Opera (romantic comedy) in 3 acts
Libretto: Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears [Based: William Shakespeare's play]
First performance: between 1595 and 1596
Recorded: 1981, Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Tytania - Ileana Cotrubas
Oberon - James Bowman
Bottom - Curt Appelgren
Hermia - Cynthia Buchan
Lysander - Ryland Davies
Demetrius - Dale Duesing
Helena - Felicity Lott
Quince - Robert Bryson
Snug - Andrew Gallagher
Starveling - Donald Bell
Flute - Patrick Power
Snout - Adrian Thompson
Theseus - Lieuwe Visser
Hippolyta - Claire Powell
Puck - Damien Nash
Glyndebourne's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream is pure magic. Brillantly adapted from Shakespear's play, the opera follows the adventures of four lovers and a group of naive rustics who, in a wood on a moonstruck midsummer night, fall foul of Oberon and Tytania, the quarrelling king and queen of the fairies. In Hall's remarkable staging the very wood comes alive as logs and trees move a rustle, creating ambiguous silhouettes in the dark mysterious woodland, lit only by designer John Bury's wonderful rising sun and moon.
A Midsummer Night's Dream Op. 64
01 Over Hill, Over Dale (1. Akt)
02 How Now My Love?
03 Be It On Lion, Bear Or Wolf
04 Is All Our Company Here?
05 Fair Love, You Faint With Wandering
06 Stay, Though Thou Kill Me
07 Come, Now A Roundel
08 Are We All Met? (2. Akt)
09 What Angel Wakes Me
10 How Now, Mad Spirit
11 Flower Of This Purple Dye
12 This Is Thy Negligence
13 My Gentle Robin (3. Akt)
14 Helena!
15 When My Cue Comes
16 Now Fair Hippolyta
17 If We Offend
18 Now The Hungry Lion Roars
19 Closing Credits (Abspann) |
[ NTSC ] (???)