Lucy Worsley - Opera bbc2

Part one of two. The history of some of the world's greatest operas, and how they reflect the hopes and fears of the cultures they were written in. The first episode focuses on four operas written in Europe between the 17th and 19th centuries - Monteverdi's The Coronation of Poppea, Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, Beethoven's Fidelio and Verdi's Nabucco - and explores the political backdrop of the time