Original subtitles

Hello and a warm welcome to Vienna's Schonbrunn Palace

for the annual Summer Nights Concert

given by the Vienna Philharmonic,

this year led by the Russian maestro

Valery Gergiev. APPLAUSE

All of this evening's music has an Italian flavour,

including favourites by Puccini, Verdi, Cilea and Mascagni.

First up, Rossini, and his William Tell Overture.

APPLAUSE Rossini's William Tell Overture.

Valery Gergiev and the Vienna Philharmonic setting this evening

off to a galloping start.

Another overture now, this one by Verdi,

to his epic opera, La Forza Del Destino,

The Force Of Destiny.

APPLAUSE Verdi's overture to his opera

The Force Of Destiny.

The Vienna Philharmonic and Valery Gergiev this evening celebrating

their 150th performance together -

a partnership both clearly enjoy.

Gergiev is also music director of the Mariinsky Theatre

in St Petersburg.

And it was there in the early '90s that a student singer,

who once worked backstage as a cleaner, auditioned for him.

Well, today Anna Netrebko is a global superstar,

APPLAUSE and she joins us now.

She'll sing an aria from Cilea's opera Adriana Lecouvreur,

in which the famous actress Adriana responds to a shower

of compliments with the words,

"I am just the servant of the author's genius.

"He pours words into my soul."

Ecco, respiro appena

Io son l'umile ancella

del genio creator

Ei m'offre la favella

Io la diffondo ai cor

Del verso io son l'accento

L'eco del dramma uman

Il fragile strumento

Vassallo della man

Mite, gioconda, atroce

Mi chiamo Fedelta

Un soffio e la mia voce

Un soffio e la mia voce

che al novo

di

morra. #

APPLAUSE

Just beautiful. That was Lo son l'umile ancella,

from Cilea's opera Adriana Lecouvreur,

performed by the transcendent Anna Netrebko.

And we will be hearing more from Anna Netrebko later

in the concert, when she returns to sing arias

by Puccini and Leoncavallo.

With the premiere in 1890 of Cavalleria rusticana

by Mascagni,

a new movement in opera was born called verismo, or realism.

It's a tale of bloodthirsty revenge set amongst the ordinary

people of contemporary Sicily -

a far cry from the political or courtly subjects

that grand opera usually featured.

And in the midst of its turbulent drama is this intermezzo.

APPLAUSE

The glorious intermezzo from Mascagni's opera

Cavalleria rusticana.

And some pictures there, too, of the magnificent fountains

in the Schonbrunn Palace gardens.

More opera now, and Verdi's great Egyptian fantasy Aida,

which he composed to inaugurate Cairo's new opera house in 1871.

With the Ethiopians conquered,

General Radames returns to Egypt bearing the spoils of war.

This is his Triumphal March.

APPLAUSE

Oh, stirring stuff.

The Triumphal March and Ballet Music from Verdi's opera Aida.

The Vienna Philharmonic, under the baton of Valery Gergiev.

Enormous crowds at the Schonbrunn Palace

for this annual event.

This year more than ever -

well over 100,000 people filling the gardens.

But on now with music from Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake.

We're at a ball to celebrate Prince Siegfried's coming of age,

and he must choose a bride from the six eligible princesses,

who present their national dances as entertainment.

This is the Neapolitan Dance.

APPLAUSE

The Neapolitan Dance from Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky.

Now for a different take on Italy by a Russian composer -

Prokofiev's forbidding, fate-laden score to his ballet

Romeo and Juliet.

It's music that encapsulates not only the intimate mystery

of young love,

but also the malevolence and power of two warring families.

APPLAUSE

The Dance of the Knights from Prokofiev's ballet suite

Romeo and Juliet.

More doomed love now, but this time we're in Rome,

where Puccini set his great opera Tosca.

The chief of police, Baron Scarpia, has summoned the diva

Floria Tosca to his apartments, where her lover is held prisoner.

Scarpia offers her a bitter choice -

"I'll free your lover, but only if you submit to my lust."

Out of this impossible situation comes this soul-searching aria,

Vissi d'arte.

She sings, "I have lived for art, I have lived for love.

"Why, oh, Lord, do you reward me thus?"

Vissi d'arte

Vissi d'amore

Non feci mai male ad anima viva

Con man furtiva

quante miserie conobbi aiutai

Sempre con fe sincera

la mia preghiera

ai santi tabernacoli sali

Sempre con fe sincera

diedi fiori agl'altar

Nell'ora del dolore

Perche, perche, Signore

Perche me ne rimuneri cosi?

