd probably pick it as my favourite Verdi scene, but, truth to tell, I find it impossible to limit myself to just one.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Sorry, wrong opera so edit.

Act five:
Tu che la vanità , etc


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## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

I loved the whole of Rigoletto and Il Trovotore musically both so much on my first listen that I've been afraid to listen again and find myself any less captivated!


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

Impossible to choose just one, but since I must. The ending of Rigoletto. Incredibly sad, but funny at the same time. You are so moved by whats happened to Gilda and how sad Rigoletto is. But then there is the duke who just goes on his life without knowing anything that happened. Especially the Callas recording. You just can't hate Di Stefano's duke.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

the final chorus at the end of Falstaff!


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

*Simon Boccanegra Act II*

Boccanegra has drunk the poisoned water and is in a semi drugged state. Adorno is about to stab him but Amelia intervenes. Adorno is furious and thinks she has saved the old man because she's in love with him. Boccanegra wakes up and tells Adorno that Amelia is his daughter.

Adorno's reaction heart breaking "Suo padre sei tu!" "Perdono, Amelia"


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## graziesignore (Mar 13, 2015)

Well, just the very end of Simon Boccanegra, for me...

Also... No love for the Phillip-Rodrigo scene in Act II of Don Carlo?


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

I thought this would be hard for me, but it isn't. I like my Verdi mature and refined. I'll take the love duet from _Otello_, "Gia nella notte densa" - with an Otello who can sing it beautifully, of course, which must include a perfectly poised, tonally gorgeous, not bellowed "Venere splende!" at the end. Good luck with that.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

graziesignore said:


> Also... No love for the Phillip-Rodrigo scene in Act II of Don Carlo?


Yes but DF said we could only pick one.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

The Sleepwalking Scene from Macbeth, which afflicted me with the opera bug. Brava Callas!


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## DarkAngel (Aug 11, 2010)

MAS said:


> The Sleepwalking Scene from Macbeth, which afflicted me with the opera bug. Brava Callas!
> 
> View attachment 70876












Nice call MAS, even more I love the opening Lady MacBeth sequence, reading the letter with witches prophecy sets into motion the dark machinations of Lady M to guide her hesitant husband to do all that is needed to claim the throne, starting with murder of King Duncan. There is one Lady M who can never be doubted in her vocal portrayal........

Vieni t'affretta -> Or tutti sorgete


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

The final duet between Elisabetta and Don Carlo in Don Carlo.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

So many...

Let's say today this incredible aria from "La forza del destino":


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## DarkAngel (Aug 11, 2010)

Pugg said:


> Act five:
> *Tu che la vanità *, etc


The orchestral music is so strong with this aria, almost equally beautiful in vocal and orchestral qualities, has a spiritual quality to it that really breaks your heart in desperation


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

GregMitchell said:


> The whole of Act IV, Scene i of Verdi's *Don Carlo*, from Philip's opening aria right through to Eboli's _O don fatale_ is, IMO, one of the greatest scenes in all opera. I'd probably pick it as my favourite Verdi scene, but, truth to tell, I find it impossible to limit myself to just one.


Yes, this scene is like a mini opera in itself.

N.


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## DarkAngel (Aug 11, 2010)

schigolch said:


> So many...
> 
> Let's say today this incredible aria from "La forza del destino":


Wonderful haunting aria......pace pace mio dio

Be careful what you wish for, a great aria to set up final climatic scence, shortly after poor Leonora finishes this plea for peace and an end to her torment, an act of mercy shown to her wounded brother grants her wish of final "peace".......the force of destiny is fulfilled


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## graziesignore (Mar 13, 2015)

Oh sorry DF, I see what you asked for now... Well, I'll have to go with my (current) favorite scene, the Phillip-Rodrigo scene in Don Carlo, which, if I'm not mistaken, Verdi worked and reworked. Why? Just because of the way it flows, dramatically and musically, and builds and builds, and complicates things so, and is a scene in the opera where (IMHO) you watch characters talking to each other passionately and not LISTENING, and you realize (on a gut level, not just because it's a tragic opera) that This Is Not Going to End Well, and it's only Getting Worse. Plus it's a baritone and a bass and that's really all I need in life. When thoughtfully acted and well sung, it is a spectacular ten minutes or so of emotional fireworks and changing moods.


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

Sospiro and graziesignore, I wouldn't wish to curtail your contributions, my suggestion was that a single post should pertain to one scene/moment so that it can be described and enthused about, rather than just long lists. I don't know if I planted a Don Carlo seed when I started this thread or if it's just that the opera seems to have so many favourite moments. So here is one of my favourites from another Verdi opera.

In my early opera-going days (I was around 28 I guess) at Covent Garden there was a moment I realised how fantastic opera could be: The third act of *Rigoletto*. Even though we've just heard La Donna e Mobile and the Bella Figlia Dell'Amore quartet, it's actually the storm scene *when Gilda is knocking on the door of the inn* that surpasses these great opera tunes. Seeing it in a great production is spine-tingling.


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Don Fatale said:


> I don't know if I planted a Don Carlo seed when I started this thread or it's just that this opera seems to have so many favourite moments.
> 
> .


