The opera was based on the play Kabale und Liebe by Friedrich von Schiller.
Director: Andrea Dorigo
Conductor: Donato Renzetti
Stars: Fiorenza Cedolins, Francesca Franci, Leo Nucci, Rafal Siwek, Giorgio Surjan, Marcelo Álvarez.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2812316/
14th Verdi opera.
Premiere 1849, Teatro San Carlo, Naples
Time: Early 17th Century
Place: The Tyrol
Filmed at Teatro Regio di Parma
Nothing fancy here. To distinguish Miller's life with Count Walter's, they get extreme, making Miller's walls out of bare distressed planks, and Walter's from white geometric segments. What little furniture each has is appropriately shabby or swank. The costumes are iffy as to era, and the women's hair was too modern, but I liked the all-white costumes at Walter's party.
This has 2 oft-filmed singers: Nucci and Alvarez as Miller and Rodolfo, but Cedolins as Luisa got the star bow and at least as much noise as the other 2. With the TV closeups, she was really too old for the role.
The Great Course plays some of the music, and connects the father/son relationship with (future) Traviata, the father/daughter relationship with (future) Rigoletto.
Per the 2012 featurette, without naming the source of world-wide most-performed rankings, this is 13th among Verdi's operas, 112nd among all operas. (another source-less list of the top 100; Operabase Statistics)
Unitel, cond. Renzetti; 7+
