# What governs the choice of what opera DVDs/blu-rays get released?



## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Amfortas was mentioning the economics and politics of these often weird choices.
Just as an example that has been mentioned before, the Metropolitan Opera has released promptly some rather mediocre productions but failed to release other much more artistically satisfactory and innovative productions, in spite of the fact that the latter had been recorded in high definition. Lepage's outstanding staging of La Damnation de Faust that exists in HD for MetPlayer is frequently quoted as a production that one would think would be a smashing success if released, but they don't do it, while mediocre Aidas are released.

Problem of popularity of an opera? Popularity of the casting? Sure, but sometimes operas that are not popular get released with obscure casting, while others that have famous artists and are more popular do not see the light of day.

Questions - and I hope someone with inside knowledge of the industry will stand up and tell us what really goes on:

1) What are the economics of an opera DVD or blu-ray release? How many copies are typically sold? What could be considered an economically successful release?

2) Is opera DVD a good market? Or is it a fringe, insignificant market? Is it overcrowded with lots of competition with offers exceeding demand, or is it a market with a starved public that regrets the small number of offers?

3) Is there any way for the public at large to try and influence the choice? Petitions with signatures? Letters to the editor of Opera News? Anything else?

4) What are the politics of these releases? Who gets his/her work released, and why?

5) What DVDs/blu-rays you'd loved to see released, but instead they collect dust in some company's shelves?

Opinions, guesses, hypotheses, and especially inside information are welcome, and of course, not just about Met productions, but about opera houses, opera productions, and recording industries everywhere in the world.


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## AmericanGesamtkunstwerk (May 9, 2011)

i'm just as in the dark as you but i would love to see Glass - The Voyage. another recentish Met commission that went over pretty well yet isn't available on dvd to my knowledge is Corigliano's Ghost of Versailles


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

AmericanGesamtkunstwerk said:


> i'm just as in the dark as you but i would love to see Glass - The Voyage. another recentish Met commission that went over pretty well yet isn't available on dvd to my knowledge is Corigliano's Ghost of Versailles


Ghosts of Versailles is available, but only as part of the James Levine 40th Anniversary set:










There's another related question to consider: the packaging and marketing choices made when they *do* finally release the DVD. In this case, you're forced to spend over $200 (Amazon) and buy a set of eleven operas if you want the Corigliano. The same goes for most of the other operas in that box set: I believe only the Ariadne auf Naxos with Deborah Voigt and Natalie Dessay is currently available as an individual DVD. This is too bad, as there are several other excellent productions in that collection, and it would be nice to have the option of picking and choosing among them.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

Follow up to my last post:

As a counter example where they did the right thing with a boxed set, take the Opus Artes Rameau collection:










You can buy this set of five operas (and a grand motet) as a single unit, or you can purchase any of the productions separately. In this case, the individual works were released on DVD before the boxed set came out; in fact the set was very likely an afterthought, a decision made only after the single works sold well.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

AmericanGesamtkunstwerk said:


> i'm just as in the dark as you but i would love to see Glass - The Voyage. another recentish Met commission that went over pretty well yet isn't available on dvd to my knowledge is Corigliano's Ghost of Versailles


 Like amfortas said, The Ghosts of Versailles is available; I've seen it, and it is truly excellent. The production is fabulous, and the opera itself is in my opinion one of the best operas of the 20th century, even though it is a bit chaotic and rather light fare - but it does work well as a whole and is delightful, and a pleasure for the opera lover since it makes several references to operatic works - and it also contains the third installment of the Figaro saga,_ La mère coupable_. It is very much worth buying although of course the price gets to be spicy thanks to the boxset - but there are other good gems in the boxset.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

I think that chiefs of all biggest musical companies responsible for releases and generally for what we get on DVD are young, beautiful people, dandies who wear curlers in night and begin half of sentences with "och, (...)". Every friday they meet altogether by bottle of good wine and listen to rehearshals. Then they discuss artistic qualities of works/performances - one of them says "this obscure opera is very beautiful and moving work, it touched my heart so deeply... o, dear friends, we must release it on DVD at at all cost, even if we are going to bankrupt! The world must hear it! Art at the first place!" and the other one replies "yes! Also, this new production of La Boheme would sell so good, it has all kinds of kitsch that unsophisticated people enjoy and are ready to pay for, it would bring us millions of dollars... but we must resist temptation of releasing it, damn the money, let's protect world from these vulgar, kitschy productions! Viva l'arte!". And so they watch over world of opera like guardian angels.


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## BalloinMaschera (Apr 4, 2011)

... a friend of mine is head of DVD at Decca... I will be seeing him on Sat - we try not to talk shop too much, but perhaps I will quiz him a bit and come back to the forum... :tiphat:


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## FragendeFrau (May 30, 2011)

Ballo, that's amazing! Thanks so much for offering to suffer some shop talk on our behalf.

I don't know if this is true but I heard (and Alma confirmed) that the artists receive no extra royalties/payments for the Met's Live in HD broadcasts (or encores?) You might tell your friend that since my first viewing of Die Walküre from the Met in HD, I have spent easily almost $1000 (much of it flowing into Decca's coffers :tiphat for 4 DVDs, 5 CDs, 1 recital ticket, and three tickets to operas at the Met, I suppose you could say it is worth it for the artists!

