Standard Version with sung recitatives-Although almost unanimously condemned by contemporary Parisian critics for its overt sexuality and graphic final scene Carmen ultimately reached the public in a way that perhaps no other opera has. Bizet's aim (with Meilhac andHalevy who wrote the libretto) had been to transform the flaccid moralistic bourgeois genre of opéra comique into a more sophisticated type of staged work and he seems to have suceeded in Carmen. Each character has a musicalsignificance and a unique expressive idiom the ultimate example being the dangerous exotic sensual Carmen herself depicted by an exotic and sinewy chromatic motive that also implies the insurmountable power of fate. In aclassic plot device she is contrasted with the 'good girl' of the opera Micaela whose main aria is set in the ternary form of the elevated bel canto French Grand Opera aria to imply her traditionally 'ladylike' retiring nature.Don José's musical styles reflect different levels in his descent from dutiful soldier to the underworld of obsession.This is the Schirmer edition of the Libretto in the original French with an English translation by Ruthand Thomas Martin.

Par HINDEMITH PAUL. The opera is set in a variety of locations between the years 1608 and 1630 and throws a spotlight on individual scenes, sometimes presented simultaneously, from the life of the astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571-1630); the opera takes its name from Kepler’s theoretical work ‘Harmonices mundi’. Hindemith utilises substantial historical studies as the basis for his sketches of individuals within Kepler’s circle who each accompany the astronomer’s scientific endeavours with a variety of personal ambitions. The military commander Wallenstein attempts to utilise Kepler’s astrological abilities to realise his own pretensions to power while Kepler’s assistant Ulrich aspires to scientific fame and recognition. Kepler’s mother urges her son to apply his scientific abilities to the services of her black magic and the Lutheran minister Hizler forbids the astronomer to receive communion because Kepler questions the doctrine of Holy Communion in the Lutheran church and expresses sympathy for Calvinist doctrine. The few figures shed in a positive light include Kepler’s wife Susanna who supports her husband’s pursuit of truth and knowledge and the child Susanna who listens to the voices of nature and the moon in her childish naivety, thereby gaining revelatory knowledge. At the end of his life, Kepler takes stock of his situation, succumbs to a state of resignation and considers death as the greatest harmony of all. In his state of agony, music of the spheres can be heard; the constellations appear as allegorical figures in the opera and contradict Kepler’s negative concepts: lying beyond all that can be researched by mankind is a final majestic realm with the powers to ‘permit us to be amalgamated into a gigantic harmony of the spheres.’ / Date parution : 2022-07-20/ Répertoire / Opéra

Ed. Tradizionale - Full Score. Par VERDI GIUSEPPE. / Répertoire / Oeuvres Théâtrales/Oratorios et Ballets

Par VIVALDI ANTONIO. C'est seulement en 1713 que Vivaldi aborde l'opéra ; certaines sources parlent de 94 productions, mais seules 50 ont été identifiées. La musique de ces opéras n'ayant pas été imprimée, contrairement aux livrets, il ne reste trace (complète ou partielle) que d'une vingtaine d'opéras. Impresario du Teatro San Angelo de Venise, Vivaldi écrira la majorité de ces opéras pour ce théâtre. Les 30 airs de ce recueil sont proposés en réduction chant-clavier, pour voix de contre-ténor, extraits des opéras : Andromeda Liberata, Ottone in villa, L'Olimpiade, Tietiberga, Tito Manlio, Il Tigrane, Bajazet, Il Giustino, Olando finto pazzo, La Verità in cimento, La Fida nonfa, Orlando Furioso. / Date parution : 2014-07-01/ Recueil / Contre Ténor