INFORMATION

Giuseppe Verdi wanted his seventh opera to be passionate, fiery and action-packed, and he wanted a real prima donna to take centre stage. He found the ideal subject in one of the most famous female figures in world history: Joan of Arc. Verdi was highly satisfied with Temistocle Solera’s libretto. It was, he wrote in August 1844, ‘almost of an unusual beauty’. In fact, the title role brings a special radiance to the opera, which is not necessarily one of the composer’s most prominent roles on the repertoire today. However, it was celebrated by the premiere audience, and the day after the premiere Verdi wrote to his friend Francesco Maria Piave: ‘Without exception and without doubt, it is the best of my operas’. A few successful performances followed, but then the work faded into the shadows of Verdi’s later, even more famous operas. It is high time to bring it back to light!

PRESSESTIMMEN

Gramophone (UK)
„Conductor Marcus Bosch maintains a healthy balance between giving singers what they need but keeping a vital, headlong pace … thanks also to the excellent, theatrically adept Czech Philharmonic Choir of Brno – the opera is gripping indeed.“

Feuilletonscout (Stephan Reimertz)
“First and foremost, praise is due to the intrepid conductor Marcus Bosch, Capella Aquileia, and the Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno, who, while keeping their eyes firmly on the big picture, never overlook any of the loving details with which Verdi enriched his opera.”

TRACKLIST