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This week Classical Music Discoveries begins our 9th season. We are so very glad that we have been able to bring to you the finest classical music in the world for 9 years now. We never would have ever imagined that our very first little broadcast that was heard by only 137 people would turn into a regular broadcast heard by millions of people all over the world each and every week. Ken and I are deeply humbled by your support of our show.
This week we are also proud to bring to you a very new musical organization called the CMD Grand Opera Company originating from Venice, Italy. Their goal, this season, is to perform and record all of Puccini's works for our audience. Complete recordings will be available for purchase in our store at: www.classicalrecordings.co. You can visit this store at any time by clicking on the hyperlink appearing while the opera is being performed. Don't worry, our show will continue uninterrupted while you visit our store.
Edgar is an operatic drama in three acts (originally four acts) by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Ferdinando Fontana, freely based on the play in verse "The Cup and the Lips" by Alfred de Musset. The first performance was given at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan on 21 April 1889.
Edgar, Puccini's second opera, was composed on a commission from the publisher Ricordi after the successful reception of his first stage work, Le Villi. The original version had four acts and was tepidly received. In January 1890, Ricordi published a revised version, including a different ending for act 2. In the autumn of 1891, Puccini revised the work again, cutting the last act and producing a three-act version which would again be revised in 1905.
In this final form the opera had even less success than in its original four-act structure. Some of the music that was cut in 1891 was reused in Tosca and became the beautiful act 3 duet, "Amaro sol per te m'era il morire!". The funeral march from act 3 was played at Puccini's funeral, conducted by Arturo Toscanini and the aria "Addio, mio dolce amor" (Farewell, my sweet love) from act 4 was sung.
Puccini finally gave up on Edgar and in later years, bitterly repudiated the work. On a copy of the score that he sent to a friend, the English woman Sybil Seligman, he wrote scathing remarks against parts of the score and amended the title to read: And may God protect you from this opera!
Thus we are very proud to bring to you this rarely performed opera for our opening broadcast of our 9th season.
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