Wil van der Beek

This wedding march, used primarily as a recessional, comes from Mendelssohn's symphonic piece, ' A Midsummer Night's Dream, ' based on Shakespeare's play of the same name. This excellent arrangement f...

French composer Daniel François Esprit Aubers extensive outputconsisted mainly of operas, but unfortunately today only two of theseare still well known, including the comic opera Fra Diavolo. The stor...

Weill's famous "Dreigroschenoper", in which prevailing opera conventions are ridiculed. The first part is a "serious", almost baroque overture, followed by a ballad that is easy on the ears, and the f...

In 1941, Khatchaturian composed a ballet soon to be known throughout the world - Gayaneh. In this piece the composer describes the landscape of his native country Armenia, and the people who tried to...

La Traviata is one of the most well-known operas by Giuseppe Verdi. The story of the opera depicts the conflict between free love and bourgeois morality. The young poet Alfredo and the Parisian courte...

Duration: 9:00 minutes

La Traviata is one of the most well-known operas by Giuseppe Verdi. The story of the opera depicts the conflict between free love and bourgeois morality. The young poet Alfredo and the Parisian courte...

Jacques Offenbach was born in 1819 in Cologne, Germany, but as a child he moved to Paris where he received a thorough musical education. In his operetta Orpheus in the Underworld, Offenbach parodies t...

In 1786 Mozart composed his wonderful opera Le Nozze di Figaro (KV 492). The Italian libretto, based on the play Le mariage de Figaro by Beaumarchais, was written by Lorenzo da Ponte - who also made t...

Rienzi remains one of the most popular works from the ?master of romantic opera?, Richard Wagner. The Friedensmarsch from the fourth act (scene 2) of Rienzi is subdued and solemn in character: in the...

Rienzi remains one of the most popular works from the ?master of romantic opera?, Richard Wagner. The Friedensmarsch from the fourth act (scene 2) of Rienzi is subdued and solemn in character: in the...

In 1950, Pope Pius XII selected Marche Pontificale from the Organ Symphony No. 1, by French composer Charles Gounod, as the official hymn of the Vatican. The first rendition of the official hymn took...

Gioacchino Rossini was a musical prodigy, composing his first opera when he was eighteen years old. At the age of 37, after having written 39 operas in all, he almost completely stopped composing and...

Giacomo Puccini was one of the all time great opera composers and is especially famed for his wonderful, warm-blooded melodies, his colourful instrumentations, his compelling dramatics, his musical fa...

Giacomo Puccini was one of the all time great opera composers and is especially famed for his wonderful, warm-blooded melodies, his colourful instrumentations, his compelling dramatics, his musical fa...

This piece, as the title might suggest, brings together Verdi's greatest operatic triumphs. Amongst his best hits are Nabucco from 1842, which signified a turn-around after the flop of a previous oper...

This piece, as the title might suggest, brings together Verdi's greatest operatic triumphs. Amongst his best hits are Nabucco from 1842, which signified a turn-around after the flop of a previous oper...

In 1878, on a commission from his publisher, Anton n Dvorák wrote a series of eight Slavonic dances. Modelled on Johannes Brahms' famous Hungarian Dances, although in contrast to Brahms' work, Dvorák...

Offenbach (1819 - 1880), who was born in Germany, moved to Paris when he was a teenage boy and remained there for much of his life. He became especially famous as a composer of numerous operettas. and...

The famous Barcarolle from Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann opens the fourth act of the opera, which takes place in Venice. For this reason Offenbach chose a barcarolle - a Venetian gondolier song wi...

Goethe's Faust has already been set to music by various renowned musicians, such as Berlioz, Busoni and Spohr, and indeed Charles Gounod, who built his eponymous opera around the tale. Gounod's Faust...

Goethe's Faust has already been set to music by various renowned musicians, such as Berlioz, Busoni and Spohr, and indeed Charles Gounod, who built his eponymous opera around the tale. Gounod's Faust...

This work brings fragments from three of Giuseppe Verdi's operas together in a single composition. Opening the work is the Triumphal March from Aida. Next come two notable motifs from La forza del des...