Special of the Week; NET Opera Theater: La Rondine
- Series
- Special of the Week
- Episode
- NET Opera Theater: La Rondine
- Producing Organization
- Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
- Contributing Organization
- Thirteen WNET (New York, New York)
- AAPB ID
- cpb-aacip/75-38w9gq65
- Public Broadcasting Service Series NOLA
- LARD 000000
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- Description
- Episode Description
- La Rondine, a rarely performed opera by Giacomo Puccini, is given a lush treatment in this NET Opera presentation, produced in color by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Teresa Stratas, Toronto-born soprano now with the Metropolitan Opera, sings the role of Magda, the beautiful and restless courtesan who is compared to a swallow ("la rondine"). Anastasios Vrenios, an American tenor who has frequently recorded with Joan Sutherland, is Ruggiero, young lover of Magda. Soprano Barbara Shuttleworth of the New York City Opera is Lisette, Magda's vivacious maid. Tenor John Walker is the poet Prunier. And bass Cornelis Opthof is Rambaldo, Magda's wealthy lover. Brian Priestman, music director of the Denver Symphony Orchestra, conducts a 71-member orchestra, drawn largely from the Toronto Symphony. The opera begins in Paris in the year 1870. Magda, living in luxury as the mistress of a wealthy Parisian banker, Rambaldo, is entertaining her Bohemian friends. In a conversation about romance, Prunier remarks cynically that old-fashioned love will probably soon be in vogue again. The guests are amused by this remark, but Magda sentimentally recalls a brief but passionate love of her youth. Prunier then pretends to read her palm. He predicts that she will again fall in love, but that she will finally "return to the nest," for she is like a swallow for whom the land of romance is but a distraction. Moments later, the arrival of Rambaldo's friend Ruggiero sparks Magda's interest. The action resumes at the Bal Bullier, a night spot which Rambaldo and Ruggiero are mingling with an exuberant crowd. Magda, romantically attracted to Ruggiero, arrives, disguised as a peasant girl. After a few moments with Ruggiero, she realizes that she is reliving her former "magical night" at the caf/(c). She is almost discovered when the coquettish Lisette arrives with Prunier, and thinks that she has recognized her mistress. But Prunier convinces her that she is wrong, and the couples join in a toast. Rambaldo enters and discovers Magda, who refuses to go with him. Magda and Ruggiero then declare their love and go off together. At a small cottage on the French Riviera, Magda and Ruggiero establish a happy existence. But when Ruggiero presses her to marry him, Magda reveals the truth about her life with Rambaldo. Though she loves him, she cannot marry him, despite Ruggiero's pleading. Like the swallow, she flies back to Paris and Rambaldo. NET Opera Theater "La Rondine" is a 90-minute presentation of the national programming division of WNET/13. Produced and directed for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation by Norman Campbell. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche)
- Series Description
- Special of the Week consists of many episodes produced in the 1970s.
- Broadcast Date
- 1972-05-01
- Asset type
- Episode
- Genres
- Drama
- Topics
- Music
- Media type
- Moving Image
- Credits
-
-
Actor: Shuttleworth, Barbara
Choreographer: Kirby, Charles
Costume Designer: Mess, Suzanne
Performer: Braun, Richard
Performer: Walker, John
Performer: Vrenios, Anastasios
Performer: McManus, Don
Performer: Opthof, Cornelis
Performer: Rohozynsky, Sonia
Performer: Abramsky, Arlen
Performer: Joachim, Doreen
Performer: Meadows, Arlene
Performer: Oostwoud, Roelof
Performer: Stark, Phil
Performer: Stratas, Teresa
Performer: James, Muriel
Performer: Kane, Stan
Performer: Blaser, Lynn
Producer: Barnes, John
Producer: Campbell, Norman
Producing Organization: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Set Designer: Lawson, Robert
- AAPB Contributor Holdings
-
Thirteen - New York Public Media (WNET)
Identifier: wnet_aacip_11589 (WNET Archive)
Format: 2 inch videotape
Generation: Master
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- Citations
- Chicago: “Special of the Week; NET Opera Theater: La Rondine,” 1972-05-01, Thirteen WNET, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed July 8, 2025, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-75-38w9gq65.
- MLA: “Special of the Week; NET Opera Theater: La Rondine.” 1972-05-01. Thirteen WNET, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. July 8, 2025. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-75-38w9gq65>.
- APA: Special of the Week; NET Opera Theater: La Rondine. Boston, MA: Thirteen WNET, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-75-38w9gq65