Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville Titon et l’Aurore (Tithonus and Aurora) opera to a libretto by Claude-Henri de Fusée. Directed 2021 by Basil Twist at the Opéra Comique in Paris. Stars Reinoud Van Mechelen (Titon), Gwendoline Blondeel (L’Aurore), Emmanuelle de Negri (Palès), Marc Mauillon (Éole), Julie Roset (Amour), Renato Dolcini (Prométhéé) as well as Virginie Thomas, Maud Gnidzaz, and Juliette Perret (Nymphes). William Christie conducts Les Arts Florissants. Set and puppet design by Basil Twist; video design by Daniel Brodie; lighting design by Jean Kalman. Directed for TV by François Roussillon. Sung in French. Released 2021, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: B+

When Italian singers in 1752 got a hit staging Pergolesi’s La serva padrona in Paris, the War of the Clowns broke out. The French counterattack was Mondonville’s Titon et l’Aurore. It premiered in Paris in 1753 (the year George Washington turned 21). The audience was mostly French soldiers. They packed the best seats to defend the local performers from partisans of Italian opera, who were forced into the upper galleries . . .

Stefano Landi La morte d’Orfeo opera to a libretto by an anonymous author. Directed 2018 by Pierre Audi at the Muziekgebouw, Amsterdam. Stars Cecilia Molinari (Teti/Nisa/Lincastro/Euridice/Euretti), Renato Dolcini (Fato/Fileno), Alexander Miminoshvili (Ebro/Giove), Gaia Petrone (Aurora/Fosforo), Rosina Fabius (Euretti), Juan Francisco Gatell (Orfeo), Kacper Szelążek (Mercurio/Bacco), Emiliano Gonzales Toro (Ireno/Apolline), Salvo Vitale (Furore/Caronte), and Magdalena Puta (Calliope/Euretti). Christophe Rousset conducts Les Talens Lyriques. Set design by Christof Hetzer; costume design by Robby Duiveman; lighting design by Bernd Purkrabek; dramaturgy by Klaus Bertisch. Directed for TV by Misjel Vermeiren. Sung in Italian. Released 2020, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A+

Landi’s La morte d’Orfeo was first performed in 1619, just 12 years after Monteverdi composed his L’Orfeo. Landi takes up the story where Monteverdi left off with Orfeo mourning the second death of his wife . . .

Emilio de’ Cavalieri Rappresentatione di Anima et di Corpo (Portrayal of the Soul and the Body) opera to libretto by Agostino Manni. First performed in 1600, Cavalieri believed this to be the first opera. Directed 2021 by Robert Carson at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna, Austria. Stars Georg Nigl (Time/The World/Damned Soul), Cyril Auvity (Intellect), Anett Fritsch (The Soul), Daniel Schmutzhard (The Body), Florian Boesch (Councilor), Margherita Maria Sala (Peace), Michal Marhold and Matus Simko (Companions of Peace), Carlo Vistoli (Guardian Angel), Giuseppina Bridelli (Mundane Life/Blessed Soul). Giovanni Antonini conducts the Arnold Schoenberg and Il Giardino Armonico. Sets by Robert Carson and Luis Carvalho; costumes by Luis Carvalho; lighting by Robert Carsen and Peter van Praet; choreography by Lonera Randi; dramaturgy by Ian Burton. Directed for TV by Paul Landsmann and Peter Landsmann. Sung in Italian. Released 2023, disc has stereo sound only. Grade: NA

Experts today argue whether Cavalieri wrote an oratorio or an opera. And if it’s an opera, was he the the first as he claimed? Well, he was for sure around at the beginning. The music is available in CDs. There are a surprisingly large number of streamed videos of this music on YouTube and other Internet providers including what appears to be a full version of the music by Il Giardino Armonico. But Carsen is the first to produce a video of this music performed as an opera published in Blu-ray for home theaters . . .

Wagner Der Ring des Nibelungen opera cycle directed by Stefan Herheim in 2021 at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Sir Donald Runnicles directs the Orchestra and Chorus of the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Set designs by Silke Bauer and Stefan Herheim; costumes by Uta Heiseke; lighting by Ulrich Niepel; video projections by Torge Moller, William Duke, and Dan Trenchard; dramaturgy by Alexander Meier-Dörzenbach and Jörg Königsdorf. Directed for TV by Götz Filenius. Sung in German. Released 2020, this is a box set of 4 Blu-ray discs with the entirety of the Ring and extras. Grade: D

See the artwork for the back of the box set above for some additional information (this is a cropped image from the DVD box, but the information will be the same for the Blu-ray box).

