DVD Videos

The Royal Ballet and The Royal Opera join forces for Wayne McGregor’s acclaimed fusion of music and movement, whose richly layered designs perfectly complement Purcell’s telling of a classical tale of love thwarted by evil powers. With Sarah Connolly and Lucas Meachem in the title roles, Christopher Hogwood conducts the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Filmed with High Definition cameras and recorded in true surround sound.

BONUS MATERIAL

Illustrated synopsis & cast gallery.

Interview with Wayne McGregor.

‘Dido is perfectly integrated, and the expressively stylised movements that McGregor has devised for the singers make a fascinating contrast to the gyrations of the corps de ballet. …The casts were excellent. [Sarah Connolly] struck gold with a heartbreaking account of "When I am laid". The sensitivity of her acting and her intense musicality was striking throughout. Lucy Crowe made a delightful Belinda, with Lucas Meachem a quarterback hunk of an Aeneas. The young ad hoc chorus sang beautifully.’ The Telegraph

Running time 72 mins Region code All regions

Picture format 16:9 Anamorphic Sound format 5.1 Half DTS / PCM Stereo

Menu language EN Subtitles EN/FR/DE/ES/IT Dimensions (mm) W135 H190 D15

Choreographer: Roberto Pizzuto

WORLD PREMIERE on DVD of 1997 opera which focuses on the dramatic turning point in the life of Jackie Kennedy Onassis in the 1960s after the death of JFK. Sung in English

Jackie O combines “high” opera, popular theatre and classical themes in a colourful exploration of the protagonists life post-JFK, based on a reversal of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice with a swinging 60s twist.

Includes interviews with Daugherty, Mc Andrew, Sourouzian and Alberghini

“Daugherty may just provide the link to pop culture that classical music so desperately needs.” Time Out, New York, 1997

Picture Format: 16:9

Sound Format: SS 5.1 / LPCM 2.0

Subtitles: I / E / G / F

Menu Languages: I / E / G / F / Sp

Running Time: 93.13 mins + Extras 14.06 mins

Region Code: 0

Available Worldwide

New German Translation of Arrigo Boito’s Libretto by Walter Felsenstein, assisted by Carl Stueber. Feature Film (coloured), Produced in the Defa-Studio, Babelsberg 1969.

A Film production of the stage version by Walter Felsenstein.

Walter Felsenstein (1901–1975), founder and general director of the Komische Oper in Berlin, was one of the twentieth century’s greatest creative theatre directors, who played a hugely important role in the revival of opera as a theatrical art form. A brilliant artist who directed over 190 productions during the course of his career, he was equally committed to the works, their creators, the ensemble and the audience.

For Felsenstein, Verdi’s “Othello” was one of the most significant works in the history of opera. This was why he chose it to shoot the fi rst colour opera fi lm for DEFA in 1969. In his own interpretation, Felsenstein succeeded in creating a work that was not simply a documentation of the stage production, but a work that used cinematic means in order to portray the “unbearable happiness” that “Othello” conveys. Guiseppe Verdi who was enthused by Shakespeare’s plays produced with “Othello” an ingenious late work that the fantastic librettist, Arrigo Boito, had specially adapted for him beforehand. In his penultimate opera, the composer once again demonstrates his entire creative energy and turns the beauty and tragedy of the love between the endearing Desdemona and Othello, the commander who everyone regards mistrustfully because he is black, into music that excites the audience today just as much as it did back then. Felsenstein produces with “Othello” a film that tells a tragic story interwoven with great music and at the same time documents his own dramaturgical work.

SPECIAL FEATURES ON DVD: Introduction (from the script) of the 4 acts with a Picture Gallery, Interviews, Video and audio restoration - Footage with a commentary by Christoph Felsenstein

Script and Direction Walter Felsenstein, Georg Mielke

Set Design Alfred Tolle

Following The Set Design By Rudolf Heinrich

Costume Design Helga Scherff

Sound Format: PCM Stereo

DVD Format: 1 x DVD 9 & DVD 5, NTSC

Picture Format: 4:3

Running Time: 121 mins Opera + Special Features

FSK: 0

Menu Language: GB, DE, FR, ES

Subtitle Languages: GB, DE, FR, ES

Region Code: 0

Arrangement, text version and script by Walter Felsenstein and Hanns Eisler.

