MAIN MENU

DVD VIDEO

complete operas
and selected highlights

BELLINI
I Capuleti e i Montecchi
Roberto, Tagliavini, Farcas
I Puritani
D'Angelo, Salderi, Ferrin,
Dondi
Norma
Vickers & Caballé
Norma
Sutherland, Troyanos
Norma
Dragoni, Zampieri
Norma
Dessi, Armiliato

Norma, Act 1
Caballe, others
La Sonnambula
Moffo, others

BIZET
Carmen
Franco Corelli
Carmen
Bonfitto, Taruntsov

BORODIN
Prince Igor
Nesterenko

CHERUBINI
Medea

Mazzola-Gavazzeni
Medea
Anna Caterina Antonacci

CILÈA
Adriana Lecouvreur
Caballé, Cossotto

DARGOMYZHSKY
The Stone Guest
Atlantov, Milashkina, Vedernikov,
others


DEBUSSY
Pelléas et Mélisande (Act 2)
Danco, Jeannotte, Savoie


DONIZETTI
Anna Bolena
Sutherland
Daughter of the Regiment
Sills
Don Pasquale
Tajo,
Bruscantini, Valletti
La Favorita
Cossotto, Kraus
L'Elisir d'Amore

Scotto, Bergonzi
L'Elisir d'Amore
Tagliavini, Noni
Lucia di Lammermoor
Scotto, Bergonzi
Lucia di Lammermoor

Moffo, Kozma
Lucia di Lammermoor
Kraus, Serra
Marin Faliero
Pertusi, Servile, Blake

Roberto Devereux

Sills
Il Campanello
Torriani, Miotto, Ito, Dekita
Rita, ou Le Mari Battu
Quagliata, Giacchetta,
Torriani;

GILBERT & SULLIVAN
The Mikado
D’Oyly Carte

GIORDANO
Andrea Chénier
Franco Corelli
Andrea Chénier
Tebaldi, Del Monaco

GLUCK
Orphée et Eurydice
Simoneau, Alarie

GOUNOD
Faust
Kraus, Ghiuselev
Faust
Scotto, Ghiaurov
Mireille (abridged)
Alarie, Simoneau, Savoie

HERBERT
Naughty Marietta
Munsel, Drake

LEONCAVALLO
I Pagliacci
Vickers
I Pagliacci
Corelli
I Pagliacci
Del Monaco, Tucci
I Pagliacci
Domingo,
Mauti-Nunziata

LOMBARDO

Cin Ci La'

MASCAGNI
Cavalleria Rusticana
Simionato, Lo Forese
Cavalleria Rusticana
Verrett,
Johannsson
Cavalleria Rusticana
Domingo,
Cossotto

MENOTTI
Amahl & The Night Visitors
Kuhlmann, McIver
The Consul

Patricia Neway
The Medium
Powers, Alberghetti
The Medium
Forrester
The Telephone
Farley, Smythe

MOZART
Don Giovanni
Petri, Stich-Randall,
Gencer, Sciutti, Alva,
Brucsantini
Cosi fan Tutti
Curtin
(Scenes from Act 1)
The Impresario
Steber, Curtin, others
Le Nozze di Figaro
Rehfuss, Probbe,
Rossi-Lemeni, Carteri
Le Nozze di Figaro
Sciutti, Güden, Evans, Lear
Fischer-Dieskau
Die Zauberflöte
Berry, Lorengar, Kmentt,
Peters
Die Entführung aus dem Serail
Hallstein, Grist, Alva,
Corena, Unger

MUSSORGSKY
Boris Godunov
Piragov (1954 film)

OFFENBACH
Les Contes D’Hoffmann
Kraus, Welting,
Hendricks, Ghiuselev


PORTER, COLE
Kiss Me, Kate
Drake, Morison


POULENC
La Voix Humaine
Farley

PUCCINI

Madama Butterfly
Moffo
Tosca
Tebaldi
Tosca
Tebaldi, London
Tosca
Olivero
Tosca
Corelli, Duval, Poli
Tosca
Corelli, Heredia Capnist
Turandot
Corelli
La Rondine
Carteri, Gismondo
La Fanciulla del West
Stella, Limarilli, Colzani
M
anon Lescaut
Chiara,
Romero, Martinucci
Il Trittico: Il Tabarro,
Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi

Pons, Frittoli, Lipovsek, Leo Nucci

RACHMANINOFF
Aleko
Nesterenko

RIMSKY-KORSAKOV
May Night
Stanislavsky and
Nemirovich-Danchenko
Moscow Academic Music Theatre
Sadko
Atlantov, Milashkina, Arkhipova.
Orch. and Chorus: Bolshoi Theatre
The Golden Cockerel
Gondjian, Kubelian, Shakhverdian,
Chakhoyan, Martirosian, others.
The Tsar's Bride
Vedernikov, Kovaleva, Grigoriev,
others.
Mozart and Salieri
Maslennikov, Eizen, L. Novikov
Kashchey The Immortal
Pluzhnikov

