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• 29 Ott 2014

Maria Callas – “A vos jeux” – “Hamlet” (1868) – Ambroise Thomas (1811 – 1896).
LIVE at Shrine Auditorium 29.XI.1958 – Los Angeles – US.
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra
M.° Nicola Rescigno Conductor.

“Charles Louis Ambroise Thomas (5 August 1811 – 12 February 1896) was a French composer, best known for his operas ‘Mignon’ (1866) and ‘Hamlet’ (1868, after Shakespeare) and as Director of the Conservatoire de Paris from 1871 till his death.
‘Hamlet’ is a grand opera in five acts of 1868 by Thomas, with a libretto by Michel Carré and Jules Barbier based on a French adaptation by Alexandre Dumas, père, and Paul Meurice of William Shakespeare’s play ‘Hamlet.’ The work was premiered at the Paris Opéra (Salle Le Peletier) on 9 March 1868. Among the noted singers in the original cast were Jean-Baptiste Faure (15 January 1830 – 9 November 1914) – a celebrated French operatic baritone and an art collector of great significance. He also composed a number of classical songs – as Hamlet and Christine Nilsson – Christina Nilsson, Countess de Casa Miranda, (20 August 1843 – 20 November 1921) a Swedish operatic soprano who possessed a brilliant bel canto technique and was considered a rival to the Victorian era’s most famous diva, Adelina Patti. Nilsson became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in 1869 – as Ophelia.”