The opera is based on Die Räuber by Friedrich von Schiller. The story tells of how the actions of the jealous Francesco have separated his father from his brother Carlo.
Director: Annalisa Buttò
Conductor: Nicola Luisotti
Stars: Giacomo Prestia, Aquiles Machado, Artur Rucinski, Lucrecia García, Walter Omaggio.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2665638/
11th Verdi opera.
Premiere 22 July 1847, Her Majesty's Theatre, London
Place: Germany
Time: between 1755 and 1757.
Filmed in Teatro di San Carlo, Naples.
The first singer is wearing a head mic, but we're hearing his voice from afar.
I really find the set wanting. I wonder if the difference between the forest clearing/empty lot where the bandits gather and the home of the leader's father (a castle in the original time setting) is really not better delineated onstage. Sometimes we get the full proscenium, and there are graphics far overhead. But as we're seeing it on TV, the only difference is the presence of a large leather wingback chair. Either this is a very poorly designed set, or poorly coordinated with the TV director.
The synopsis on Wikipedia states that when Francesco consults a priest about his nightmare, the scene ends with F. "rushes out, swearing that he will defy the very fires of Hell." In this production he butchers his abdomen with a dagger and dies.
The story is not bad until the very ugly ending (consistent with the synopsis.)
This is literally the only video of this opera I can find at Amazon, B&N, eBay, Google Shopping. (Audio, yes, dvd of the antecedent Schiller play, but no opera performance.)
The Great Course has a chapter title for this opera, but that chapter is really about Verdi re-connecting with Giuseppina, revolutions in Europe, and Verdi returning to Busseto with Giuseppina.
Per the 2012 featurette, without naming the source of world-wide most-performed rankings, this is 18th among Verdi's operas, 229th among all operas. (another source-less list of the top 100; Operabase Statistics)
Unitel, cond. Butto; 7-
