Meyerbeer - Grand Opera (Erato)
"I think we all are longing for beauty. We all are longing for being surprised, being touched and I think that happens a lot in Meyerbeer's operas," that's why German soprano Diana Damrau decided to make a recording filled with highlights from ten grand operas of one of the most successful composers of the Romantic era, Giacomo Meyerbeer.
Is he French, Italian, or German? Diana discovered he's all of the above, "Meyerbeer was a German Jew and he studied with Salieri in Vienna then started his career in Italy as a composer in the Italian heritage you can actually say. Then he went to France and became a superstar in his time as a French composer of French spirit, of really the perfect feeling for French music and he became the biggest star in France and he influenced composers like Wagner and Berlioz who who denied it!
And for opera lovers, it's a feast because they're almost all vocal types he uses in his opera. So you have the dramatic tenor or the big lyric soprano you have the coloratura soprano next to her. And you have a juicy mezzo. And well I think also that's why his operas are not played that often. They really need a huge cast a huge cast. It involves the whole chorus, the whole orchestra, and the ballet and and some of the operas are quite complicated to stage."
Resources
Diana Damrau - official site
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