Preliminary reports about this project suggest that Deutsche Oper Berlin did not have the valkyriepower to pull this off. The marketing of this by Naxos and the vendors is as atrocious as anything I have seen . . .

Monteverdi L'Orfeo opera to a libretto by Alessandro Striggio. Directed 2021 by Pauline Bayle at the Opéra Comique in Paris. Stars Luciana Mancini (La Musica / Euridice), Marc Mauillon (Orfeo), Sara Mingardo (Messaggiera), FMarianne Beate Kielland (Speranza / Proserpina), Furio Zanasi (Apollo), and Salvo Vitale (Caronte / Plutone). Jordi Savall conducts La Capella Reial de Catalunya and Le Concert des Nations. Set design by Emmanuel Clolus; costume design by Bernadette Villard; lighting design by Pacal Noel. Directed for TV by François Roussillon. Sung in Italian. Released 2022, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

Francesco Cilea Adriana Lecouvreur opera to libretto by Arturo Colautti. Directed 2021 by Frederic Wake-Walker at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Stars Martin Muehle (Maurizio), Alessandro Spina (Prince de Bouillon), Paolo Antognetti (Abbé de Chazeuil), Nicola Alaimo (Michonnet), Davide Piva (Quinault), Antonio Garés (Poisson), Michele Gianquinto (Major-domo), Maria José Siri (Adriana Lecouvreur), Ksenia Dudnikova (Princess de Bouillon), Chiara Mogini (Mademoiselle Jouvenot), and Valentina Corò (Mademoiselle Dangeville). Also stars dancers Anna Olkhovaya, Chiara Ferrara, Erika Rombaldoni, Giulia Mostacchi, Sebastiano Marino, and Matteo Zorzoli. Daniel Harding conducts the Orchestra e Coro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Set design by Polina Liefers; costume design by Julia Katharina Berndt; lighting design by Marco Faustini; choreography Anna Olkhovaya. Directed for TV by Tiziano Mancini. Sung in Italian. Released in 2022, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

Rimsky-Korsakov The Golden Cockerel (Le coq d’or) opera to a libretto by Vladimir Belsky. Directed 2021 by Barry Kosky at the Opéra National de Lyon. Stars Dmitry Ulyanov (Tsar Dodon), Nina Minasyan (The Queen of Shemakha), Andrey Popov (The Astrologer), Margarita Nekrasova (Amelfa), and Mischa Schelomianski (General Polkin). Daniele Rustioni conducts the Orchestre et Chœurs de l’Opéra National de Lyon. Set design by Rufus Didwiszus; costume design by Victoria Behr; lighting design by Frank Evin; choreography by Otto Pichler; dramaturgy by Olaf A. Schmitt. Directed for TV by François Roussillon. Sung in Russian. Released in 2022, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

Mieczysław Weinberg The Passenger (German: Die Passagierin) opera to libretto by Alexander Medvedev after a novel of the same name published in 1962 by concentration camp survivor Zofia Posmysz. Directed 2021 by Nadja Loschky at the Oper Graz, Austria. Stars Dshamilja Kaiser (Lisa), Will Hartmann (Walter), Nadja Stefanoff (Marta), and Markus Butter (Tadeusz). Roland Klutting conducts the Grazer Philharmoniker and the Chor der Oper Graz (Chorus Master Bernhard Schneider). Set design by Etienne Pluss; costume design by Irina Spreckelmeyer; lighting design by Sebastian Alphons; dramaturgy by Marlene Hahn and Yvonne Gebauer; video by Christian Weißenberger. Directed for TV by Alex Stummer. Sung in German, Polish, French, Czech, Yiddish, Russian, and English. Released 2022, disc has 5.1 Dolby Digital sound. Grade: NA

