A documentary series about the great tenors and bel canto singing in the first half of the 20th century by Jan Schmidt-Garre
With the development of sound film in the 1920s and 30s, the great tenors, such as Beniamino Gigli, Richard Tauber and Lauritz Melchior, became movie stars. Countless “singer movies” were made, but great vocal performances were also captured in documentaries and privately made movies. Using a wealth of rare restored material, this thirteen-part documentary series presents the great tenors from Enrico Caruso to Jussi Björling, and together with comprehensive essays, offers a deep and inspiring insight into the art of bel canto.
Bel Canto – The Tenors of the 78 Era series was broadcast in thirty countries and awarded at the Columbus International Film Festival and at Classique en Images at the Louvre.
BLU-RAY 1 - Part I
Enrico Caruso (1873–1921), John McCormack (1884–1945), Leo Slezak (1873–1946), Tito Schipa (1889–1965), Richard Tauber (1891–1948), Dialogue with Eternity
BLU-RAY 2 - Part II
Lauritz Melchior (1890–1973), Beniamino Gigli (1890–1957), Georges Thill (1897–1984), Helge Rosvænge (1897–1972), Ivan Kozlovsky (1900–1993), Joseph Schmidt (1904–1942), Jussi Björling (1911–1960)
Bonus DVD
Six films featuring archival material with Tito Schipa, Richard Tauber and Ivan Kozlovsky singing arias and songs, movie trailers with Joseph Schmidt, and interviews with John Steane and Stefan Zucker.
CDs 1–2
The soundtrack to the series contains many previously unreleased recordings highlighting the history of tenor singing in the first half of the 20th century as well as recordings of the last castrato from the Sistine Chapel, Alessandro Moreschi, and the most significant bel canto singer of the 19th century, Fernando de Lucia.
Book I and II
Two comprehensive books with essays about the history, technique and aesthetic of singing by Georg-Albrecht Eckle, Marietta Amstad, Herman Klein, Stefan Zucker, Christoph Schlüren, Peter Feuchtwanger, Jürgen Kesting and Wolf Rosenberg.
Picture format: 1080i High Definition (Discs 1 and 2) / NTSC 4:3 (bonus)
Sound format: PCM Stereo
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Audio languages: English, German, Italian, French, Spanish, Russian
Subtitles: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Korean
Booklet notes: English
Running time: 6 hrs 4 mins (film) + 95 mins (bonus) + 154 mins (audio recording)
No. of Discs: 5 (2x BD 50 + 1x DVD 5 + 2 CDs)
