Metalluk's Best Opera from Each Decade of the 20th-Century, on DVD
Jul 22 '09 (Updated Jul 28 '09)
The Bottom Line A list of my picks for the best opera from each decade of the 20th-century
Selection Guidelines: Many people are under the impression that opera effectively died out after Puccini's Turandot (1924). Then there's another group of music lovers who realize that it didn't but wish that it had! As a performance art, there is no doubt that opera is alive and well, in many parts of the world. If, however, you pose the question, "Is opera a living art or merely an appreciation for a big chunk of cultural heritage?" it turns out that the answer is not clear cut. My opinion, based on a review of the facts, is that the composition of new operas is not dead – but it's hospitalized and on life support!
To ascertain the status of opera as a living art, I compiled a list of 247 20th-century operas using a number of reference books. I took care to research the recent decades as thoroughly as the early ones. I then used a popular multi-vendor consumer site to determine which of these operas are available on DVD. As far as I can determine, there are a total of eighty-five different operas written in the 20th-centruy available on DVD, plus another seven from the 21st-century. These totals do not include "rock operas" or musicals. Since some 20th-century operas have more than one DVD recording, the total number of different DVD's of post-1899 operas would, of course, be greater than ninety-two. The distribution of the ninety-two DVD-recorded operas across the eleven decades since 1899 is far from uniform. There are 15 recorded operas from the 1900's decade; 11 from the 1910's; 12 from the 1920's; 11 from the 1930's; 10 from the 1940's; and 10 from the 1950's. From those six decades, there are 69 operas with DVD recordings or an average of 11.5 per decade.
Beginning with the 1960's, however, there is a dramatic drop-off in DVD-recorded operas. There are 5 from the 1960's; 3 from the 1970's; 4 from the 1980's; 4 from the 1990's; and 7 from the 2000's decade. From those five decades, there are a total of 23 operas with DVD recordings, for an average of 4.6 per decade. So, not only are 20th-century operas far less popular with audiences than those from the 19th-century, but the extent of drop-off in appeal is far greater for the last fifty years than the preceding fifty or sixty. Not only is opera in critical condition as a living art; it health status is declining sharply.
The modern opera composers best represented on DVD are Strauss and Britten, with nine operas each, followed by Puccini with six (20th-century ones only), Menotti and Janacek with five each, Prokofiev with four, Dun and Weill with three each, eight composers with two each, and thirty-two composers with one DVD-recorded opera.
During the 2009/10 season, the Metropolitan Opera in New York City will be performing twenty-six different operas: two from the classical period (both Mozart), fifteen from the 19th-century (nine Italian, six other nationalities), and nine from the 20th-century. That sounds rather broad-minded of the Met until you realize that six of the nine 20th-century operas being presented are by either Puccini or Strauss. Five of the nine are from the first two decades of the 20th-century. The other four date from between 1924 (Turandot) and 1935 (Lulu), with The Nose (1928) and From the House of the Dead (1930) falling in between. So, the most "contemporary" opera being performed next season by the Met is 74 years old! I don't mean that as criticism because the Met's selections pretty much reflect what their audiences want to see. If they were more daring, they'd have more empty seats. Clearing, there is a disconnect evident in the last 5-7 decades between what composers are writing and what audiences want to hear. Another interesting thing about the Met and most American opera houses is that there's no interest in music by native composers. Russian, German, French, and even English opera houses each give an extra degree of emphasis to their own nation's composers; American opera houses disregard native composers altogether.
Below are two lists. First is a list of my picks for the single best opera from each decade of the 20th-century. Obviously, the competition for that distinction is much tougher for the early decades than the later ones. Links are provided to my reviews for each of these operas. Second is a much longer list, suitable mainly only for opera connoisseurs, of all of the 20th-century operas that I was able to identify, with an indication as to the availability of that opera on DVD.
Note: The date listed for each opera is the year in which its composition was completed by the composer, if known. If the completion date was not available, the date is the year of the premiere performance.
