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Romances and the Romantics with Simon Rees
May 14, 2025 @ 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm EDT
The terms ‘romance’ and ‘romantic’ have a wide range of meanings, and in these five lectures I will use a broad interpretation of both.
Walter Scott’s Novels and Poems, and the Operas They Inspired
Sir Walter Scott’s Romantic novels were popular, in English and in translation, all over Europe. Such stories as Ivanhoe, The Heart of Midlothian, Kenilworth, The Fair Maid of Perth and The Bride of Lammermoor inspired composers such as Rossini, Donizetti and Bizet to writing masterpieces, set in the high romantic style of bel canto vocal writing. Singers such as Luciano Pavarotti, Joan Sutherland and Maria Callas excelled in such roles – a highpoint being Sutherland’s recording of the Mad Scene from Lucia di Lammermoor, which ends with a fantastic cadenza.
In the series:
May 14: Walter Scott’s Novels and Poems, and the Operas They Inspired
May 21: Beethoven, Liszt and the Romantic Imagination
May 28: Sir Joshua Reynolds, Constable and Turner – with a bit of Mendelssohn
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