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The Metropolitan Opera HD Live Season 1 Episodes
Season 1 Episode Guide
6 Episodes 2006 - 2007
Episode 1
Mozart's The Magic Flute
Sun, May 18, 2008115 mins
In Act 1, Tamino is sent on a mission by the Queen of the Night to rescue her daughter from the evil lord Sarastro. He is accompanied by the friendly bird-catcher, Papageno. But Tamino will soon discover that what he has been told was false, and if he really wishes to win Pamina's hand, he himself will have to undergo his own personal transformation. Mozart turns the "rescue opera" formulas inside out - as he often did with other musical forms - and by the end of Act 1, we realize that everything we have been led to believe up to this point is untrue. Act 2 sets matters right. The opera is one of Mozart's last creations (he died two months after the premiere), but considering that he was only 35 at the time, he was a young man and still developing new styles; The Magic Flute hints at what "might have been" had he lived a longer life.
Episode 2
Bellini's I Puritani
Sat, Feb 17, 2007
England, 1640s. Civil war and politics interfere with Elvira's plans to marry Arturo, because he is helping Queen Elizabeth escape from the rebels. Elvira doesn't understand any of this, so she goes stark raving mad and sings a cadenza while lying flat on her back, her head hanging upside-down over the edge of the stage. Fearing that she might die of grief or fall over into the orchestra pit, Uncle Giorgio and Riccardo sing the complete version of "Suoni la tromba," including the repeats, and no cuts. Not to be upstaged by any of this, Arturo finally returns from his mission and explains everything by singing a high F above C, the highest note ever composed for tenor voice. There is much rejoicing. It's non-stop, nail-biting action, and Beverly Sills is on hand to provide commentary on the drama.
Episode 3
The First Emperor
Sat, Mar 24, 2007205 mins
To unite the lands he has conquered, the First Emperor of China, believes that a national anthem is needed. He hires a childhood friend to compose it for him, not realizing that his friend does not share the Emperor's aspirations.
Episode 4
Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin
Sat, Apr 21, 2007193 mins
Onegin is young, handsome, rich. And bored. After spurning the naive Tatyana's romantic advances, he publicly flirts with his best friend's fiancée merely to amuse himself, but the prank ends in a duel. Some people just don't get it.
Episode 5
Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia
Sun, Jun 8, 2008
Rossini's sparkling comedy is given a new shine here under the direction of Broadway director Bartlett Sher. Count Almaviva is smitten by the feisty Rosina, but she is kept under lock and key by Dr. Bartolo. Send for Figaro to help.
Episode 6
Puccini's Il trittico
Sat, Jun 16, 2007
In the early 1900s, two operas by Richard Strauss (Salome and Elektra) were taking Europe by storm. The Italian composer Puccini is said to have looked at the scores and observed, "There is nothing here but algebra and mathematics; where is the music?" True or not, in any case, Puccini set out to show that he too could compose one-act operas, and in different styles. Hence, Il Trittico (The Tryptich), a set of three operas, each less than an hour long, each different from the other two. The first, Il Tabarro (The Cloak) is a moody, macabre story of a spurned husband determined to discover the man who has seduced his wife away from him, and this is the night he finally learns who that man is. The second opera, Suor Angelica (Sister Angelique) is a frank tear-jerker about a young woman forced into a convent by her aristocratic family after she has given birth to a child out of wedlock. For seven years she has waited for news about him, and on this day, her prayers will be answered. The last opera, Gianni Schicchi, is a cynical comedy of greedy relatives who begin fighting over their dead uncle's will even while the body is still lying on its death-bed. Gianni Schicchi arrives to help them sort out the mess, and he teaches them a much-needed lesson in humility, securing a dowry for his daughter at the same time.