My Pick for Best DVD-Recorded Opera from Each Decade of the 20th-Century:
1900's: Puccini: Madama Butterfly (1903)
Star Rating: * * * * *
Conductor: Maurizio Arena
Principal Vocalists: Raina Kavaivanska, Nazzareno Antinori, Eleonora Jankovic, Lorenzo Saccomani
Performance Year: 1983
Bottom-Line: In my opinion, this is the best currently available DVD version of Madama Butterfly. There's tough competition in the first decade of the 20th-century from the likes of Tosca (1900), Salome (1905), and Elektra (1908).
1910's: Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier (1911)
Star Rating: * * * * *
Conductor: Carlos Kleiber
Principal Vocalists: Gwyneth Jones, Brigitte Fassbaender, Lucia Popp, Manfred Jungwirth
Performance Year: 1979
Bottom-Line: This production of Der Rosenkavalier will quite simply blow you away with admiration. The sets are excellent and the cast is superlative. The competition for best opera in the second decade of the 20th-century comes most especially from Bluebeard's Castle (1911).
1920's: Puccini: Turandot (1924)
Star Rating: * * * * *
Conductor: James Levine
Principal Vocalists: Plácido Domingo, Éva Marton, Leona Mitchell, Paul Plishka
Performance Year: 1988
Bottom-Line: This recording is altogether as fine a piece of work as you'll ever discover when it comes to filmed versions of operas. It's one of the most spectacular operas, here given a staging that is equal to the sublime majesty of the music. The principals seem to have been born for their parts, especially Éva Marton, Plácido Domingo, and Leona Mitchell. The top 1920's competition includes Wozzeck (1921), Szymanowski's King Roger (1926) (not available on DVD), and Three-Penny Opera (1929).
1930's: Berg: Lulu (1935)
Star Rating: * * * * *
Conductor: Andrew Davis
Principal Vocalists: Christine Schäfer, Kathryn Harries, Wolfgand Schöne, David Kuebler, Stephan Drakulic
Performance Year: 1996
Bottom-Line: This recording won the 1997 U.K. Grammophon Award for Best Video and it's easy to see why. Lulu, an amazing opera, is given a powerful performance and staging in this Glyndebourne Festival production. The top competitors from the thirties were Lady Macbeth of Mzensk (1932) and Riders to the Sea (1937).
1940's: Prokofiev: War and Peace (1942)
Star Rating: * * * * *
Conductor: Gary Bertini
Principal Vocalists: Olga Guryakova, Nathan Gunn, Robert Brubaker, Elena Obratsova, Vassili Gerello
Performance Year: 2000
Bottom-Line: The story per-se is better told in the wonderful movie version of War and Peace, but Prokofiev's music adds an entirely new dimension to the beauty of the overall experience. The choral segments that close each act create fitting and moving conclusions. The cast is superlative and deep, all the way down to the many minor parts. This is a stunning performance from beginning to end. Runner-up for the 1940's would have to be Peter Grimes (1944).
1950's: Poulenc: Dialogues des Carmelites (1956)
Star Rating: * * * * *
Conductor: Jan Latham-Koenig
Principal Vocalists: Anne-Sophie Schmidt, Hedwig Fassbender, Patricia Petibon, Nadine Denize
Performance Year: 1999
Bottom-Line: Although this opera tells a story that is inherently dramatic, it deals primarily with intimate dialogues among the major characters concerning attitudes towards death and fear of dying. It is therefore heavy subject matter and requires a great deal of concentration to extract value from the opera, other than as a build-up to the final dramatic episode. The opera is rooted in Poulenc's Catholicism yet it strikes me as less an advertisement for the value of faith than a study of the range of neurotic views we humans harbor in relation to death and dying. Musically, this opera is a masterpiece.
1960's Shostakovich: Katerina Izmailova (1963)
Star Rating: * * * *
Conductor: Konstantin Simeonov
Principal Vocalists: Galina Vishnevskaya, Vladislav Tretyak, Ismailov Radziyevsky, Alexander Vedernikov
Performance Year: 1966
Bottom-Line: This film was famous when it was made in 1966, but this restored DVD version extended its availability for the first time outside of Russia. Galina Vishnevskaya, singing and performing the lead role, is magnificent. My runner-up choice for the sixties would be The Devils of Loudun (1969).
