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- Macbeth, the Thane of Glamis, receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders his king and takes the throne for himself.
- Director Pier Luigi Pizzi drew inspiration from Georges Rodenbach's short novel, "Bruges - La Morte" which narrates the bizarre and sinister experience of a man who, having lost his wife, is mesmerized and hypnotized by the atmosphere of the city of Bruges to the point that he believes to recognize his beloved one in a woman met in the streets. He is so obsessed by this incredible event to think that he can bring the past back, but despite the two women's amazing likeness, the unique sensitivity and the feelings of the wife that he had loved for ten years are gone forever. Rodenbach turns the city of Bruges in a sinister and foggy stage where mysterious events take place. The urban spaces and the dead woman are deeply linked, the city itself amplifies death as it mirrors the main character's feelings, his agony, his tireless quest for an impossible love. This quest will lead him to death, in the cold, dead Venetian waters. Erich W. Korngold was very touched by this novel and composed an opera imbued with romantic and lyrical elements, that enhance the sense of self destruction and doom of the protagonist, describing through music his sudden mood swings. The reference to water is very important as it mirrors the characters' feelings and the strict analogy with Venice. Venice is the connecting element between this production and last year's Death in Venice by Benjamin Britten. These two titles are deeply linked and form one unique path. For that opera too Pizzi had used fog and mist on stage as to evoke a sense of ghost silence and desolation. Water and fog are therefore essential ingredients, and always recurring on the stage set.
- La Sonnambula was first performed with enormous success at the Teatro Carcano, Milan on 6th March 1831 with Giuditta Pasta and Giambattista Rubini in the roles of Amina and Elvino, the most well-known and ideal singers for the parts at the time. Bellini was full of praise for their performance and declared them "two angels who could transport the audience into a state bordering on distraction". La Sonnambula is an idillic, classical and intense melodramma with an extremely fine, lyrical musicality and tense with pure "canto", suspended between Arcadia and Romanticism. It is a combination of tender and melancholic sentiments and of tragic and moving passion, in a natural uncontaminated and innocent atmosphere and humanity which clearly represent the artistic experience of the composer. The charming staging by Hugo de Ana, at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari goes back to January 2007. Through fascinating tableaux vivants, references to 17th century Romantic painting and refined visual projections, it is a tribute to Luchino Visconti. Visconti produced the memorabile performance of Sonnambula in March at the Scala di Milano with the magnificant Maria Callas.
- Tosca, Giacomo Puccini's fifth opera, was first staged at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14th January 1900. The opera initially stirred contrasting reactions among the public and critics. Whilst the latter generally expressed strong reservations, the public appreciated the opera greatly and decreed a success that has never waned since that date. The libretto was entrusted to Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, back in partnership after Manon Lescaut and Bohème. From its first appearance in 1887, Tosca had proved to be one of the most popular dramas of Victorien Sardou (1831-1908), who had written it to suit Sarah Bernhardt. Sardou's theatre was essentially based on plot, enriched however by precise realistic and psychological touches. For Puccini the encounter with Sardou's theatre basically meant an incursion into the sphere of the "verismo" melodrama, from which the composer had always kept his distance. His human and musical sensitivity was, indeed, far removed from the coarseness of verismo, and, substantially, Tosca thus represented an exception. Yet it was an exception in which all the most typical situations of verismo stood out in, we might say, concentrated form: events follow one another in a crescendo of tension and drama. Puccini was too refined a musician to insist too heavily on the more truculent aspects of the plot, and his music frequently tones down the crudity of the situations.
- Most of Schubert's operas were written without a specific commission, in the hope that, once completed, some theatre might find them interesting simply by virtue of their musical value. This unrealistic optimism proved almost always wrong and Schubert suffered bitter disappointments, very often working for nothing. Begun on 20th September 1821, Alfonso und Estrella was completed on 27th February 1822 but was first staged, on the initiative of Franz Liszt, only in 1854, after Schubert's death. Alfonso und Estrella has the characteristic climate of a romantische Oper. If it is true that Schubert lacks the sense of theatre which is typical of the best operatic composers of his day (for example Weber), the power of his creativity and beauty of many arias cannot be denied.
