-
Verdi: Falstaff
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 1 hr and 18 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Prime members: New to Audible?Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Verdi: Falstaff
Buy for $6.08
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
La Traviata
- By: Thomson Smillie
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 1 hr and 5 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 28
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 27
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 28
La Traviata owes its enduring popularity to a superb story of young love and fatal sacrifice, set to music by Italy’s master melodist at the peak of his powers. Interest and poignancy are added by the fact that this is a true story - the baritone ‘heavy’ is Alexander Dumas who wrote The Count of Monte Cristo. But it is the central figure, the heroine Violetta, the archetypal ‘whore with the heart of gold’ who dominates the piece. It is her opera and we love her for it.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Superb Synopsis
- By opera4steph on 02-04-21
By: Thomson Smillie
-
Verdi: Il Trovatore
- By: Thomson Smillie
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 1 hr and 19 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 15
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 15
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 15
Il Trovatore has been ruthlessly parodied. It is a tale of murder and mayhem, burned babies, roasted hags, would-be nuns, strolling minstrels, and bad baritones. And indeed the libretto does call for a willing suspension of disbelief. The reward is in the music, a score as prodigally melodic as only the mature Verdi could write: the "Anvil" chorus, the "Miserere" scene, two great tenor arias, a beautiful baritone aria - a richness without embarrassment.
By: Thomson Smillie
-
La sonnambula
- By: Thomson Smillie
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 1 hr and 16 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 5
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 5
La sonnambula was written by Bellini as a vehicle for two of the supreme singers of his age and accordingly is a fine example of the school we call bel canto, where beauty of voice and the virtuosity of the singers is integral to conveying the emotions in the soul of the composer. The fact that Bellini was one of the great melodists, writing long, beautiful vocal lines, that he was a master orchestrator and that he could write stirringly for the chorus all conspire to make La sonnambula extremely enjoyable.
By: Thomson Smillie
-
Tancredi
- By: Thomson Smillie
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 1 hr and 17 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 4
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 3
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 3
Rossini’s comic operas, like The Barber of Seville, are better known than his tragedies though he wrote in fact many more tragedies than comedies. One of them, his last, William Tell, is actually credited with launching the whole age of Grand Opéra. Tancredi is an early work - indeed his first smash hit - and it established his international fame.
By: Thomson Smillie
-
Orfeo: Opera Explained
- By: Thomson Smillie
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 1 hr and 17 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 3
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3
Monteverdi’s Orfeo, first performed in 1607, generates a special excitement because it is the first unquestioned masterpiece of opera. Notable for its precise orchestration and powerful drama it was a groundbreaking work. It concerns the legend of Orpheus, the demigod whose music had the power to conquer the forces of Hell and to bring his wife back, briefly, to life. The extracts used in this introduction are from Naxos’ full recording; it uses authentic period instruments, which serve to evoke the early Baroque period of the opera’s composition.
By: Thomson Smillie
-
Cavalleria Rusticana
- By: Thomson Smillie
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 1 hr and 16 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 10
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 9
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 9
Cavalleria rusticana is the short opera that has all the elements of a grand opera compressed into a single highly dramatic time span. The story of love, lust, blood-feud, and betrayal played out against the pageantry of the Easter celebrations in a Sicilian village delivers an emotional wallop because of the youthful vigor and musical wealth of its great score which includes the glorious "Easter Hymn" and the deeply moving "Intermezzo". Mascagni was never to repeat his youthful success but this brief work is enough to ensure his immortality.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Enjoy the opera as it was meant to be
- By Essam on 04-05-15
By: Thomson Smillie
-
La Traviata
- By: Thomson Smillie
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 1 hr and 5 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 28
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 27
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 28
La Traviata owes its enduring popularity to a superb story of young love and fatal sacrifice, set to music by Italy’s master melodist at the peak of his powers. Interest and poignancy are added by the fact that this is a true story - the baritone ‘heavy’ is Alexander Dumas who wrote The Count of Monte Cristo. But it is the central figure, the heroine Violetta, the archetypal ‘whore with the heart of gold’ who dominates the piece. It is her opera and we love her for it.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Superb Synopsis
- By opera4steph on 02-04-21
By: Thomson Smillie
-
Verdi: Il Trovatore
- By: Thomson Smillie
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 1 hr and 19 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 15
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 15
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 15
Il Trovatore has been ruthlessly parodied. It is a tale of murder and mayhem, burned babies, roasted hags, would-be nuns, strolling minstrels, and bad baritones. And indeed the libretto does call for a willing suspension of disbelief. The reward is in the music, a score as prodigally melodic as only the mature Verdi could write: the "Anvil" chorus, the "Miserere" scene, two great tenor arias, a beautiful baritone aria - a richness without embarrassment.
By: Thomson Smillie
-
La sonnambula
- By: Thomson Smillie
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 1 hr and 16 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 5
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 5
La sonnambula was written by Bellini as a vehicle for two of the supreme singers of his age and accordingly is a fine example of the school we call bel canto, where beauty of voice and the virtuosity of the singers is integral to conveying the emotions in the soul of the composer. The fact that Bellini was one of the great melodists, writing long, beautiful vocal lines, that he was a master orchestrator and that he could write stirringly for the chorus all conspire to make La sonnambula extremely enjoyable.
