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- In 1960s, a British playwright attempts to reconstruct the life of real life 17th century English composer Henry Purcell even though little is known about him. Purcell's life is reenacted and his music performed.
- An operatic adaptation of the 1963 Caldecott-winning classic book.
- The American Ballet Theatre, performing at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York City, June 1983, led by Mikhail Baryshnikov, present Cervantes' story about the adventures of the Knight of Rueful Countenance.
- Mistaken identity, unrequited love, and the supernatural are combined in Shakespeare's classic set in the woods of Greece on a moonlit night.
- This classic Kirov production of Swan Lake by Oleg Vinogradov, filmed at the Kirov Theatre in Leningrad in December 1990, includes the familiar happy ending in the final act, where Siegfried fights and ultimately defeats the evil magician, von Rothbart, and at dawn is reunited with Odette. Yulia Makhalina stars as Odette / Odile and Igor Zelensky, now an international star, is Prince Siegfried.
- The darker side of the composer is explored when he stays in the hospital for syphilis.
- This documentary begins with Ken Russell posing the question: "What is a true English folk song, if there is such a thing?" After receiving an indifferent response from his dog, Ken journeys around the countryside of England searching for an answer. He bumps into and interviews such famous artists as; Donovan, Fairport Convention, Osibisa, Eliza Carthy, So What, Edward II and The Albion Band among others.
- Director Werner Herzog joins forces with the great Italian conductor Riccardo Chailly to effect a masterful rendition of this rarely performed opera involving spectacular scenes of alternating light and darkness, pageantry and intimacy.
- This biography of Sviatoslav Richter, the great Russian pianist who dedicated his life to music and had little regard for fame in the West, shines a light on his formative years and places him against the setting of a chaotic USSR culture.
- While waiting for Stella to conclude her performance in the opera house next door, Hoffman recounts his 3 tragic loves: Olympia the mechanical doll, Giulietta the courtesan, and Antonia the young consumptive.
- Although the set design and most of the costumes are remarkably like the later Royal Ballet Peter Wright productions, (2001 and 2009) many tiny details are different. While the production design is quite elaborate, much of the action is staged in a simpler manner than in Wright's later versions; for instance, the grandfather in the wheelchair has even less to do than in the later version, the angel that appears to Clara is on the staircase instead of next to the Christmas tree, and no St. Nicholas appears at the Christmas Party to distribute candies. Wright himself has stated that of all his "Nutcracker" productions, this one is the closest to the original. The story is the same as in the standard version of the ballet, with nothing really added to it, except that, as in many Russian versions and the Baryshnikov one, Clara and the Nutcracker Prince (Hans-Peter) are played by adults, not children. Clara's costume once she sneaks downstairs after the Christmas party is completely different from the one worn by the later Claras - she does not seem to be wearing a nightgown, but a full-fledged dress. In Act II, Clara and Hans-Peter (Drosselmeyer's nephew, who was formerly the Nutcracker) do not take part in the dances at the Sugar Plum Fairy's kingdom, as they do in the later Royal Ballet versions. The ending is almost completely different from the later Royal Ballet versions. Although we see Drosselmeyer and Hans-Peter reunited in the workshop (indicating that the fantasy events were real), there is no indication that Clara and Hans-Peter meet up again in the real world, or that they will be reunited as a couple, as in the later Peter Wright Royal Ballet versions. Drosselmeyer is noticeably grimmer in this production than in the later Royal Ballet versions. He never once smiles, and never seems to be really enjoying himself.
- Judith arrives at Bluebeard's dark castle hoping her love can convince him to reveal the secrets behind the locked interior doors.
