TUTTO VERDI – this edition to mark the Verdi bicentenary sets standards by which all similar projects will be judged. It includes all twenty-six operas by the greatest Italian stage composer, together with his immortal Requiem, all of them in definitive performances. “This is how Verdi should be played” – Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on TUTTO VERDI

Love and revenge are fatally interwoven in Il trovatore, and barely any of the characters survives the sombre action. Based on a Spanish play in the tradition of gothic horror, the work was written in 1851–52 and proved to be a triumph for Verdi. Within only a few years it had been performed in major opera houses all over the world and remains one of the most popular operas in the international repertory.