1970's: Britten: Owen Wingrave (1970)
Star Rating: * * * *
Conductor: Benjamin Britten
Principal Vocalists: Benjamin Luxon, John Shirley-Quirk, Heather Harper, Janet Baker, Peter Pears
Performance Year: 1970
Bottom-Line: This made-for-television opera has an anti-war message that is as apt today as it was in 1970 or in the Victorian era in which the story was set. The drama is strong and all the more so because of the ability to capitalize on the advantages of cinematographic and editing techniques available when operas are filmed for television or the big screen. Britten's score is well-designed to highlight the dramatic elements but not especially memorable after the film has concluded. In most respects, the music is more reminiscent of an effective film score than grand opera.
1980's: Messiaen: Saint François d'Assise (1983)
Star Rating: * * *
Conductor: Ingo Metzmacher
Principal Vocalists: Rod Gilfry, Henk Neven, Tom Randle, Donald Kaasch, Armand Arapian, Camilla Tilling
Performance Year: 2008
Bottom-Line: The script is devoid of drama and jam-packed with religiosity. Messiaen's brilliant orchestral coloring and harmonic innovations are there, but the orchestra music is badly fragmented by plodding, uninflected, and inane vocal lines, much of the time. The music only truly soars during a few extended orchestral or choral passages, when uninterrupted by the soloists. The competition in the eighties was so weak that this 3-star opera wins hands-down.
1990's: Dun: Marco Polo (1995)
Star Rating: * * * * *
Conductor: Tan Dun
Principal Vocalists: Sarah Castle, Charles Workman, Zhang Jun, Nancy Allen Lundy, Stephen Richardson, Tania Kross, Stephen Bryant
Performance Year: 2008
Bottom-Line: Marco Polo has had remarkable success for a contemporary opera, appearing in opera houses worldwide and winning the Grawemeyer Award, making Dun the youngest person ever to receive that honor. This opera is something of a testament to globalization, with its remarkable synthesis of Western and Eastern arts. It's as visually spectacular as it is sonorously magnificent. The opera's only shortcoming is that it attempts too much and really doesn't quite manage to pull it all off successfully. Most viewers are likely to walk away feeling that Marco Polo was an extraordinary audiovisual synthesis, but will be left wondering what it was precisely that they experienced.
Bonus: 1st Decade of 21st-Century:
2000's Saariaho: L'Amour de Loin (2000)
Star Rating: * * * * *
Conductor: Esa-Pekka Salonen
Principal Vocalists: Gerald Finley, Dawn Upshaw, Monica Groop
Performance Year: 2004
Bottom-Line: This recording won a Grawemeyer Award for its excellence. It is an utterly mesmerizing and riveting work, both musically and as poetic expression. Saariaho is one of the few contemporary composers who is uniformly admired by critics and audiences alike. I highly recommend this work to any readers interested in contemporary music that is simultaneously accessible and profound. Best competitors in the first decade of the new millennium include Adam's Doctor Atomic (2003) and Dun's The First Emperor (2006).
