Postcard from Rome
All musical roads lead to Rome in this playlist. The Eternal City has been a popular destination for composers for centuries, so hop on a Vespa and enjoy La dolce vita as we speed from the Villa Borghese to the Castel Sant’Angelo at dawn to the bustling Trevi Fountain on a Roman Holiday.
Read more…Nobody has depicted the sights and sounds of Rome better than Ottorino Respighi. 'The Pines of Rome' and 'The Fountains of Rome' are all linked to specific places at specific times of day, while his 'Roman Festivals' depict gladiators, pilgrims and the revelry of Epiphany.
We visit Ancient Rome under the Emperors Nero and Titus in extracts from operas by Monteverdi, Mascagni and Mozart, and take in the Roman carnival atmosphere in Berlioz’s opera about the escapades of goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini.
No visit to Rome is complete without taking in the beauty of the Sistine Chapel and the choral music of Palestrina, himself the subject of an opera by Hans Pfitzner. The sounds of a Roman dawn are magically evoked at the start of Act 3 of Puccini's 'Tosca', where the condemned Cavaradossi pens a farewell to his beloved as bells chime and a young shepherd passes by. And we have a reminder that a very special concert took place at Rome’s Caracalla Baths during the 1990 World Cup…