Product Details

• Format: Classical, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: View Video
• VHS Release Date: August 1, 1996
• Run Time: 124 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: 6300265641
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #398,208 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

…offers Theo Adam’s bold, showpiece singing of stunning technique. You’ll never forget this performance

Written for: Arts Beat Magazine

Product Description

Julius Caesar (Giulio Cesare), the opera, centers around Cleopatra's manipulation of Caesae and Ptolemy, and how this changed the course of Egypt's history. We see Caesar (sung by the unforgettable Theo Adam), not as an ideal ruler, but as a man with his faults and weaknesses.

Julius Caesar might as well have been called "Cleopatra," for her character is so richly and fascinatingly drawn in the music. The development and sequencing of arias (she has 8 in all) represents one of Handel's greatest achievements in terms of insight into human character. Few other musical scores contain so many numbers that have become so well known to the public.

George Frideric Handel was the foremost composer of his day, writing in the style of the Italian school of "opera seria" (grand opera). He reached the peak of his brilliant career in London, where he completely dominated the opera scene. Most of the leads in his operas, in this case the heroic role of Caesar, were written for a "castrato," a male singer who, after a barbarous operation followed by long and arduous training, had developed a soprano or alto voice of such exquisite virtuosity and with such thrillinh qualities as to be thought irresistible at the time. In modern times, these castrato roles are usually given to baritones or tenor.

The great Theo Adam's remarkable performance as Caesar is the highlight of this superior production. No opera of Handel's has been more successful, in his own day or in ours, than Giulio Cesare.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good stagecraft and competent singing, December 31, 2000

By 

E. A. Lovitt "starmoth" (Gladwin, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Julius Caesar [VHS] (VHS Tape)

"Giulio Cesare in Egitto" dates from Handel's greatest period as an opera composer. For those of you who are used to hearing it sung in Italian with male or female altos in some of the key roles, e.g. Julius Caesar and Ptolemy, this 1979 Berlin State Opera version may come as a bit of surprise since the alto roles are sung by base-baritones, as is the bass role of Achillas. Sextus, the son of Pompey and Cornelia is sung by the tenor Eberhard Buchner rather than the usual soprano. The opera is sung in German with no subtitles.

There has also been some extensive cutting, especially to the roles of Cornelia and her son Sextus.

However, it is an interesting and enjoyable production - much more so than the only other "Giulio Cesare" video that I have seen, i.e. the Peter Sellars modern dress version (issued by PolyGram Video). For those of us who can't make it to New York any time soon, I am hoping for a video version of the "Giulio Cesare" that Jennifer Larmore is currently singing. I have the Harmonia Mundi (HMC 901385.87) 3 CD recording where Larmore sings the title role. This production was conducted by Rene Jacobs, and all of the voices are truly Handelian, and truly ravishing.