Mozart Così fan tutte opera to libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Directed 2021 by Sven-Eric Bechtolf at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Stars Valentina Nafornița (Fiordiligi), Vasilisa Berzhanskaya (Dorabella), Benedetta Torre (Despina), Mattia Olivieri (Guglielmo), Matthew Swensen (Ferrando), and Thomas Hampson (Don Alfonso). Zubin Mehta conducts the Orchestra e Coro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Set design by Julian Crouch; costume design by Kevin Pollard; lighting design by Alex Brok; video by Josh Higgason. Directed for TV by Tiziano Mancini. Sung in Italian. Released 2022, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

Benet Casablancas L’Enigma di Lea opera to a libretto by Rafael Argullol. Directed 2019 by Carme Portaceli at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. Stars Allison Cook (Lea), José Antonio López (Ram), Sara Blanch (Primera dama de la frontera), Anaïs Masllorens (Segunda dama de la frontera), Marta Infante (Tercera dama de la frontera), Sonia de Munck (Millebocche), Felipe Bou (Milleocchi), Xavier Sabata (Dr. Schicksal), David Alegret (Michele), Antonio Lozano (Lorenzo), and Juan Noval-Moro (Augusta). Josep Pons conducts the Symphony Orchestra and Chorus of the Gran Teatre del Liceu. Choreography by Ferran Carvajal; set design by Paco Azorín; costume design by Antonio Belart; lighting design by Ignasi Camprodon; video design by Miquel Àngel Raió. Directed for TV by Pep Hernández. Sung in Italian and Catalan. Released 2022, disc has PCM stereo sound. Grade: NA

Paul Hindemith Mathis der Maler opera to a libretto by the composer. Directed 2012 by Keith Warner at the Theater an der Wien. Stars Wolfgang Koch (Mathis), Kurt Streit (Albrecht von Brandenburg), Franz Grundheber (Riedinger), Manuela Uhl (Ursula), Raymond Very (Hans Schwalb), Katerina Tretyakova (Regina), Martin Snell (Lorenz von Pommersfelden), Charles Reid (Wolfgang Capito), Oliver Ringelhahn (Sylverster von Schaumberg), Ben Connor (Truchseß von Waldburg), Andrew Owens (Helfenstein’s Piper), and Magdalena Anna Hofmann (Countess Helfenstein). Bertrand de Billy conducts the Wiener Symphoniker and the Slovak Philharmonic Choir (Chorus Master Blanka Juhaňáková). Set design by Johan Engels; costume design by Emma Ryott; lighting design by Mark Jonathan. Directed for TV by Peter Landsmann and Paul Landsmann. Sung in German. Released 2021, disc has PCM stereo sound. Grade: NA

This is an older video and only has stereo sound. But I decided not to exclude it. I’ll take a chance. This is the only video recording devoted 100% to Hindemith. The production back in 2012 and the Blu-ray have gotten good reviews. Although he is now neglected as composer, Hindemith was an important intellectual who resisted the Nazis in Germany. Finally, this opera was inspired by the astonishing Isenheim Alter by Mathis Grünewald (1470-1528). So this gives me a chance to do a tie-in to images of great painting! Irresistible!

Rameau Hippolyte et Aricie opera to a libretto by Simon-Joseph Pellegrin. Directed 2020 by Jeanne Candel at the Opéra Comique. Stars Reinoud Van Mechelen (Hippolyte), Elsa Benoit (Aricie), Sylvie Brunet-Grupposo (Phèdre), Stéphane Degout (Thésée), Séraphine Cotrez (Œnone), Arnaud Richard (Neptune / Pluton), Eugénie Lefebvre (Diane), Lea Desandre (Prêtresse de Diane / Chasseresse / Matelote / Bergère), Edwin Fardini (Tisiphone), Guillaume Gutierrez (Mercury), Constantin Goubet (First Fate), Martial Pauliat (Second Fate/Arcas), and Virgile Ancely (Third Fate). Raphaël Pichon conducts the Pygmalion Chorus and Orchestra. Dramaturgy and direction of actors by Lionel Gonzalez; set design by Lisa Navarro; costume design by Pauline Kieffer; lighting design by César Godefroy; movement collaborator was Yannick Bosc. Directed for TV by François Roussillon. Sung in French. Released 2021, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

The only review I found (October 2021) about this show (recorded during the pandemic with no audience) was . . .