Diedi gioielli della Madonna al manto

e diedi il canto agli astri, al ciel

che ne ridean piu belli

Nell'ora del dolor

perche, perche, Signor,

Ah

Perche me ne rimuneri cosi? #

APPLAUSE

Vissi d'arte, Puccini's show-stopper of an aria from Tosca.

Anna Netrebko without doubt one of today's great divas,

singing the role of opera's most famous one.

Amazing that even in front of such a vast crowd as this,

she can create that sense of intimacy.

More Puccini now, and the intermezzo from his third opera, Manon Lescaut.

Puccini was enthralled by the story of the young girl Manon,

torn between a life of luxury

and her true love for the poet Des Grieux.

This intermezzo conjures up all the passion of their love

and the hopelessness of their fate.

APPLAUSE

Puccini's intermezzo from his opera, Manon Lescaut,

performed by the Vienna Philharmonic,

conducted by Valery Gergiev.

The tale of Manon struck a deep chord with Puccini -

he said, "I love those souls who feel like we do,

"laughing with joy one minute, weeping with despair the next."

The opera Pagliacci, or Clowns, by Leoncavallo,

is set amongst a troupe of travelling entertainers.

It's an opera within an opera, where art and life intersect,

and not without a good dose of tragedy.

In this aria, Stridono lassu, sung by Anna Netrebko,

the character Nedda reflects on how nothing can ever stop a bird

from flying freely up to the clouds -

not wind, rain, nor lightning.

Stridono lassu

liberamente lanciati a vol

a vol come frecce, gli augel

Disfidano le nubi e sol cocente

e vanno, e vanno per le vie del ciel.

Lasciateli vagar per l'atmosfera

questi assetati d'azzurro e di splendor

seguono anch'essai un sogno, una chimera

e vanno, e vanno fra le nubi d'or

Che incalzi il vento e latri la tempesta

con l'ali aperte san tutto sfidar

la pioggia, I lampi, nulla mai li arresta

e vanno, e vanno, sugli abissi e il mar

Vanno laggiu verso un paese strano

che sognan forse e che cercano invan

Ma I boemi del ciel seguon l'arcano

poter che il sospinge, e van

E van! e van! e van! #

APPLAUSE

Anna Netrebko with a characteristic carefree flourish

ending Stridono lassu by Leoncavallo.

Hugely popular with audiences throughout the world,

Anna Netrebko is an artist whose impact stretches

far beyond the confines of the opera house.

You may well have seen her performing at the opening ceremony of the World Cup,

or indeed her name amongst Time magazine's list

of the world's 100 most influential people -

the first classical artist ever to be included.

But on with the show, and another Puccini favourite,

from his comedy Gianni Schicchi - O mio babbino caro.

Lauretta appeals to her father to help her boyfriend.

"Oh, my dearest father, I like him so much, he is handsome,

"I want to buy the wedding ring."

O mio babbino caro

mi piace e bello, bello

vo'andare in Porta Rossa

a comperar l'anello

Si, si, ci voglio andare!

e se l'amassi indarno

andrei sul Ponte Vecchio,

ma per buttarmi in Arno

Mi struggo e mi tormento!

O Dio

vorrei morir!

Babbo, pieta, pieta

Babbo, pieta, pieta. #

APPLAUSE

O mio babbino caro -

Puccini's timeless melody, beautifully delivered.

Anna Netrebko giving us a taste there, too,

of her extraordinary breath control.

What a treat.

From one Florentine scene to another now, with a march written

by the Czech composer Julius Fucik.

Born in Prague in 1872, Fucik was to become one of the most

prolific composers of his generation,

with something like 400 works to his name, including band marches

and waltzes and polkas, church masses, even operettas.

This was a time when composers were experimenting

with foreign musical styles, and the Florentiner Marsch,

which we'll hear now, has all the vivid colours and elegance

and bonhomie of that beautiful city.

APPLAUSE

Florentiner Marsch by Julius Fucik.

Very much at home with the Vienna Philharmonic

and the crowds here at the Schonbrunn Palace.

Time, I think, for just one more foot-tapping favourite,

and traditionally the final piece of the concert,

the great waltz by Johann Strauss II -

Wiener Blut - Viennese Blood.

APPLAUSE

Wiener Blut by Johann Strauss II,

performed by the Vienna Philharmonic

and conducted by the great Russian maestro, Valery Gergiev.

Wonderful to think that Wiener Blut was premiered by this orchestra,

conducted by Strauss himself.

That was in 1873,

and I think we can safely say they haven't looked back since.

Sadly, that brings this annual Summer Nights Concert

from Vienna's Schonbrunn Palace to an end.

I do hope you've enjoyed it.

From me, Katie Derham, goodbye.