Addendum: Operas of the 20th-Century:
Puccini: Tosca (1900) DVD
Charpentier: Louisa (1900)
Dvorak: Rusalka (1900) DVD
Fauré: Prométhée (1900)
Delius: A Village Romeo and Juliet (1901) DVD
Debussy: Pelleas et Melisande (1902) DVD
Cilea: Adriana Lecourvreur (1902) DVD
Massenet: Le Jongleur de Notre-Dame (1902)
Janacek: Jenufa (1903) DVD
Puccini: Madame Butterfly (1903) DVD
Wolf-Ferrari: The Inquisitive Woman (1903)
Zardonai: Francesca da Rimini (1904) DVD
Massenet: Cherubin (1905) DVD
Falla: La Viva Breve (1905)
Strauss: Salome (1905) DVD
Rachmaninoff: The Miserly Knight (1905) DVD
Janacek: Osud (Fate) (1906)
Wolf-Ferrari: The Four Ruffians (1906)
Nielsen: Maskarade (1906) DVD
Dukas: Ariadne and Bluebeard (1907)
Ravel: L'Heure Espanole (1907) DVD
Rimsky-Korsakov: Le Coq d'Or (1907) DVD
Strauss: Elektra (1908) DVD
Wolf-Ferrari: Le Segreto de Susanna (1909)
Puccini: Fanciulla del West (1910) DVD
Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier (1910) DVD
Joplin: Treemonisha (1910)
Bartok: Bluebeard's Castle (1911) DVD
Wolf-Ferrari: Jewels of the Madonna (1911)
Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos (1912) DVD
Schreker: Der Ferne Klang (1912)
Montemezzi: L'Amore del Tre Re (1913)
Stravinsky: Le Rossignol (1914)
Milhaud: The Libation Bearers (1915)
Massenet: Cléopâtre (1915) DVD
Holst: Savitri (1916)
Pfitzner: Palestrina (1917)
Puccini: La Rondine (1917) DVD
Prokofiev: The Gambler (1917/29) DVDƒn ƒn
Puccini: Il Trittico (1918) DVD
Schreker: Die Gezeichneten (1918) DVD
Stravinsky: L'Histoire du Soldat (1918)
Strauss, R.: Die Frau Ohne Schatten (1919) DVD
Prokofiev: Love for Three Oranges (1919) DVD
Korngold: Die tote Stadt (1920) DVD
Janacek: The Excursions of Mr. Broucek (1920)
Berg: Wozzeck (1921) DVD
Janacek: Katya Kabanova (1921) DVD
Gershwin: Blue Monday (1922)
Stravinsky: Mavra (1922) ƒn
Janacek: The Cunning Little Vixen (1923) DVD ƒn
Strauss, R.: Intermezzo (1923) DVD
Busoni: Doktor Faust (1924) DVD
Puccini: Turandot (1924) DVD
Schoenberg: Die Gluekliche Hand (1924)
Kodaly: Hary Janos (1925)
Ravel: L'Enfant et les Sortileges (1925) DVD
Janacek: The Makropulos Case (1925) DVD
Hindemith: Cardillac (1926) DVD
Krenek: Johnny Strike Up the Band (1926)
Milhaud: The Poor Sailor (1926)
Szymanowski: King Roger (1926)
Weinberger: Schwanda der Dudelsackpfeifer (1927)
Taylor: The King's Henchmen (1926)
Pizzetti: Fra Gherardo (1927)
Stravinsky: Oedipus Rex (1927) (opera-oratorio) DVDƒn
Strauss: The Egyptian Helena (1928)
Milhaud: Christophe Colomb (1928)
Shostakovich: The Nose (1928)
Thomson: Four Saints in Three Acts (1928)
Weill: Three-Penny Opera (1929) DVD
Canteloube: Le Mas (1929)
Janacek: House of the Dead (1930) DVD ƒn ƒn
Strauss: Arabella (1930) DVD
Weill: Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (1930) DVD
Wolf-Ferrari: The Cunning Widow (1931) DVD
Gruenberg: Emperor Jones (1932)
Schoenberg: Moses and Aron (1932) DVD
Shostakovich: Lady Macbeth of Mzensk (1932) DVDƒn
Hanson: Merry Mount (1933)
Hindemith: Mathis der Maler (1934)
Menotti: Amelia Goes to the Ball (1934)
Berg: Lulu (1935) DVD
