![]() ![]() Whether he and the evil Gessler, ever existed – like Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham – is debatable. Tell is also a legendary archer and his defiance inspires a successful rebellion against Austrian rule. The opera is based on an 1804 play by Friedrich Schiller about the Swiss hero who is their version of our Robin Hood. For those of a certain age it is also well known for its overture part of which was used as a galloping horse theme in the Lone Ranger TV series. Rossini’s famous 1829 opera tells the story of the eponymous Swiss patriot who is made to shoot an arrow at an apple on top of his son’s head and save him from the sadistic governor, Gessler, who is in charge of Switzerland. ![]() A young woman was apparently stripped naked, forced to drink champagne, groped and molested by the officers of the Austrian army during a banquet. In July 2011 (where have those four years gone?) when Antonio Pappano conducted the orchestra and chorus of the Academy of Santa Cecilia of Rome in a concert performance of Rossini’s Guillaume Tell I wrote how it ‘was undoubtedly the best Prom I have been to … since the last time I wrote I had been to a Prom that was the best one I could remember!’ Fast forward to 2015 and Guillaume Tell initially arrived on stage to a chorus of boos about young Italian director Damiano Michieletto’s new staging that included a controversial interlude (usually involving some dancing) as a depiction of sexual violence towards women by soldiers during war time. (JPr) Gerald Finley as William Tell at end the of Act II pic credit ROH and Clive Bardaĭirected for live cinema by Jonathan Haswell Broadcast to the Empire Cinemas, Basildon, Essex. United Kingdom Rossini, Guillaume Tell: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden / Sir Antonio Pappano (conductor). ![]()
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