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Giuseppe Verdi - Stiffelio (2007) [DVD9 NTSC]
Actors: Placido Domingo, Sharon Sweet, Vladimir Chernov, Paul Plishka, James Levine
Directors: Brian Large
Writers: Giuseppe Verdi, Francesco Maria Piave
Producers: Giancarlo del Monaco, The Metropolitan Opera
Format: Multiple Formats, NTSC, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Subtitled
Language: Italian (Dolby Digital 5.1), Italian (DTS 5.1), Italian (PCM Stereo)
Subtitles: English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Chinese
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number of discs: 1
Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Deutsche Grammophon
DVD Release Date: July 10, 2007
Run Time: 116 minutes
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Stiffelio is a GREAT opera. Lost for close to a century, it has been slow in making its way into the standard repertoire, but productions such as this one should further its cause as well as its reputation. This is frankly one of the best opera productions I've ever seen. Every facet is top of the line, from the orchestra to the singers to the stage production to the video direction. Prepare to be overwhelmed. And, if you've never seen or heard Stiffelio before, prepare to welcome a new opera into the canon of Verdi masterpieces.
Stiffelio, about a Protestant minister who learns that his wife has cheated on him while he was away, has a story that is closer to verismo opera than most of the other operas of that time in that it deals with regular people rather than kings and queens, gods and goddesses. Like verismo, the emotion is often pushed to a level that is melodramatic, even larger than life. Yet even those moments have the core of truth to them, because Stiffelio's characters are never less, or more, than human, defined as they are by human weakness. This is a very powerful opera, Bergmanesque(as in Ingmar) in that it deals with the conflict between the spiritual life and the earthly one. This juxtaposition is never more beautifully realized than at the end of act two, where Stiffelio has just learned of his wife's indiscretion and is prepared to kill her but is stayed by the voices of the congregation emanating from the church, singing about forgiveness. I was overpowered, and I'm not even a religious person! Then again, neither was Verdi, yet the great humanist was able to put aside his anticlericalism and create an astonishing vision of a man finding redemption through faith. This has always been a Verdian specialty, scenes where private agonies clash with public responsibilities. Probably the greatest example comes late in act three of Otello, where Otello has just finished spying on Iago and Cassio and is tormented with jealousy and thoughts of violence just as the horns signal the approach of the heralds. Trust me when I say that the scene I just described from Stiffelio is in that same league.
The music of this opera, which was written between Luisa Miller and Rigoletto, shows the composer's progress. There is very little standard recitative, it's almost all through composed, with fewer arias and more concerted music than the norm, creating an undeviating dramatic flow. Many scenes show the richness in orchestration that would characterize his later operas. Also, this is one of the few Verdi operas where the tenor character is the most demanding role. The uniqueness of Stiffelio might tempt some to write it off as a curiosity, yet the power of the story and the passion of the music demand that it be taken seriously as one of Verdi's most beautifully realized triumphs.
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