It is the second.


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## Volve (Apr 14, 2013)

Desdemona's Salce and Ave Maria scene. The time I first saw the live was also the first time I wept in front of another human since childhood.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Volve said:


> Desdemona's Salce and Ave Maria scene. The time I first saw the live was also the first time I wept in front of another human since childhood.


My first live opera ever in the Metropolitan Opera House .
(just out of the short trousers) 
*Fleming / Domingo/ Levine 
*


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

graziesignore said:


> ... it's a baritone and a bass ... that's really all I need in life.


And me  ................


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

"Mentre Gonfiarsi l'Anima" from Atilla. so _sinister_, gives me goosebumps....







Woodduck said:


> I thought this would be hard for me, but it isn't. I like my Verdi mature and refined. I'll take the love duet from _Otello_, "Gia nella notte densa" - with an Otello who can sing it beautifully, of course, which must include a perfectly poised, tonally gorgeous, *not bellowed* "Venere splende!" at the end. Good luck with that.


^difficult to find in late Verdi, Strauss or Wagner 

most dramatic tenors sound more like they're barking at you than actually singing :lol:


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

The great scene for Leonora, in *Il Trovatore*, comprising of "D'amor sull'alli rosee," on to the "Miserere," then "Tu vedrai che amore in terra."


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## DarkAngel (Aug 11, 2010)

MAS said:


> The great scene for Leonora, in *Il Trovatore*, comprising of "D'amor sull'alli rosee," on to the "Miserere," then "Tu vedrai che amore in terra."


Then the vocally exciting exchange between Leonora and Di Luna, so many great arias in this opera and it is spread among all 4 main characters

Udiste? Come albeggi -> Vivrà!...Contende il giubilo


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## silentio (Nov 10, 2014)

DarkAngel said:


> The orchestral music is so strong with this aria, almost equally beautiful in vocal and orchestral qualities, *has a spiritual quality to it that really breaks your heart in desperation*


For me, the final duet _"Ma lassu ci vedremo"_ works even more. There is an utmost sense of resignation that is well presented (and partly concealed) as much as the slow movements in the late string quintets of Mozart, the late string quartets of Beethoven, and the late sonata of Schubert.

_"And in the bosom of the Lord we shall find the bliss that escaped us on Earth"_. That gets me every single time.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

DarkAngel said:


> Then the vocally exciting exchange between Leonora and Di Luna, so many great arias in this opera and it is spread among all 4 main characters
> 
> Udiste? Come albeggi -> Vivrà!...Contende il giubilo


Yes! I agree! Wonderful duet.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

The love duet from Otello. Wonderful!


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## Dongiovanni (Jul 30, 2012)

From Don Carlo, the Duet of the King and the Inquisitor. The music we hear when the Inquisitor enters paints the picture perfectly of the Inquisitor, combined with the action this is great theatre. Then the duet starts with the long build up and the power play. Recently saw it in Vienna with Furlanetto and Halfvarson, it was hair raising.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

The great duet from Act Two of "La Forza del destino," when Callas... er, Leonora arrives at the monastery: "Son giunta, grazie o Dio," through the confrontation with Padre Guardiano, through "La Vergine degli angeli."


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## DarkAngel (Aug 11, 2010)

Ben io t'invenni -> Salgo già del trono

In Verdi's early Nabucco opera we have the supremely demanding soprano role of Abigaille, during this reflective sequence Abigaille laments her broken heart and thinks of happier times, then the high priest convinces Abigaille to seize the "throne of blood" from her father, she responds with thrilling cabaletta of "Salgo gia" and a furious orchestra run-off


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

MAS said:


> The great duet from Act Two of "La Forza del destino," when Callas... er, Leonora arrives at the monastery: "Son giunta, grazie o Dio," through the confrontation with Padre Guardiano, through "La Vergine degli angeli."
> 
> View attachment 70938


That's more than one choice. Is that allowed? :lol:


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

K


DarkAngel said:


> Ben io t'invenni -> Salgo già del trono
> 
> In Verdi's early Nabucco opera we have the supremely demanding soprano role of Abigaille, during this reflective sequence Abigaille laments her broken heart and thinks of happier times, then the high priest convinces Abigaille to seize the "throne of blood" from her father, she responds with thrilling cabaletta of "Salgo gia" and a furious orchestra run-off


One of my faves, too!


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## graziesignore (Mar 13, 2015)




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## Balthazar (Aug 30, 2014)

_La forza_ really does have great moments. How about _Le minacce i fieri accenti_ in Act IV? Kaufmann and Tézier gave a fantastic performance in Munich not long ago. (Off topic - why oh why doesn't the Bayerische Staatsoper release their broadcasts on DVD?)

Not my favorite rendition, but here are Cura and Nucci in this moving duet with one of Verdi's greatest melodies:


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

Considering that Verdi is my favorite opera composer, this is an extremely difficult decision for me. But in the end I'd have to pick everything from "Cortigiani" to the end of "Piangi, fanciulla" in RIGOLETTO.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

There's too much to choose from. The whole Germont - Violetta duet when performed well takes a lot of beating.

N.


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