Vivaldi Orlando Furioso

For those with any interest in Vivaldi's operas Orlando Furioso is essential viewing, being a 1989 San Francisco Opera revival by Pier Luigi Pizzi of his own 1979 production which was largely responsible for beginning modern interest in Vivaldi's stage work. The composer first premiered Orlando finto pazzo in 1714, but the Orlando Furioso finalised in 1727 was so heavily reworked as to be virtually an entirely new opera, and so successful Handel set the same epic poem by Aristo under the title Alcina in 1735.

Die Fledermaus

After the Viennese premiere, the Fledermaus (the bat) conquered the world. It is one of the few operettas that are regularly performed at the major opera houses such as the Metropolitan Opera, the Scala Milan, the Vienna State Opera and the Royal Opera House Convent Garden in London. John Cox directed this lavishly equipped production by Julia Trevelyan Oman initially in London in 1977. On New Year's Eve 1990, this staging offered the luxurious ambiance for the farewell to Joan Sutherland from her London audience. The singer had admired them...

The Ghosts of Versailles

What happened to Figaro and his friends after the events told in Rossini’s and Mozart’s operas? One possible sequel is told in John Corigliano’s “grand opera buffa” The Ghosts of Versailles—an uproariously funny and deeply moving work inspired by Beaumarchais’s third Figaro play, La Mère Coupable, and commissioned by the Met to celebrate its 100th anniversary. This telecast captures its world premiere run, conducted by James Levine. Håkan Hagegård is Beaumarchais, Figaro’s creator, who is deeply in love with Marie Antoinette (Teresa Stratas...

L'italiana in Algeri

L'ITALIANA IN ALGERI is an operatic dramma giocoso in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Angelo Anelli. Rossini composed L'italiana in Algeri when he was 21 in either 18 or 27 days, depending on which source one believes (Rossini, not surprisingly, pegged it at 18). It premiered at the Teatro San Benedetto in Venice on 22 May 1813. The music is characteristic of Rossini's style, remarkable for its fusion of sustained, manic energy with elegant, pristine melodies. The plot, in brief: Isabella’s lover Lindoro has been kid...

Semiramide

In ancient Babylon, SEMIRAMIDE (Anderson) encourages her lover Assur (Ramey) to murder her husband, King Ninus. Her son, Ninius, disappears, believed dead, and Semiramide rules in her own right. 15 years later, as the opera opens, she is about to announce the name of her successor. Idreno (Olsen) and Assur are the leading candidates for the throne and the hand of Princess Azema (Shin), but Semiramide has taken a fancy to young Arsace (Horne), her victorious military leader who has been summoned back to Babylon. Only the high priest Oroe (Che...

Falstaff

It is to composer and librettist Arrigo Boito and his constant pestering of the octogenarian Verdi that there remained within him one last great comedy fighting to get out that we owe this absolute miracle of an opera. Produced in 1893 as Verdi turned 80 there is much in this masterpiece that can be identified as a modernist neoclassical work. The use of short motifs instead of long arioso melodic lines, the spry and reduced orchestral textures and the lack of a single 'stand and deliver' dramatic declamatory aria all serve to make this more...

In Concert at The Met

In Concert at the Met (DVD) - Highlights Five of the Met's greatest stars - Price, Horne, Troyanos, Domingo, and Milnes - joined James Levine for a series of irresistible concert programs, originally telecast in the 1980s. Featuring works by composers ranging from Handel to Meyerbeer to Puccini and Verdi, these performances include some of opera's favorite moments, delivered by a stunning group of legendary artists. Plàcido Domingo, Tatiana Troyanos (February 28, 1982) Leontyne Price, Marilyn Horne (March 28, 1982) Plàcido Domingo, Sherrill ...