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#Tosca opera dvd movie
In fact, the movie is worth seeing just to compare the actual venues with various stage sets you may have seen.
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A major advantage of this movie is that it was shot on location, so those three venues are where the movie was filmed, and they are sumptuous you see what the staged versions are trying to emulate. Puccini and librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte wrote Tosca as taking place in three stunning locales in Rome, the church of Sant’Andrea della Valle in Act I, Palazzo Farnese in Act II, and Castel Sant’Angelo in Act III.
#Tosca opera dvd tv
The 1976 movie based on Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca with soprano Raina Kabaivanska as Tosca, tenor Placido Domingo as Cavaradossi, and baritone Sherrill Milnes as Scarpia, is an excellent, classical production of Tosca and an excellent film that is a made for TV version.
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I recently watched engaging movie versions of Tosca and Don Giovanni recorded on DVDs that were recommended to me by knowledgeable opera folks, and wish to report on these. I often watch videos of operas, but I am just venturing into movie versions, mainly at the urging of my son who also loves opera. A currently underappreciated advantage of movies and videos is that they capture performances of great singers and productions that can be viewed on demand forever more. Nothing can make a story that takes place in the 1800s look like you are viewing it taking place in the 1800s in real time like a movie, and movement in time or place is more easily made in films since you don’t have to wait for sets and costume changes. Movie versions are not restrained by time or space. Video directors have some creative options not available to stage directors, movie directors even more so. I especially like the performer interviews during intermissions of Met Opera “In Cinemas” broadcasts, pretty cool actually. Both can also offer additional viewing material. Both formats control the focus of what you see, not true in the opera house. Videos and movies both offer close-up shots during the performance if you want to see a close-up in the opera house you need opera glasses or binoculars. They share certain advantages and disadvantages. Now, let’s clearly make the distinction between movie versions of operas and videos that are recordings or streamed showings of live operas being performed on a stage these are two very different formats that tend to get clumped together, especially when you are ordering DVDs from vendors. Acting must be more nuanced for the close-ups of film and videos. Acting on stage requires broad dramatic gestures to be seen throughout the opera house. Perhaps the biggest difference in producing staged and filmed/video versions is the acting demands on the singers.
#Tosca opera dvd plus
However, if you replace hearing opera live, local or at the Met, with only screen experiences, I’d insist that you are missing out on the best opera experiences, what the purists contend is true opera, hearing trained human voices without electronic transformation and experiencing the emotional impact those live voices carry, plus the deeply humanizing effect of live, shared arts experiences. Besides, who can afford to go to the Met in NYC more than a couple of times per year or wants to wait a month between operas for local company productions? And of course, movies and videos are cheaper than live performances. Also true for watching movie and video recordings of operas on my big screen TV while I have lunch or dinner and can hit the pause button for bathroom breaks or hit the rewind button when I realize I missed something. Seeing Met Opera “In Cinemas” broadcasts streaming on the big screen in a movie theater as I eat popcorn while wearing jeans and a sport shirt is fun. Opera purists should stop reading at this point or take more anti-hypertensive medication. Watching movie versions of operas and videos of operas performed on stage can be both enjoyable entertainment and worthwhile arts experiences.