Korngold: Die tote Stadt

Excellent German TV production of Erich Wolfgang Korngold's unjustly forgotten opera...
Korngold's once phenomenally successful opera, first performed simultaneously in the German cities of Hamburg and Cologne in 1920 when the composer was only 23 years old, is vividly brought to life in this superior German TV production, which was produced in 1983 by the Deutsche Oper Berlin opera company and was partly responsible for the gradual rehabilitation of this three-act opera in the European repertoire in recent times.

Freely adapted from Georges Rodenbach's 1892 novel "Bruges-la-Morte" by Erich and his father Julius (under the pen name "Paul Schott"), the story of DIE TOTE STADT is simple: Paul (played by the late tenor James King, who resembles 1940s Belgian-born actor Victor Francen with his thin mustache), mourning over the loss of his beautiful blonde wife Marie in the Belgian city of Bruges, is ecstatic to encounter her exact double one day, the flirtatious opera dancer Marietta (played by soprano Karan Armstrong, who resembles a curvaceous and strawberry...

Incorrectly posted reviews
Readers, beware. At the time of my posting, only two of the 29 customer reviews posted here actually applied to this item, which is the Deutsche Oper Berlin 1983 production starring Karan Armstrong and James King, NOT the bizarre Opera National du Rhin 2001 production starring Angele Denoke and Torsten Kerl addressed in the other 27 reviews. Someone needs to be more careful about cross-referencing reviews of similarly titled items.

NOT a TV production and NOT by Brian Large. But a MUST-HAVE!
I agree, it's a great production and a must-have. However, this is NOT a TV production. It was a production created at the Deutsche Oper, it became part of its (at the time) vast repertoire (in those days, the Deutsche Oper presented more than 50 different operas per season), it was performed many times in Berlin before it was rented to the Vienna Staatsoper. So what you see in this DVD is actually a filmed stage performance that was at the time broadcast on German TV. More importantly, the previous reviewer says Brian Large directed this production. Brian Large, however, is not a stage director, but a video director. Claiming he did this production is like saying he did the legendary Bayreuth Chereau-"Ring" (for which he also directed and edited the camera work at the filming). This "Tote Stadt" was directed by Götz Friedrich, Karan Armstrong's husband and at the time the General Manager of the Deutsche Oper. Friedrich was one of the major figures of the early Regietheater...

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