Lord Byron

John Arnold DeMarco is a man who believes he is Don Juan, the greatest lover in the world. Clad in a cape and mask, DeMarco undergoes psychiatric treatment with Dr. Jack Mickler to cure him of his apparent delusion. But the psychiatric sessions have an unexpected effect on the psychiatric staff and, most profoundly, Dr Mickler, who rekindles the romance in his complacent marriage.

Living on an estate on the shores of Lake Geneva, Lord Byron is visited by Percy and Mary Shelley. Together with Byron's lover Claire Clairmont, and aided by hallucinogenic substances, they devise an evening of ghoulish tales. However, when confronted by horrors, ostensibly of their own creation, it becomes difficult to tell apparition from reality.

Marino Faliero opened the sixth edition of "Donizetti Opera" in the restored Donizetti Theater in Bergamo. The orchestra and choir are on stage, while the action takes place in the stalls in an intricate maze of walkways and scaffolding. Riccardo Frizza conducts, with creative direction by Ricci/Forte and staging by Stefano Ricci.

Inspired by Lord Byron’s epic poem, this jewel of the repertoire boasts a lavish production complete with a shipwreck, pirates, and some of ballet’s most renowned scenes.

Jacopo, son of Doge Francesco Foscari, was accused of murder and banished from Venice. Longing for his homeland, he writes to the Duke of Milan asking him to intercede with the city council. The letter is intercepted, and Jacopo is brought back to Venice to face further questioning. An opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, with an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on a historical play by George Byron. Premiered on 3 November 1844. From the box set of 27 Verdi operas, ‘Tutto Verdi’. Recorded live at the Teatro Regio in Parma on 3, 6, 8, 11 and 19 May 2005.

The corsair Corrado, having taken refuge on an island in the Aegean Sea, decides to launch an expedition against the Muslims, during which he is taken prisoner. Gulnara, the favorite of Pasha Seïd, falls in love with Corrado and helps him escape after murdering Seïd herself. Meanwhile, Medora, Corrado’s beloved, has poisoned herself upon hearing the false news of her lover’s death. She dies in the arms of her lover, who has returned too late. Corrado, in despair, throws himself into the sea, while Gulnara collapses, overcome by grief. “Il corsaro” is a lyric drama (“melodramma tragico”) in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, with a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on Lord Byron’s poem “The Corsair.” It premiered on October 25, 1848, at the Grand Theatre in Trieste. The opera was taken off the bill after three performances and replaced by “Macbeth.” From the “Tutto Verdi” box set of 27 Verdi operas. Recorded live at the Teatro Regio in Parma on October 19 and 21, 2008.

In 15th-century Venice, Jacopo Foscari, son of the Doge of Venice Francesco Foscari, is to be tried by the Council of Ten for a crime of which he claims to be innocent. The Foscari family’s sworn enemy, the vindictive Jacopo Loredano, treacherously secures his sentence of exile. Despite the pleas of Lucrezia, Jacopo’s wife, the unfortunate father is forced to sign his son’s banishment order, even though he is convinced of his innocence. The young man dies of despair just before the real murderer comes forward. Loredano secures the removal of Francesco Foscari, who collapses, lifeless. "I due Foscari" is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, with a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, which premiered at the Teatro Argentina in Rome on 3 November 1844.

This is a documentary film on the romantic and decadent atmosphere of Venice at the end of the 18th century. A vigorous comment by Jean Cocteau tells us of the sick souls and the sorrows of literary characters and musicians who lived the dream of this city. It is the Venice of Lord Byron, Alfred de Musset, George Sand, d'Annunzio; a Venice made of precious images, palaces reflected in the water, mysterious moonlights, little squares where unhappy lovers wander under the music of Richard Wagner.