Opera Feature Film (black-and-white), 1956

Artistic Supervisor and Direction Walter Felsenstein

Director of Photography Nicolaus Hayer

Sceneries and Costumes Rochus Gliese, Leo Metzenbauer

Walter Felsenstein (1901–1975), founder and general director of the Komische Oper in Berlin, was one of the twentieth century’s greatest creative theatre directors, who played a hugely important role in the revival of opera as a theatrical art form. A brilliant artist who directed over 190 productions during the course of his career, he was equally committed to the works, their creators, the ensemble and the audience.

When Walter Felsenstein is offered to shoot an adaptation of the story about Fidelio/Leonore in the early fifties, he accepts. Together with Hanns Eisler, he develops a whole new version of the story by changing, cutting out and rearranging parts of the text. The overture is incorporated into the filmic adaptation and tells the prelude of the story. In doing this, Felsenstein uses the medium in a whole new way. The music is not only there to accompany the images; Fidelio is not meant to be an operatic film but a musical film. However, the project is weighed down with diffi culties from the very beginning, as it is temporarily uncertain as to how the project should be financed. Although the finished film provokes some fierce political controversy, it is a success among the public. Looking back sixteen years later, Felsenstein commented: “It is the only music film I have ever made – even though it had its faults. The other films were basically stage performances adapted and arranged for the cinema. They were intended to document Felsenstein productions at the Komische Oper and were modified to make them suitable for filming, but were still based on theatrical productions. My only real music film was Fidelio.”

“Arthaus’s scholarly and imposing ‘Walter Felsenstein Edition’ offers a fascinating glimpse of an important moment in operatic history now vanished.” The New York Times

Sound Format: PCM Stereo

DVD Format: DVD 9, NTSC

Picture Format: 4:3

Running Time: 84 mins

FSK: 0

Menu Language: GB, DE, FR, ES

Subtitle Languages: GB, DE, FR, ES

Region Code: 0

Co-Director C. P. Von Maldeghem, Set Design by Stefan Mayer & Costume Design by Moidele Bickel.

Giuseppe Verdi’s 1857 opera, “Simon Boccanegra”, about the Genoese doge who in the 14th century strove for settlement and peace – an allegory for Italy’s modern battle for freedom -was unsuccessful. It was not until 24 years later that he was able to produce a new version together with his librettist, Arrigo Boito, who made the plot more appealing to the audience. But it is primarily in the music that Verdi now dares to pursue new avenues which although had already been established, are now to be consistently followed: arias and recitatives are replaced by a style of declamation that pervades the entire work. The orchestra too is ennobled from an accompanying ensemble to a commentarial one. In the production of the second version by Peter Stein, one of the biggest theatre directors of the 20th century, the production becomes a rediscovery of this opera. Claudio Abbado competently conducts the soloists and the choir and orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and yields an extraordinary sound.

Sound Format: PCM STEREO

DD 5.1, DTS 5.1

DVD Format: DVD 9, NTSC

Picture Format: 16:9

Running Time: 143 mins

FSK: 0

Subtitle Languages: GB, DE, FR, ES, IT, CN

Region Code: 0

A major contribution to ‘Handel Year’: countertenor star Andreas Scholl returns to the Decca label in Handel’s comedy Partenope

“the finest countertenor of his generation” Opera News

Technical Specifications

Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish, Chinese

WORLD PREMIERE in modern times of an unknown comic opera which was recently rediscovered along with other three other Leo operas at the Abbey of Montecassino.

L’Alidoro (Golden Wings) is a lost-and-found story which explores the themes of love and jealousy from different perspectives – in particular age and social status – interweaving comedy with more serious reflections.

Director Arturo Cirillo explains how in this opera, “nothing is happening except a subtle and gorgeous relational game among the seven protagonists”

A rarely performed or recorded opera, Amica’s extravagant scenic and vocal demands contributed to the opera’s neglect until now.

Set in the Savoy mountains around 1900, Amica is a ‘dramatic poem in two acts’ involving two brothers, Giorgio and Rinaldo, whose love for the eponymous Amica culminates in tragedy.

