Finally finished “The Life and Operas of Verdi.”
Started listening to this on a bus in India as it was impossible to actually read anything.
It is one of those “Great Courses” and it is excellent.
Robert Greenberg as lecturer is not for everyone. He has personality and will sacrifice seriousness for lame jokes at times.
The best part was when he takes on the voice of the Duke of Mantua from Rigoletto. He makes him sound like the martian from that Bugs Bunny cartoon and it is delightfully hilarious.
Imagine singing “woman is fickle...” with this voice:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LkbWF-kDK8YInteresting blend of Verdi’s life, readings and synopses of opera librettos (for which I am very forgivng of his American pronunciations), and musical selections.
Also interesting to learn that Verdi was not very well informed about Wagner’s operas so any influence from Wagner was little to none (and this was likeley the same vice versa).
Sort of like Newton and Liebniz “inventing” calculus simultaneously.
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