I was thrilled to find a copy of Guillaume Tell in my Christmas stocking. There’s a lot more to this opera than the Lone Ranger and shooting a bolt through an apple on the boy’s head. Rossini’s last opera, it’s not widely performed (apparently) because of its length and ‘demanding arias’ – not that these stop other operas of similar length and complexity being performed. So I’m adding another track to the playlist, Niccolai Gedda (for it is he who sings on my CD) singing Asile héréditaire from the fourth act. This is now the last act, but originally the opera had five. Somewhere along the way one act was dropped and four and five combined into one, which brings it to just over four hours of wonderful listening.
PS. I don’t have a picture of either the Lone Ranger or Tonto, so I’m making a substitution.
NaNoWriMo Playlist – Track 1
Asile héréditaire from Guillaume Tell by Rossini