Blitzstein: The Cradle Will Rock (1935)
Gershwin: Porgy and Bess (1935) DVD
Alfano: Cyrano de Bergerac (1936) DVD
Vaughan Williams: Riders to the Sea (1937) DVD
Moore: The Devil and Daniel Webster (1938)
Strauss, R.: Friedenstag (1938)
Strauss, R.: Daphne (1938) DVD
Orff: Der Mond (1938/45)
Menotti: Old Maid and the Thief (1939)
Prokofiev: Betrothal in a Monastery (1940) DVD ƒn
Prokofiev: War and Peace (1941/2) DVD ƒn ƒn
Britten: Paul Bunyan (1941)
Strauss, R.: Capriccio (1942) DVD
Orff: Die Kluge (1943)
Britten: Peter Grimes (1944) DVD
Menotti: The Medium (1945) DVD
Britten: Rape of Lucretia (1946) DVDƒn ƒn
Menotti: The Telephone (1946) DVD
Weill: Street Scene (1946) DVD
Britten: Albert Herring (1947) DVD
Einem: Danton's Death (1947)
Francaix: L'apostrophe (1947)
Sessions: Trial of Lucullus (1947)
Thomson: The Mother of Us All (1947)
Weill: Down in the Valley (1947)
Poulenc: Les Mamelles de Tirésias (1947)
Dallapiccola: Il Prigioniero (1948)
Prokofiev: Story of a Real Man (1948)
Bliss: Olympians (1949)
Blitzstein: Regina (1949)
Menotti: The Consul (1949) DVD
Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress (1950) DVDƒn ƒn
Hindemith: Harmony of the World (1950
Britten: Billy Budd (1951) DVD
Menotti: Amahl and the Night Visitors (1951) DVDƒn
Bernstein: Trouble in Tahiti (1952) DVD
Henze: Boulevard Solitude (1952)
Struass, R.: Die Liebe der Danae (1952)
Blacher: Abstract Opera No. 1 (1953)
Einem: The Trial (1953)
Britten: Gloriana (1953) DVD
Henze: The Stag King (1953)
Liebermann: Lenora 40/45 (1953)
Britten: Turn of the Screw (1954) DVD ƒn
Copland: The Tenderland (1954)
Floyd: Susannah (1954)
Liebermann: Penelope (1954)
Menotti: The Saint of Bleecker Street (1954)
Milhaud: David (1954)
Foss: Griffelkin (1955)
Martin: The Tempest (1955)
Tippett: Midsummer Marriage (1955)
Moore: The Ballad of Baby Doe (1955)
Poulenc: Dialogues des Carmelites (1956) DVDƒn
Eck: The Inspector General (1957)
Fortner: Bluthochzeit (1957) DVD
Floyd: Wuthering Heights (1958)
Barber: Vanessa (1958)
Britten: Noye's Fludde (1958)
Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Merchant of Venice (1958)
Dello Joio: Triumph of Saint Joan (1958)
Menotti: Maria Golovia (1958)
Pizzetti: Murder in the Cathedral (1958) DVDƒn
Poulenc: Le Voix humaine (1959) DVD
Henze: Prince of Hamburg (1960)
Britten: Midsummer Night's Dream (1960) DVD ƒn
Moore: Wings of the Dove (1961)
Henze: Elegy for Young Lovers (1961)
Ward: The Crucible (1961)
Floyd: Passion of Jonathan Wade (1962)
Tippett: King Priam (1962) DVD
Sessions: Montezuma (1962)
Shostakovich: Katerina Izmailova (1963) DVD (Lady Macbeth revision)
Menotti: Labyrinth (1963)
Menotti: The Last Savage (1963)
Ginastera: Don Rodrigo (1964)
Menotti: Martin's Lie (1964)
Britten: Curlew River (1964)
Zimmermann: Die Soldaten (1965)
Beeson: Lizzie Borden (1965)
Rorem: Miss Julie (1965)
Crosse: Purgatory (1966)
Barber: Anthony and Cleopatra (1966)
Henze: The Bassarids (1966)
Schuller: The Visitation (1966)
Britten: The Burning Fiery Furnace (1966)
Ginastera: Bomarzo (1967)
Walton: The Bear (1967