- The Mantua Orfeo is the culmination of a long process that saw the gradual acceptance of pastoral fables, comedies, and tragedies in imitation of classical models, offering special musical elements to delight the listener. The novelty lay not only in the type of drama involved, but also in the manner of song, which favoured the accompanied monody. Solo voice singing, so extolled and theorized within the intense conceptual debates of Giovanni Bardi's Florentine academy, likely derives from a yearning for classicism, and for a recovery of Greek theatre - but is made contemporary through the principle of the comprehensibility of speech, which had many advocates. The "Tale of Orpheus" was written as a musical opera; the libretto by Alessandro Striggio assumes a knowledge of Rinuccini's tale. Whether openly or in more concealed fashion, Monteverdi makes use of topoi or practices in common use during his day: trumpet flourishes as signals, a narrative in dactylic rhythm, and dissonant intervals to emphasize struggle or grief. These are immediately recognizable even to a "common" public. At the same time though, he introduces complete innovations not only in the expository elements of profane song, but also in its other aspects: the exhaustive attention given to the collocation of words, the vibrant quality of the rhythmic pulse, bold dissonances, the harmonies chosen, and the wavelike melodic line.
- Il Corsaro is still one of Verdi's less known and performed operas. Chronologically speaking, it belongs to the famous "years in the galley", even though it dates from a period (the autumn of 1848) when the composer's name, in Italy, could already be considered established. Although this is considered one of Verdi's minor works, there are many exciting and poignant passages in it, and the tight dramatic action makes for music that has a pressing and incisive rhythm. The renowned baritone Renato Bruson and conductor Renato Palumbo stand out in the cast. The video recording makes the most of Lamberto Puggelli's beautiful sets.
- Bellini, unlike many of his colleagues - among them Donizetti - did not have to endure the disappointments and difficulties of rising from the ranks. His Bianca e Gernando, in 1826, was well received at Naples's Teatro San Carlo, and one year later, at the age of twenty-six, the composer triumphed at Milan's La Scala with Il Pirata. Norma is not only the high point of Bellini's artistic parabola but also the quintessence of Italian belcanto. The present DVD, filmed at the Sferisterio Opera Festival of Macerata in August 2007, features, in the title role, the famous Greek soprano Dimitra Theodossiou, one of today's best interpreters of Norma.
- With the present release of this Donizettian masterpiece, recorded live in 2001, Dynamic makes an historic move, becoming the first Italian label to produce a DVD opera. This very high quality production by Teatro Donizetti di Bergamo features, in the roles of the two queens, Carmela Remigio (Maria Stuarda) and Sonia Ganassi (Elisabetta), two great artists here making a fine display of their excellent vocal and acting skills. Francesco Esposito's direction and costumes, and Italo Grassi's sets are very effective and superbly highlighted by the filming.
- Les pêcheurs de perles dates from 1863 and represents much more than a mere operatic exercise written by a twenty-five-year-old composer. Pêcheurs is, as a matter of fact, the only other Bizet opera, beside Carmen, to have remained in the repertoire. This opera contains memorable passages, which have ensured its long-lasting success and which many great singers (beginning with Caruso) have recorded and performed: for example the aria of Nadir Je crois entendre encore; the beautiful aria of Léïla Comme autrefois, dans la nuit sombre and, above all, the superb duet between Léïla and Nadir Ton cour n'a pas compris le mien. This Venetian production features an extraordinary Annick Massis as Léïla and the refined staging of Pier Luigi Pizzi.