- This is a TV adaptation of a 1993 opera entitled "Rosa," with a libretto by Greenaway and score by Louis Andriessen. "Rosa" is the first in a projected series of 10 operas, each dealing with the death of a famous composer - some real (Anton Webern, Jean-Baptiste Lully, John Lennon), others fictional. "Rosa" falls into the latter category; it tells the story of Juan Manuel de Rosa, a Brazilian who went to study music in America but spent most of his time in the cinema instead, becoming particularly entranced by Westerns. Now 32 years old and residing in an abandoned Uraguayan slaughterhouse, Rosa has become one of Hollywood's foremost composers, specializing in (what else?) Westerns. He also has a beautiful 19-year-old fiancee, Esmeralda, but he pays her little heed, instead lavishing his attentions on a black mare named Bola. One day, a group of men attired as cowboys arrive at the abattoir and kill both Rosa and Bola; an investigation is conducted, with particular suspicion!
- The Rosenkavalier delivers the rose to the Baron's intended, but she and the cavalier fall in love. When she meets the Baron, she enlists the cavalier's help to break the betrothal. The Princess helps the young lovers.
- Based on a pair of once-banned plays by the fin de siècle satirist Frank Wedekind, Alban Berg's operatic swan song charts the rise and fall of a femme fatale, a serial seductress, from life as a society hostess to prostitution and eventual death at the hands of Jack the Ripper.
- The process of writing the verses for Ermione was entrusted to the prolific librettist Andrea Leone Tottola, known also for the work he did with Donizetti, Bellini, Pacini and Mercadante. The subject was taken from Jean-Baptiste Racine's tragedy Andromaque (1667), in turn based on Euripides' masterpiece. Ermione was first performed at the San Carlo Theatre in Naples on 27th March 1819 with a quality cast. When first staged, Ermione was not very successful because probably Rossini moved too far away from the taste of Italian public at the time. Ermione was completely forgotten until 1977 when it was revived in concert form in Siena. In Ermione Rossini steps away from some of the stylistic features of belcanto and lays the foundations for some of the masterpieces of his maturity: there is clearly more continuity between the various closed pieces, the function of the chorus is strengthened, three-part arias are replaced by two-part ones, and we can find a more vigorous vocal expression as well as a generous use of declaimed recitative. Ermione is unquestionably the great protagonist of this opera, especially in the second act where she truly towers over the other characters. Rossini entrusts her with a magnificent scene in four sections punctuated by recitative passages, in the course of which she can express the most highly-contrasting emotions, from fierce anger to moving love. This immense collection of novelties and experimental touches makes Ermione an extremely interesting opera; we may state the Rossini's Ermione is one of the most finely drawn characters in all nineteenth-century opera.
- The libretto (plot) is the substance of Shakespeare's comedy, The Merry Wives of Windsor. A trio of beautiful, and now revengeful ladies see Sir John Falstaff for what he is: an old, conceited, drunken fool. The women discover (literally comparing notes) very unsavory aspects of Falstaff's bloated personality. They (and others) set out to make a fool of this conceited womanizing hedonist, who has more than those three enemies in town.
- A portrait of violinist David Oïstrakh, from his birth in Odessa in 1908 until his in 1974, and his career under Stalin's left wing terrorist regime. Featuring interviews with his peers Menuhin, Rostropovich and Rojdesvensky, this biography asks the question: was Oïstrakh really 'an artist of the people' as the communists called him?
- Friends and colleagues talk about the life and career of the enigmatic and iconic British singer Dusty Springfield.
- Kiri Te Kanawa introduces a selection of some of her personal favorite operatic scenes.
- It is Verdi's opera "Don Carlo".
- First performed in Moscow in 1879, Eugene Onegin is an opera in three acts drawing its inspiration from Alexander Pushkin's novel. Considered by many as the "archetypal work of Russian Romanticism", it explores the inner life of three romantic heroes: Tatiana, a Romanesque young woman, Onegin, a distant dandy hiding emptiness under affected haughtiness, and Lenski, the idealistic poet.
- A documentary about Feodor Chaliapin , Sr., considered the greatest Russian singer of the twentieth century, as well as the greatest male operatic actor ever.
- When Prince Ramiro and Cenerentola meet, it is love at first sight.