Tag: Donizetti

  • Donizetti Birthday Opera Swordfight!

    Donizetti Birthday Opera Swordfight!

    More swordfights in opera, please!

    On Gaetano Donizetti’s 225th birthday, here’s Mario Filippeschi as Edgardo in “Lucia di Lammermoor,” taking on multiple opponents with ease. He even pushes over a candelabra.

    It all starts with “Chi mi frena”:

    The film adaptation was made in 1946. On this particular print (likely transferred from video), the soundtrack is a little out of alignment. A minor distraction. Why is it not available on DVD?

    Put this guy in a room with Errol Flynn and Stewart Granger!

    Here’s the complete film, a little darker, but not as fuzzy. The clip above starts around 1 hour and 1 minute in.

    There are no subtitles, unfortunately. But isn’t it about time you brushed up on your Italian, anyway?

    Buon compleanno, Donizetti!

  • Anne Boleyn Beheaded Her Lament & Callas

    Anne Boleyn Beheaded Her Lament & Callas

    It was on this date in 1536 that Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII, was beheaded for adultery, incest and witchcraft.

    Here’s a lament attributed to Anne, allegedly written during her imprisonment in the Tower of London.

    And here’s Callas, captured at La Scala in 1957, in the mad scene from Donizetti’s dramatization. The audience, at the 9:14 mark, sounds like they’re going to take the place apart.

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