Boito
Arrigo Boito ( 24 February 1842 – 10 June 1918) (whose original name was Enrico Giuseppe Giovanni Boito and who wrote essays under the anagrammatic pseudonym of Tobia Gorrio) was an Italian poet, journalist, novelist, librettist and composer, best known today for his libretti, especially those for Giuseppe Verdi's last two monumental operas Otello and Falstaff (not to mention Amilcare Ponchielli's operatic masterpiece La Gioconda) and his own opera Mefistofele. Along with Emilio Praga and his own brother Camillo Boito, he is regarded as one of the prominent representatives of the Scapigliatura artistic movement.
Born in Padua, the son of Silvestro Boito (1802-1856), an Italian painter of miniatures and his wife, a Polish countess, Józefina Radolińska, Boito studied music at the Milan Conservatory with Alberto Mazzucato until 1861, where a friend, Albert Visetti resided as well. His older brother, Camillo Boito, was an Italian architect and engineer as well as a noted art critic, art historian and novelist.
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Mefistofele (1989)
Arrigo Boito's treatment of the Faust legend is imaginative yet also faithful to Goethe's original conception, and the score is memorable for its rich orchestral sounds, beautifully punctuated with lyrical passages and choral interludes.
Robert Carsen's sumptuous, post-modern production of Mef... -
Baden-Baden: Boito: Mefistofele (2016)
Mefistofele by Arrigo Boito, from Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, 2016. Directed by Nele Münchmeyer, conductor Stefan Soltesz. Starring Erwin Schrott (Mefistofele), Charles Castronovo (Faust), Angel Joy Blue (Elena), Alex Penda (Margherita), Jana Kurucová (Marta), Bror Magnus Tødenes (Wagner), Luciana...
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Kristīne Opolais in Concert at the Latvian National Opera (2017)
Under the baton of Sesto Quatrini, the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra performs the Overture from G. Verdi's Luisa Miller, the Intermezzo from P. Mascagni's L'amico Fritz, the Intermezzo from G. Puccini's Manon Lescaut, and the Bacchanale from C. Saint-Saëns' Samson et Dalila. The orchestra a...
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Mefistofele (2008)
Mefistofele by A. Boito from Teatro Massimo di Palermo, performed at Teatro Massimo, 2008. Directed by Giancarlo del Monaco, conductor Stefano Ranzani. Starring Ferruccio Furlanetto (Mefistofele), Giuseppe Filianoti (Faust), Dimitra Theodossiou (Margherita, Elena), Sonia Zaramella (Marta), Monica...