By: Thomson Smillie
-
Tancredi
- By: Thomson Smillie
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 1 hr and 17 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 4
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 3
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 3
Rossini’s comic operas, like The Barber of Seville, are better known than his tragedies though he wrote in fact many more tragedies than comedies. One of them, his last, William Tell, is actually credited with launching the whole age of Grand Opéra. Tancredi is an early work - indeed his first smash hit - and it established his international fame.
By: Thomson Smillie
-
Orfeo: Opera Explained
- By: Thomson Smillie
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 1 hr and 17 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 3
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3
Monteverdi’s Orfeo, first performed in 1607, generates a special excitement because it is the first unquestioned masterpiece of opera. Notable for its precise orchestration and powerful drama it was a groundbreaking work. It concerns the legend of Orpheus, the demigod whose music had the power to conquer the forces of Hell and to bring his wife back, briefly, to life. The extracts used in this introduction are from Naxos’ full recording; it uses authentic period instruments, which serve to evoke the early Baroque period of the opera’s composition.
By: Thomson Smillie
-
Cavalleria Rusticana
- By: Thomson Smillie
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 1 hr and 16 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 10
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 9
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 9
Cavalleria rusticana is the short opera that has all the elements of a grand opera compressed into a single highly dramatic time span. The story of love, lust, blood-feud, and betrayal played out against the pageantry of the Easter celebrations in a Sicilian village delivers an emotional wallop because of the youthful vigor and musical wealth of its great score which includes the glorious "Easter Hymn" and the deeply moving "Intermezzo". Mascagni was never to repeat his youthful success but this brief work is enough to ensure his immortality.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Enjoy the opera as it was meant to be
- By Essam on 04-05-15
By: Thomson Smillie
-
Die Fledermaus
- By: Thomson Smillie
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 1 hr and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 9
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 9
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 9
Die Fledermaus is one of the few operatic works to which the phrase "never a dull moment" can be truthfully applied. From the explosive opening of the famous overture - reminiscent of a volley of champagne corks - through the surging energy of the "Fledermaus Waltz" and the many comic numbers, of which the accelerando trio is the finest, up to such huge concerted numbers as the "Duidu" finale to Act II, this is an operetta which almost incarnates nostalgia. Thomson Smillie and David Timson infuse their exploration of Die Fledermaus with as much life as the operetta itself.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Revenge of the bat
- By Adeliese Baumann on 12-08-13
By: Thomson Smillie
-
Tosca
- By: Thomson Smillie
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 1 hr and 8 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 20
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 18
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 18
Tosca is Puccini at the peak of his theatrical power. The story of the jealous, impassioned opera singer Floria Tosca and her doomed love for the painter Mario Cavaradossi is played out against backgrounds both historically and geographically overwhelming. It is set in three great and historical locations of Rome during the Napoleonic era. Spectacle, sensuality, and cruelty battle for our attention in one of the most truly "action-packed" works of theatre. Enticing us with just a couple of the "great tunes" from this deeply affecting opera, David Timson then begins setting the biographical and operatic scene.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Excellent introduction to Tosca
- By T. Angell on 03-12-16
By: Thomson Smillie
-
Fidelio
- By: Thomson Smillie
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 1 hr and 19 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 9
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 9
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 9
Fidelio is a work like no other. Beethoven’s only opera is about the joy of married love - by a man who never knew that pleasure. It is about heroism by a man who was often mean and petty in his human relations; it is about freedom by a man who was a prisoner of his own deafness; and ultimately it is about joy by a man who experienced precious little of it.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Beethoven's only opera in all its glory
- By Adeliese Baumann on 04-20-13
By: Thomson Smillie
-
Leoncavallo: Pagliacci
- By: Thomson Smillie
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 1 hr and 1 min
- Original Recording
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 7
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 7
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 7
Pagliacci may be the most completely compelling short opera in the repertory and owes much of its impact to a brilliant story based, it is said, on true life and told through the device of a play-within-a-play. The action is set in Calabria in the deep south of Italy where the jealousies and illicit passions of a troupe of strolling actors precisely intersect with the play they are performing - to both touching and tragic effect.
By: Thomson Smillie
-
Pelleas et Melisande
- By: Thomson Smillie
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 1 hr and 18 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 12
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 11
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 12
Dating from the last decade of the 19th century, Pelléas et Mélisande points the way into the 20th century. The score is hauntingly beautiful, but there is more to the work than shifting panels of elusive, impressionistic sound. Debussy retains the text of Maeterlinck’s play, and the linguistic subtleties of the French text are matched perfectly by the musical detail. Taking a little time to explore the romantic, elusive world of this opera is particularly rewarding.