- Il Burbero di buon cuore is a dramma giocoso in two acts composed by Vicente Martín y Soler to a libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte, based on one of the most popular and amusing French comedies by Carlo Goldoni, Le bourru bienfaisant. The opera was premièred to a triumphant success in Vienna's Burgtheater on 4th January 1786. The gruff Ferramondo must deal with a nephew who has been ruined by his spendthrift wife, and who would like to have his sister sent to a convent so that he can get his hands on her dowry. The girl, of course, has other plans. A brilliant libretto, music that can be both graceful and captivating, and a first rate cast make of this opera a welcome rediscovery. Vicente Martín Y Soler was known in Europe during his lifetime as Vincenzo Martini,an Italian name that appears at the time to have been considered an advantage in the operatic world. When he met Lorenzo Da Ponte in 1785, Vicente Martín Y Soler, born in Valencia in 1754 already had to his credit a dozen operas, but decisive leap to his career was due to the collaboration with Da Ponte who wrote the librettos for: Il burbero di buon cuore (1786), Una cosa rara (1786) and L'arbore di Diana (1787). These were operas which shared the favour of the public in the imperial capital with Mozart's masterpieces, likewise on librettos by Da Ponte, Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni , and Così fan tutte. When Il Burbero di buon cuore was first staged in Vienna in 1786 it was warmly received by the audience. The music is simple, charming, orchestrated tastefully and with a wealth of colours. The handling of the situations is impeccable and the mechanism works perfectly, with suitable theatrical timings, so that the scenes follow one another with an urgent rhythm, giving the development of the plot a sensation of fresh naturalness up to the final dénouement. The Da Ponte - Martín Y Soler partnership collaborated again on the opera, Una cosa rara, ossia bellezza e onestà.
- It was customary for Rossini to modify his scores and develop second and third versions for theatres that wanted to stage his operas. The Maometto II here recorded corresponds only in part to the original score (Naples, 1820), which is the version generally performed nowadays; it is, instead, the revision made for Venice's Teatro La Fenice staged on 26th December 1822 as opening title of the 1823 Carnival season, the same season which, on February 3rd, would also see the debut of Semiramide. For Venice Rossini tried to soften the monolithic character of his Neapolitan score, introducing an opening symphony, making changes - some of them quite substantial - to the score and, especially, giving the plot a happy ending. The title role is sung by the young Italian bass Lorenzo Regazzo, internationally renowned; Claudio Scimone, on the podium, is responsible for the revision of the score.
- One of Donizetti's most emotionally raw operas, Roberto Devereux ossia Il conte di Essex was also the third to be loosely based on episodes in the life of Queen Elizabeth I.
- This first DVD in the history of the ROF was recorded live in high definition in 2005. With this world-first DVD recording, Dynamic launches its partnership with the Rossini Opera Festival, which is to add a series of prestigious, new publications in 2006, all in high definition. Composed for La Scala in Milan in 1819, Bianca e Falliero is an opera of extraordinary dramatic originality, rich in highly spectacular stage solutions, and a fundamental work for our understanding of the full significance of the authentic revolution that the composer from Pesaro brought about in opera; a revolution that was destined to have a decisive influence on the development of Italian opera in the nineteenth century. The singing cast features Maria Bayo, Daniela Barcellona, Francesco Meli and Carlo Lepore, conducted by Renato Palumbo and directed by Jean-Louis Martinoty.
- Singers of great renown were called upon for the first performance of Ercole sul Termodonte by Antonio Vivaldi in Rome, "in the hall of Signor Federico Capranica", on 27th January 1723. An exclusively male singing cast, as was the custom on Roman stages, to tell the tale of the battle between Hercules, accompanied by the heroes Theseus, Telamon and Alceste, and the Amazons led by Antiope. The story, which is based on the ninth of the legendary labours of Hercules, and which concludes with the traditional happy ending here decreed by Diana, who proclaims the nuptial unions of Hippolyte with Theseus, prince of Athens, and of Martesia with Telamon, king of Ithaca, was arranged by the "regular canon of La Carità of Venice" Don Giacomo Francesco Bussani, on a libretto that had already been performed in 1678 at the San Salvatore theatre in Venice. The opera was successful, winning appreciation and at the same time astonishment through its introduction of many passages written in a new "manner", with an exciting, incisive rhythmic gait. This style so excited the Romans that from then on they demanded it almost exclusively in melodramas. After the success of 1723, however, Ercole did not circulate widely and at a certain point the score was thought to have been lost. It has only recently been reassembled thanks to the precious rediscovery of some thirty arias and two duets in various archives, and has been reconstructed in its recitative passages by Alessandro Ciccolini. The daring direction of John Pascoe for the Spoleto Festival presents a statuary Hercules appearing on stage completely naked. On the podium, conducting the Complesso Barocco, an expert of the stature of Alan Curtis.