ROMBERG
The Desert Song
Eddy, Sherwood

ROSSINI

Elisabetta, Regina D'Inghilterra
Lella Cuberli
L'Italiana in Algeri
Petri, Palombini
Tancredi
Barcellona, Workman,
Cantarero
L'Equivoco Stravagante
Teatro Comunale
di Modena (2001)
Barber of Seville
Bonitatibus, Giménez,
Nucci

SHOSTAKOVICH

The Nose

STRAUSS, JOHANN
The Great Waltz
Munsel, Novotna

STRAUSS, RICHARD
Ariadne auf Naxos
Sills

TCHAIKOVSKY
Iolanta
Eisen, Kuznetsov

TOBIAS
Jonah’s Mission

VERDI

Aida
Bergonzi, Cossotto
Aida
Tucci, Del Monaco

Aida
Gencer, Bergonzi
Don Carlo
Furlanetto, Neill, Jenis
Don Carlo
Caballé, Bumbry,
Aragall
Falstaff
Taddei, Moffo
Il Trovatore
Del Monaco, Gencer
Il Trovatore
Nucci, Theodossiou
La Forza del Destino

Tebaldi, Corelli

La Traviata
Moffo
La Traviata
Sills
La Traviata
Scotto,
Carreras
Otello
Del Monaco, Carteri
Otello
Del Monaco, Tucci
Rigoletto
Kraus, Nucci
Rigoletto
Protti, Tucci, Poggi
Simon Boccanegra
Cappuccilli, Ricciarelli,
Ghiaurov, Merighi
Un Ballo in Maschera
Bergonzi, Stella, Zanasi
La Forza del Destino
Caballé, Carreras,
Ghiaurov

WAGNER
Tristan und Isolde
extended scenes
Vickers, Knie

Start pageA letter from the president of VAIOur contact information Search our databaseInspect your cart or check outDownload a print catalog

La Sonnambula (Bellini) Starring Anna Moffo
VAI DVD# 4239, $39.95

Anna Moffo stars in this 1956 film version of Bellini’s lyrical masterpiece. Mario Lanfranchi directs. The RAI Orchestra & Chorus are under the direction of Bruno Bartoletti. Sung in Italian, with optional English subtitles.


This Italian television production of Bellini’s La Sonnambula, telecast live on December 19, 1956, captures Anna Moffo at the start of her meteoric rise to international prominence. Given the confidence and polish of her performance, it is astonishing to note that, aside from a performance as Norina in Don Pasquale at the Spoleto Festival the year before, the demanding role of Amina in La Sonnambula was the young soprano’s first encounter with the bel canto repertoire. From the start, the poignantly arching lyric lines and ecstatic coloratura passages suited her voice and temperament perfectly. Before long, she was engaged by RAI to sing a live broadcast of I Puritani, followed by television productions of Lucia di Lammermoor and The Daughter of the Regiment, and it soon became apparent that the operas of Bellini, Donizetti, and middle Verdi would become the cornerstones of the Moffo repertoire throughout the world.

The director for La Sonnambula was the estimable Mario Lanfranchi, who exhibits an imaginative artistic creativity that is always consistent with the intentions of the composer and librettist. Few operatic films illucidate the drama of the works as clearly and brilliantly as those Lanfranchi made with Anna Moffo. These include La Traviata (1968) and Lucia di Lammermoor (1971), both available on DVD from Video Artists International.

The performance is conducted by the eminent maestro Bruno Bartoletti, who went on to forge a unique relationship with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, serving as the company’s artistic director from 1964 until his retirement in 1999. The cast for La Sonnambula is rounded out by the fine lyric tenor Danilo Vega and the noted bass Plinio Clabassi, who was a strong presence in the operatic world of the 1950s and ‘60s. Lastly, mention must be made of Giuseppe Nessi, who makes a brief appearance in this production as the Notary. Nessi (1889-1961) was a veteran comprimario tenor who had created the role of Pong in the world premiere of Puccini’s Turandot in 1926, conducted by Arturo Toscanini. He was a mainstay at La Scala from 1921–1959 and can be heard on numerous complete operatic recordings of the era.


La Sonnambula

Opera in Two Acts
Music by Vincenzo Bellini
Libretto by Felice Romani

Amina: Anna Moffo
Rodolfo: Plinio Clabassi
Teresa: Anna Maria Anelli
Elvino: Danilo Vega
Lisa: Gianna Galli
Alessio: Guido Mazzini
Un Notaro: Giuseppe Nessi

Orchestra e Coro di Milano della Televisione Italiana
conducted by Bruno Bartoletti

Directed by Mario Lanfranchi

Originally telecast December 1956

122 minutes, ITALY, 1956, Black & White, Mono, Sung in Italian,
with optional English subtitles
© 1956 Mario Lanfranchi (All Rights Reserved)
Packaging & Design ©2003 Video Artists International, Inc.
Executive Producer for DVD: Ernest Gilbert

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Copyright © 2000 and 2001, Video Artists International & VAI Audio, All Rights Reserved