By: Thomson Smillie
-
Puccini: La Bohème
- By: Thomson Smillie
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 1 hr
- Original Recording
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 27
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 23
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 22
La Bohème is one of the three operas - the others are Carmen and Aida - believed to be the most popular ever written. In the case of La Bohème the reason is that it virtually defines the term "romantic". The poignant story of Mimì and Rodolfo is told in music of such tender beauty, allied, as always, to Puccini’s intuition of what works in the theatre. The result is an opera that readily appeals to our emotions and senses.
By: Thomson Smillie
-
Puccini: Madame Butterfly
- By: Thomson Smillie
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 1 hr and 5 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 25
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 21
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 21
Madama Butterfly runs the gamut of operatic emotions. The title heroine has a fragility wonderfully expressed in her entry music, deep sexual instincts as shown in the love duet, and immense tragic stature in her last hours. The fate of Madama Butterfly - married to an American sailor and then abandoned - engages our emotions to a degree equaled by few other opera heroines. The oriental setting and the exquisite orchestral and choral writings are treasured bonuses.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Excellent introduction to a classic opera
- By Jason Monaghan on 08-06-18
By: Thomson Smillie
-
Verdi: Aida
- By: Thomson Smillie
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 1 hr and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 17
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 16
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 16
Ancient Egypt and the war with Ethiopia is the setting for Verdi’s grandest opera. It is the story of the love between Rhadames, the Egyptian general, and Aida, an Ethiopian slave, and the jealousy of Amneris, daughter of the King of Egypt. It was written in 1871 to a commission from the Khedive of Egypt to inaugurate the new opera house in Cairo. Aida generally is considered one of the most spectacular of Verdi’s operas.
By: Thomson Smillie
-
Verdi: Rigoletto
- By: Thomson Smillie
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 1 hr and 19 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 16
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 15
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 15
Rigoletto is simply wonderful entertainment with superb music. It is also much more - a daring (for its time) attack on aristocratic privilege, a tender love story, and an impassioned appeal on behalf of the disadvantaged, all set to music of such wealth and beauty that, with its sister operas La traviata and Il trovatore, it has defined Italian opera for 150 years. Overcoming initial trouble with the censors, Verdi's Rigoletto was a smash hit at its premiere and has not been out of the repertoire since. It’s not hard to see why.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Fun intro (or recap) of the opera
- By EmilyK on 05-24-18
By: Thomson Smillie
-
Don Giovanni
- By: Thomson Smillie
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 1 hr and 19 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 23
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 22
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 22
Don Giovanni has long been regarded as Mozart’s supreme theatrical achievement. The subject seems unpromising - the last day in the life of the notorious womanizer Don Juan - but the skill of the librettist allied to the genius of Mozart at the very peak of his powers has created a work which is not only highly entertaining but reflects an incredible understanding of the human condition.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Very short introductions to specific operas!
- By Doggy Bird on 02-09-14
By: Thomson Smillie
-
Carmen
- By: Thomson Smillie
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 1 hr and 5 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 19
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 19
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 18
Carmen is among the most popular operas for all the obvious reasons: great characters, a gripping story, and fabulous music. But what sets it on a pinnacle is an amazing combination of three factors: a sizzling Gipsy heroine (one of the most psychologically complex and compelling characters in all theatre), great atmosphere (Spain, hot sun, the bull-ring), and the prodigality of melodic invention - one great tune after another, at least a dozen of which are the staples of Madison Avenue and the animated cartoon.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Passion, power, and truth
- By Adeliese Baumann on 12-08-13
By: Thomson Smillie
-
Mozart: Così Fan Tutte
- By: Thomson Smillie
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 1 hr and 18 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 16
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 16
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 15
Così Fan Tutte contains some of Mozart’s most sublime music. On one level, the opera is purely a social anecdote about young people falling in and out of love; but Mozart was a supreme sensualist and a great humanist, and invested the tale with all his understanding of humanity and young love. In this title, David Timson refutes the charge that Mozart squandered his genius on a work full of trivial nonsense and proves this "miraculous yet problematic" opera to be a great work of theatre. To listen to this thought-provoking examination of the characters and the music is both thoroughly enriching and great fun.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
especially fun before a performance
- By EmilyK on 03-11-18
By: Thomson Smillie
Editorial reviews
Narrator David Timson brings his vast knowledge of Shakespeare's much loved comic character and his energetic, talented voice to this discussion of the classic opera of Falstaff. Interspersed with bits of music, Timson interprets the work of Smillie to expound on the history of the work and why it still works for worldwide audiences. Timson's enunciation and rhythm perfectly match this in-depth study and add to his enthusiasm for the story and the music of the opera. Most interesting is the way Timson infuses his delivery with a compelling tone that draws the listener into this fascinating world.
Publisher's summary
Verdi’s Falstaff repays careful study with real pleasure. It is opera’s happiest irony that the great Italian master should cap a career - distinguished for its blood-and-thunder tragic masterpieces - with the greatest comic opera in the Italian repertory. The genius of Shakespeare is harnessed (in a miracle of compression) by master-librettist Boito to give the 80-year-old Verdi a superb libretto, on which he lavished more wonderful tunes than most composers manage in a lifetime. Falstaff is the last great Italian comic opera and a worthy end to the tradition.