Product Details

• Actors: Catherine Naglestad, Kate Ladner, Matthias Klink, Heinz Göhrig, Roland Bracht
• Directors: János Darvas
• Writers: Christoph Friedrich Bretzner, Gottlieb Stephanie Jr.
• Format: Classical, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English, French, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Arthaus Musik
• DVD Release Date: July 17, 2001
• Run Time: 150 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005MKOX
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #179,093 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Mozart - Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail / Zagrosek, Naglestad, Ladner, Klink, Gohrig, Stuttgart Opera" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Belmonte seeks his betrothed, Konstanze, who, with her maid Blonde, is held prisoner by the Pasha. Pedrillo, now forced to serve as the Pasha's gardener, tells him that the Pasha loves Konstanze, but will not force his attentions on her. Belmonte, with Pedrillo's help, plans to abduct Konstanze and Blonde from the Seraglio. Director Hans Neuenfels, who produced his "first Mozart" here in Stuttgart, retains the story's naivety and absurdity. He does this primarily by splitting the characters: Neuefels places an actor at every singer's side who not only takes over his role for the spoken original scripts, but also interacts with his singing double and other characters of the piece. Catherine Naglestad, Heinz Gohrig, Kate Ladner, Lothar Zagrosek, Mattias Klink, Roland Bracht. Director: Hans Neuenfels.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Awesomely Entertaining, March 22, 2009

By	S. T. Fine (East Setauket, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

One of Germany's most cutting edge opera houses, The Stuttgart State Opera, hired Hans Neuenfels in 1998 to prepare a new version of Entfuhrung. The result was voted Production of the Year in the annual Opernwelt awards, and is presented on DVD here. The orchestra is first rate, and though some of the singers seemed weak to me (e.g. Matthias Klink as Belmonte), they certainly didn't detract from Mozart's sublime score.

Neuenfels took the concept of singspiel and turned it into sing/spiel by dividing each of the roles into a singer and an actor. So, 2 Belmontes, 2 Osmins, 2 Pedrillos, 2 Blondes, and 2 Konstanzes (the exception is Pasha Selim, whom Mozart didn't give anything to sing). But it's not so simple as giving the spoken dialogue to the Actor and the sung to the Singer. Neuenfels cut much of Gottlieb Stephanie the Younger's original libreto and wrote a great deal of new dialogue so that the characters are often interacting with themselves or with each others doppelgangers (or even with the orchestra)!

If you like your operas to be old-fashioned stand-and-deliver warhorses in which tradition and the score rule, this production is not for you. On the other hand, if you find opera to be staid, you ought to give this a try. I thought it was brilliant.

5.0 out of 5 stars Colorful, Funny, Sexy, Mozart, September 19, 2009

By	Brent Trafton (Long Beach, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I absolutely loved this version of "Die Entfuhrung Aus Dem Serail." It is colorful, funny, and sexy. I'm usually not a big fan of post-modern productions or when they make changes in the libretto but in this case I felt it all worked to make it more enjoyable.

If you have read other reviews, you know that this production is going to divide people. You will probably either really love it or really hate it. Obviously, I really enjoyed it. This was the first production that made me realize how similar to "The Magic Flute," this opera is.

If you love Mozart and you are the adventurous type, you should give this version of "Die Entfuhrung Aus Dem Serail" a try.

7 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This is NOT Mozart's Entführung aus dem Serail!, November 12, 2001

By	David (North Carolina, USA) - See all my reviews

This was a very disappointing performance, and I question why it was chosen for a DVD. The singing is acceptable, but not what I would consider to be especially inspired. The root of the problem is the production. I was so looking forward to adding this DVD to my collection, as this ranks as one of my favorite operas--thank goodness I checked it out at the library first! It just is not a captivating performance, and it is far too untraditional for my taste. Surely a much better version of this opera will come along on DVD. Until then, you're better off enjoying it on CD and leave the visuals to your mind. It is doubtful your imagination will conjure up anything like this production of annoying mirror images! It is disturbing to say the least and it does nothing to enhance our understanding of Mozart or this opera.