- Les Contes d'Hoffmann is a great, unfinished masterpiece. In 1880 Hoffenbach's health began to deteriorate rapidly. Les Contes d'Hoffmann had already been programmed for the 1880/81 season of the Opéra-Comique but Offenbach was having a hard time finishing it and worked only in the moments of respite from his illness. he died on October 5th, leaving the opera incomplete (we still do not know to what extent). And so Ernest Guiraud, a "specialist" who had already transformed into recitatives the spoken parts of Bizet's Carmen, was called to finish the task. The opera was first staged at the Opéra-Comique on 10th February 1881 and met with great success. Soon it was being performed in the most important theatres of the world. Our edition has an Italian cast of exceptional quality, in which stand out the amazing voice of Desirée Rancatore, the extraordinary artistry of Ruggiero Raimondi and the fascinating direction of Pier Luigi Pizzi.Pizzi, one of today's most creative directors.
- Gioconda is rarely performed, except for the famous Dance of the Hours, which became popular also thanks to Walt Disney's Fantasia. This co-production of Arena di Verona, Barcelona's Teatro Eliseo and Madrid's Teatro Real, directed by Pier Luigi Pizzi, is quite stunning. In the cast are Andrea Gruber, Carlo Colombara, Marco Berti, Ildiko Komlosi, Elisabetta Fiorillo and, debuting in the Dance of the Hours, Roberto Bolle, star of La Scala who has appeared in the most important theatres of the world. This music, on which Ponchielli worked for twenty-six years, seems to prefigure Puccini while, at the same time, echoing Verdi. To date Gioconda is one of the works most loved by audiences.
- Les Vêpres siciliennes, a five-act opera on a libretto by Auguste Scribe and Charles Duveyrier with music by Giuseppe Verdi, was first staged at the Paris Opéra on 13th June 1855. The subject of the opera was nothing other than an adaptation of a libretto that Scribe had written some years before, Le Duc d'Albe. At first the opera was greeted with great success, even Hector Berlioz, usually far from kind to Italian musicians, exalted the grandeur of its conception and its masterly composition. However its Parisian success was to be short lived, and after 1865 Les Vêpres siciliennes disappeared from the repertoire of the Opéra. The Italian première, in Arnaldo Fusinato's translation, was held in Parma on the evening of 26th December 1855; shortly afterwards the opera was taken to La Scala in Milan, on 4th February 1856, but this time in a new translation by Ettore Caimi. Before definitively becoming I Vespri Siciliani in the Italian edition too, the opera circulated for some time under various titles. Les Vêpres siciliennes/I Vespri Siciliani is in many senses an intimist opera, all based on the contrast between the duties imposed on, and sorrowfully accepted by, all the leading characters by their political roles, and their private feelings which, of course, do not correspond to the demands of politics. All of this set against the backdrop of a very demanding stage and choral set-up. Filmed by RAI at Teatro Verdi in Busseto, main interpresters of this production are Vladimir Stoyanov (Monforte), Renzo Zulian (Arrigo), Amarilli Nizza (Elena) e Orlin Anastassov (Procida), under the baton of Stefano Ranzani and with the direction of Pier Luigi Pizzi.
- For La forza del destino, Verdi created one of his most famous melodies, the "fate" motif that permeates the whole of the score. Music and action alternate in masterly fashion between large-scale crowd scenes and intimate interiority, in that way illustrating Verdi's real theme: the manner in which fallible human beings are destroyed by a cruel fate.