While today numbering amongst his least performed works, Amica was initially a triumph, praised for its ‘passionate accent’ and ‘impulsive sincerity’ by a contemporary critic, and deemed ‘most worthy of re-revaluation’ according to the composer’s biographer.

New German adaptation by WALTER FELSENSTEIN and HORST SEEGER based on the original score by HENRI MEILHAC and LUDOVIC HALÉVY.

Feature Film (coloured), produced in the DEFA-Studio, Babelsberg 1973.

A film production of the stage version by WALTER FELSENSTEIN.

Script and Direction WALTER FELSENSTEIN, GEORG MIELKE.

Arrangement and Musical Direction KARL-FRITZ VOIGTMANN.

Set Design PAUL LEHMANN.

Walter Felsenstein (1901–1975), founder and general director of the Komische Oper in Berlin, was one of the twentieth century’s greatest creative theatre directors, who played a hugely important role in the revival of opera as a theatrical art form. A brilliant artist who directed over 190 productions during the course of his career, he was equally committed to the works, their creators, the ensemble and the audience. After 163 performances Felsenstein decided to make a film version of Ritter Blaubart. This film can now be enjoyed in a carefully restored digital form. Felsenstein’s forceful work on the musical and visual language of the opera film continues to influence other productions creatively. Felsenstein’s Ritter Blaubart is accompanied by the music of French composer Jaques Offenbach and was performed to great critical acclaim in Paris in 1866. Opera reviewer Oscar Bie delightfully remarked: “How the music flourishes in soil like this. How the tragedy laughs, and how seriously the comedy takes itself. […] This is not opera, nor is it comedy, and only on occasions is it parody. No, this is something much more sublime altogether: it is that wonderfully shimmering realm, full of truth about life, which borders grand fates and all-conquering humour.” Felsenstein’s adaptation of this diversified opera affords countless opportunities for audiences to make associations, moments in which they are torn between laughter and abomination, but which all the while reveals an aptitude of theatrical magic one could only admire. The constant switching between comedy and tragedy is a fine balancing act that demands enormous self-discipline and ability from the performers. Felsenstein himself spoke of the “entirely new style of interpretation” the work required. This visionary theatre director, who played a hugely important role in the revival of opera as a theatrical art form, was exactly what this demanding opera needed.

Special Features on DVD: Script segments, sketches and drafts & performance segments, interviews, picture gallery.

"Arthaus’s scholarly and imposing ‘Walter Felsenstein Edition’ offers a fascinating glimpse of an important moment in operatic history now vanished." The New York Times

Directed by Gilbert Deflo

Set Design and Costumes by William Orlandi

Arthaus presents an exceptional Manon from the Opera Paris on DVD. With American star soprano Renée Fleming in the manyfaceted title role, Argentinean tenor Marcelo Álvarez opposite her and Spanish opera conductor Jesús López-Cobos, this production provides first-rate listening and viewing of one of the masterpieces of French opéra lyrique.

The musical excellence of the performers in this production is outstanding. Renée Fleming’s Manon is womanly and seductive, her voice perfectly cultivated in this enormously demanding role, that requires change of register, sentiment and expression more often than almost any other operatic role. The combination of vocal beauty, stylistic versatility and commitment to dramatic portrayal made her Paris Manon an enormous success, in an interview she comments, “I think Manon is my favourite role. I love French music, it is so elegant and delicate stylistically. It has both dramatic and lyrical elements”.

Renée Fleming is partnered by the brilliant Marcelo Álvarez, who is hailed as „one of the hottest tenors on the international scene“ (Opera News), in the role of the Chevalier des Grieux. Together they present an absolutely moving final scene, when Manon dies in her lover’s arms, proving them one of the dream teams of the international opera scene.

The staging by Gilbert Deflo had its first performance at the Bastille opera in Paris in June 1997 and proved to be an unforgettable experience complete with splendid historical costumes by William Orlandi, sophisticated lighting, opulent ballet dancing and colourful mass scenes. The minimal décor of darkly shaded abstract backdrops further accentuates the magnificent, colourful costumes – thus shifting the focus onto the interaction between the characters of the drama. This is supported by the close-up filming, so that the viewer can actually experience an intimate filmed drama.