At the Met - Opera

A "Live from the Met" broadcast of the opera, on a double bill with its frequent "partner", Mascagni's "Cavalleria Rusticana".

The Metropolitan Opera's first live telecast of the 1978-79 season, and the first presentation of Verdi's "Otello" ever on the "Live from the Met" PBS TV series.

Disinherited by his uncle Pasquale, Ernesto is unable to marry his sweetheart, Norina. To make it worse, uncle Pasquale needs a new heir now, and decides to marry Norina for himself. What can Dr. Malatesta do to help the two lovers?

A wealthy youth, betrothed to a duchess, falls in love with a country girl - Luisa Miller. To remain incognito he disguises himself. The girl betrays her lover, so he tricks her and they drink poison, and then die together.

Riccardo, governor of Boston at the end of the 17th century, falls in love with Amelia, wife of Renato, his secretary and intimate friend. Amelia returns Riccardo's love, but is discovered by her husband. At a masked ball Renato kills Riccardo, who, as he lies dying, declares Amelia's innocence and forgives Renato. An opera in 3 acts.

Electra, like her brother Orestes and younger sister Chrysothemis, is a child of the Mycenaean king Agamemnon, who went off to the Trojan war for ten years. His queen Clytemnestra took a lover, Aegisthus; when the king returned they murdered him and forced Orestes into exile. The guilty pair now rule, and the daughters have become young women. Chrysothemis is frightened and self-effacing, Electra desiring revenge for her father. Chrysothemis warns her that their mother and Aegisthus plan to imprison her. Then Chrysothemis flees as Clytemnestra staggers in, nearly insane with guilt over the murder of her husband. Electra tells her that she and Aegisthus will be hounded through the palace halls by Orestes with the sacred axe. Clytemnestra is horrified until news comes that Orestes is dead. Crazed with disappointment, Electra tries to persuade Chrysothemis they must kill their mother, but Chrysothemis runs away in terror. Electra hunts for the buried axe that must be used fo!

The Chevalier des Grieux meets and seduces the young Manon when she is being escorted by her brother to a convent. Manon lives with des Grieux in Paris, but leaves him for a rich admirer. She is later arrested, charged with prostitution, and deported to Louisiana.

Former society matron Lulu has fallen on hard times, and gradually is forced to work her way down the social ladder. At first she's a dancer, then a kept woman, and finally a prostitute. One of her first clients is Jack the Ripper.

Country bumpkin Nemorino is in love with Adina. She seems interested, but a poor farmer is beneath her station. She flirts with handsome Sgt Belcore, but when Nemorino joins his army to earn money to marry Adina, she sheds a secret tear.

A trio of operas in three short stories - the first a gruesome murder melodrama, the second is a passionate tearjerker, and the third is a dark comedy of death and an inheritance. Each story is strikingly different from the preceding one.

His sarcasm has made many enemies for Rigoletto, court jester for the Duke of Mantua. They conspire to kidnap Rigoletto's mistress for the Duke, unaware that she is really his daughter. Rigoletto's plans for revenge go disastrously wrong.

Starving artist and consumptive seamstress fall in love, have trouble maintaining the relationship. His painter friend also has romantic troubles with his ambitious grisette.

The Marschallin has been carrying on an affair with Count Octavian. When she sends him on an errand on behalf of Baron Ochs, he meets Sophie; it's love at first sight for the youngsters. The Marschallin realizes she must end the affair.

Returning home from the Trojan Wars during a storm, Idomeneo, the king of Crete, vows to sacrifice to Neptune (the Greek god Poseidon) the first living creature he meets ashore in return for his own safety. The first person he sees turns out to be his own son Idamante, and Idomeneo attempts to escape from fulfilling his vow. Idamante, meanwhile, is loved by orphaned prisoner Ilia and by the jealous Electra. Who will be sacrificed, and who will stay with Idamante?

Tannhauser longs for earthly life, rejects Venus, returns to mortal Elisabeth. He's condemned by the Landgrave for his carnality, and sent to Rome. The Pope predicts forgiveness is as likely as his walking stick is of sprouting new shoots.

A live Metropolitan Opera Christmas Day broadcast of Humperdinck's opera.

Don Carlo, crown prince of Spain, falls in love with Elisabeth of Valois, originally promised to him but later married to his father King Philip, as part of the terms of a peace treaty between France and Spain. Incited to treason against his father on behalf of the Flemish, and accused of adultery with the queen, Don Carlo is cast into prison. Escaping, he flees to the monastery of St. Just, where Elisabeth comes to bid him farewell. The lovers are surprised by the King and the Grand Inquisitor, but Don Carlo is protected from them when the ghostly Charles V emerges from the tomb and draws him into the cloister.

Former nobleman Ernani leads a group of bandits who also help to fight tyranny in France. Alliances shift, and Ernani makes a fatal promise.

Leonora plans to elope with Don Alvaro, but he accidentally shoots and kills her father, who curses them as he dies. The lovers go on the run, but get separated. Bent on revenge, Leonora's brother Don Carlo, hunts them down.