I'm guessing the answer to our questions about DVD availability will be similar to the answer I used to give in academic publishing about why everything wasn't available electronically: it's not that simple...contracts, royalties, artists exclusively contracted to different record companies, who knows? And it's not as if there are no costs involved.

All I know is that I am still crushed that the complete Bieito Fidelio from Munich is not going to be available but am hoping that the Met's new Ring, the starry Tosca from the ROH (they were queuing overnight for day tickets!) that is on schedule to be broadcast in the ROH cinema series, and looking to the future the new Les Troyens from the ROH next year, will all be available on DVD.

To someone not in the business it really seems like a license to print money! Just as we do now have all our academic books available electronically--it did become simple, obvious, and an additional revenue stream, with time.


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

FragendeFrau said:


> All I know is that I am still crushed that the complete Bieito Fidelio from Munich is not going to be available . . .


Rats!!! I was looking forward to that, too!


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## FragendeFrau (May 30, 2011)

I went straight to the source and tweeted the BSO and they flat-out said NO. I've linked to some excerpts on YouTube but of course the quality is not even as good as a livestream on the computer.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

MAuer said:


> Rats!!! I was looking forward to that, too!


They're idiots. Guaranteed sales.


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## Sieglinde (Oct 25, 2009)

I'm totally waiting for the Frankfurt/Amsterdam Billy Budd. Dammit, they have the strongest team and an interesting production! (And Clive Bayley. Awesome is his middle name.) I have only a radio broadcast.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

Sometimes there may be fairly legitimate reasons why a performance is not released on DVD. Along with many people, I've waited years for a decent version of the famous 1976 Carlos Kleiber / Franco Zeffirelli Otello from La Scala, with Domingo, Freni, and Cappuccilli. It has long been available on VHS, along with bootleg-quality DVDs from Premeire Opera and Opera Passion, but never a commercial DVD release.

As great as the performance is, though, the poor sound and image quality may keep music executives from seeing it as a potential big seller--particularly in such a crowded Otello field (Domingo alone already has four other performances of the role on DVD).

At least the entire performance is available on YouTube.


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## GoneBaroque (Jun 16, 2011)

Aramis said:


> I think that chiefs of all biggest musical companies responsible for releases and generally for what we get on DVD are young, beautiful people, dandies who wear curlers in night and begin half of sentences with "och, (...)". Every friday they meet altogether by bottle of good wine and listen to rehearshals. Then they discuss artistic qualities of works/performances - one of them says "this obscure opera is very beautiful and moving work, it touched my heart so deeply... o, dear friends, we must release it on DVD at at all cost, even if we are going to bankrupt! The world must hear it! Art at the first place!" and the other one replies "yes! Also, this new production of La Boheme would sell so good, it has all kinds of kitsch that unsophisticated people enjoy and are ready to pay for, it would bring us millions of dollars... but we must resist temptation of releasing it, damn the money, let's protect world from these vulgar, kitschy productions! Viva l'arte!". And so they watch over world of opera like guardian angels.


And you are speaking only of the males aren't you?


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

GoneBaroque said:


> And you are speaking only of the males aren't you?


Sure, who would let women decide about art? Pff...


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## BalloinMaschera (Apr 4, 2011)

BalloinMaschera said:


> ... a friend of mine is head of DVD at Decca... I will be seeing him on Sat - we try not to talk shop too much, but perhaps I will quiz him a bit and come back to the forum... :tiphat:


well we talked about our careers and business a bit, but not really that much

the long and short of DVD production these days:

10 years ago , the DVD dept at Decca had 60 employees, today there are 10- and don't think they all moved to Hamburg to merge with DG- Hamburg is now going through culling as well...

if an artist has an exclusive contract with Decca, and a performance of theirs will be recorded in HD (either for the opera house , for ex the MET) or Public Television Broadcast (PBS) anyway, then Decca might opt to re-release that recording for retail.

If there are too many artists in a cast that are not contracted to the label, the whole affair can become convoluted.

In brief , the recording companies no longer scout and source productions to record for release on DVD.

that' about all I found out... we have known each other for over a decade... we have lots of other things to talk about 

hope that gives some insight...


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

BalloinMaschera said:


> well we talked about our careers and business a bit, but not really that much
> 
> the long and short of DVD production these days:
> 
> ...


Interesting... so some of the productions we'd love to see on DVD are not released because they have too many artists with exclusive contracts with different companies? This may explain some of the apparent weird decisions on what to release and what not to.

Ballo, wouldn't you consider e-mailing your friend with all the questions asked in the OP, and saying - "we have this board... people there are very curious about this... would you shed some light on the discussion? I won't quote you by name..." to see what else he'd have to say?


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## BalloinMaschera (Apr 4, 2011)

Almaviva said:


> Interesting... so some of the productions we'd love to see on DVD are not released because they have too many artists with exclusive contracts with different companies? This may explain some of the apparent weird decisions on what to release and what not to.
> 
> Ballo, wouldn't you consider e-mailing your friend with all the questions asked in the OP, and saying - "we have this board... people there are very curious about this... would you shed some light on the discussion? I won't quote you by name..." to see what else he'd have to say?


well... I don't really want to become a TC "go-between"... it may sound pompous (I don't mean it to)... but I know too many people in the business to put my name out like that with snooping questions... but I will definitely report back as soon as I find out more...  I hope you all understand...


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