non più mesta

Oh my gosh I am so excited: my favorite favorite production of my favorite opera of all time is about to come out on DVD! It's already out in Europe! The opera is Rossini's Cenerentola - Cinderella, but with bracelets instead of glass slippers. The public TV station where I lived when I was little showed it once, in the early 80s; my parents taped it on our new VCR and I wore out the tape. Well, you can still watch it, but it's reeeeally blurry. The production starred Frederica von Stade, and it's just lovely...it was designed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle for the San Francisco Opera in the 1960s, then they made a more movie-like version at La Scala in Milan.

This was the production that hooked me on opera - I don't know what it would be like to see it for the first time now, but as a five-year-old, I was captivated. It shaped my taste - Frederica von Stade is my faaavorite singer, and this is my faaaaavorite opera, and I looooove Rossini...you get the idea. It's not a particular major Rossini opera. It doesn't get performed as often as, say, the Barber of Seville. But damn, I love it.

Oh yay. I'm so happy. Every few months I wander through the Amazons looking for it on DVD, but usually I just turn up the version with Cecilia Bartoli at Houston, which is fine, but all wrong. Amazon.de used to have the proper version on video, but that's no good. But then last night I went looking again, and there it was! only in German Amazon, but I googled around and found out it's supposed to come out in January in the U.S. I'm not sure I can wait, though - Martin is going to Prague in a few weeks, and I may have to send her with a shopping list.