Birtwhistle: Punch and Judy (1968)
Dallapiccola: Ulisse (1968)
Britten: The Prodigal Son (1968)
Menotti: Help! Help! The Globolinks! (1968) DVDƒn
Bennett: All the King's Men (1969)
Penderecki: The Devils of Loudun (1969) DVD ƒn
Floyd: Of Mice and Men (1970)
Tippett: The Knot Garden (1970)
Argento: Postcard from Morocco (1971)
Britten: Owen Wingrave (1971) DVD
Villa Lobos: Yerma(1971)
Maxwell Davies: Tavener (1972)
Britten: Death in Venice (1973) DVD
Musgrave: The Voice of Ariadne (1974)
Tansman: Georges Dandin (1974)
Beeson: Captain Jinks and the Horse Marines (1975)
Ullmann: Der Kaiser von Atlantis (1975)
Glass: Einstein on the Beach (1976)
Schedrin: Dead Souls (1977)
Alwyn: Miss Julie (1977)
Ligeti: Le Grand Macabre (1978)
Penderecki: Paradise Lost (1978)
Glass: Satyagraha (1979) DVD
Tavener: Thérèse (1979)
Sondheim: Sweeney Todd (1979)
Maxwell Davies: The Lighthouse (1980)
Knussen: Where the Wild Things Are (1980) DVD
Stockhausen: Donnerstag aus Licht (1981)
Hamilton: Anna Karenina (1981)
Berio: La vera storia (1982)
Musgrave: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
Messiaen: Saint Françoise d'Assise (1983) DVD
Glass: Akbnaten (1984)
Stockhausen: Samstag aus Licht (1984)
Knussen: Higgelty Piggelty Pop! (1984)
Osborne: Hell's Angels (1986)
Birtwhistle: Mask of Orpheus (1986)
Penderecki: Die schwarze Maske (1986)
Menotti: Goya (1986)
Adams: Nixon in China (1987)
Weir: A Night at the Chinese Opera (1987)
Turnage: Greek (1988) DVD
Maxwell Davies (1988)
Blake: The Plumber's Gift (1989)
Einem: Tulifant (1990)
Halloway: Clarissa (1990)
Adams: The Death of Klinghoffer (1991) DVD ƒn
Birtwhistle: Gawain (1991)
Penderecki: Ubu Rex (1991)
Corigliano: The Ghosts of Versailles (1991)
Glass: The Voyage (1992)
Tavener: Mary of Egypt (1992)
Sallinen: The Palace (1993) DVD
Schedrin: Lolita (1994)
Adès: Powder Her Face (1995) DVD
Dun: Marco Polo (1995) DVD
Schnittke: Gesualdo (1995)
Musgrave: Simon Bolivar (1995)
Picker: Emmeline (1996)
Henze: Venus and Adonis (1997)
Adamo: Little Women (1998)
Mollicone: Coyote Tales (1998)
Harbison: The Great Gatsby (1999)
Saariaho: L'Amour de Loin (2000) DVD
Ruders: The Handmaid's Tale (2000)
Turnage: The Silver Tassie (2000)
Birtwhistle: The Last Supper (2000)
Sallinen: King Lear (2000)
Adams: El Nino (2000)
Mau: Sophie's Choice (2002)
Adams: Doctor Atomic (2003) DVD
Rautavaara: Rasputin (2003) DVD
Henze: L'Upupa und der Triumph Sohnesliebe (2003) DVD
Dun: The First Emperor (2006) DVD
Dun: Tea: A Mirror of Soul (2008) DVD ƒn
Birtwhistle: The Minotaur (2008) DVD
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You can easily access my other opera reviews using the following lists:
Top-Twelve Film Versions of Operas
Metalluk's Twenty Best Pre-Romantic (Baroque & Classicism) Operas, on DVD
Metalluk's Twenty-five Best Italian Romantic Period Operas, on DVD
Metalluk's Twenty Best Non-Italian Romantic Period Operas, on DVD
Metalluk's Thirty Best Operas of the 20th-Century, on DVD
Metalluk's Best Opera from Each Decade of the 20th-Century, on DVD
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