The opening credits are set to the prelude to
Giuseppe Verdi's
La traviata. ===
Un ballo in maschera=== A fictionalised account of the visit by King
Zog I of Albania to
Vienna in 1931, to see a lover, when opponents tried to assassinate him on the steps of the opera house (in fact after leaving a performance of
Pagliacci) but by shooting back he survived. • Music composed by
Giuseppe Verdi • Extracts: Prelude, "Re dell' abisso", "Di che fulgor che musiche", "La rivedra nell'estasi", "Ebben si t'amo", "Mezza notte", "O giustizia del fato" • Sung by
Leontyne Price,
Carlo Bergonzi,
Robert Merrill,
Shirley Verrett,
Reri Grist; conducted by
Erich Leinsdorf • Directed by
Nicolas Roeg • Starring
Theresa Russell, Stephanie Lane • Running time: 14 minutes ==="" from
La forza del destino=== Three children in London, devoted to a statue of the Virgin Mary, steal and set fire to a luxury car, which they later watch on the TV news. • Music composed by
Giuseppe Verdi • Sung by
Leontyne Price; conducted by
Thomas Schippers • Directed by
Charles Sturridge • Starring Nicola Swain, Jackson Kyle, Marianne McLaughlin • Running time: 5 minutes • In the credits, this short is incorrectly spelled "La Virgine Degli Angeli" and incorrectly spells the work by Verdi in the same way. ===
Armide=== In a gym, two young women working as cleaners are entranced by the muscles of the male bodybuilders, who maintain their concentration even when the women strip. • Music composed by
Jean-Baptiste Lully • Extracts: "Ah! Si la liberté me doit être ravie", "Enfin, il est en ma puissance", "Venez,venez, Haine implacable" • Libretto by
Philippe Quinault • Performed by
Rachel Yakar, , Danielle Borst; conducted by
Philippe Herreweghe • Directed by
Jean-Luc Godard • Starring
Valérie Allain, Marion Peterson • Running time: 11 minutes ===
Rigoletto=== A
bedroom farce set in the
Madonna Inn at
San Luis Obispo, in which a movie producer cheats on his wife with a pneumatic German starlet while unaware that his spouse is also there in the inn with a clandestine hunk of her own. The finale is a dance routine to
La donna è mobile sung by an
Elvis impersonator. • Music by
Giuseppe Verdi • Extracts: "Questa o quella", "Gualtier Maldè... caro nome", "
La donna è mobile", "Addio, addio" • Sung by
Robert Merrill,
Anna Moffo,
Alfredo Kraus; conducted by
Georg Solti • Directed by
Julien Temple • Written by
Charlie Coffey • Starring
Buck Henry,
Beverly D'Angelo, Garry Kasper,
Anita Morris • Running time: 14 minutes ==="
Glück, das mir verblieb" from
Die tote Stadt=== In the seemingly dead city of
Bruges in winter, footage of empty buildings in deserted streets is intercut with a duet of two lovers in an ornate bed chamber. • Music composed by
Erich Wolfgang Korngold • Sung by
Carol Neblett and
René Kollo; conducted by Erich Leinsdorf • Directed by
Bruce Beresford • Starring
Elizabeth Hurley,
Peter Birch • Running time: 5 minutes ===
Abaris ou les Boréades=== In the
Théâtre Le Ranelagh in Paris in 1734, a preview of the opera is given to an audience of inmates from a mental asylum. • Music composed by
Jean-Philippe Rameau • Libretto by
Louis de Cahusac • Extracts:Entr'acte – "Suite des vents", "Nuit redoutable! ... Lieu désolé", "Jouissons, jouissons! Jouissons de nos beaux ans" • Performed by
Jean-Philippe Lafont,
Philip Langridge,
John Aler; conducted by
John Eliot Gardiner • Directed by
Robert Altman • Starring
Julie Hagerty,
Geneviève Page,
Sandrine Dumas, Chris Campion • Running time: 7 minutes ==="
Liebestod" from
Tristan und Isolde=== Two young lovers drive down
Fremont Street in
Las Vegas at night and in a cheap hotel, after making love, slash their wrists in the bath. • Music composed by
Richard Wagner • Sung by
Leontyne Price; conducted by
Henry Lewis • Directed by
Franc Roddam • Starring
Bridget Fonda in her first credited film role; James Mathers as her lover. • Running time: 7 minutes ==="
Nessun dorma" from
Turandot=== Unconscious after a car crash, a lovely young woman imagines her body is being adorned with diamonds and rubies in a tribal ritual, when in fact it is the preparations for surgery. After nearly dying on the operating table, she regains consciousness. • Music composed by
Giacomo Puccini • Sung by
Jussi Björling; conducted by Erich Leinsdorf • Directed by
Ken Russell • Starring
Linzi Drew • Running time: 7 minutes ==="" from
Louise=== A veteran opera singer gives her final performance, intercut by home movies of her on holiday when young and in love. • Music composed by
Gustave Charpentier • Sung by Leontyne Price; conducted by
Francesco Molinari-Pradelli • Directed by
Derek Jarman • Starring
Tilda Swinton, Amy Johnson,
Spencer Leigh • Running time: 6 minutes ==="
Vesti la giubba" from
Pagliacci=== In an ornate opera house, empty except for a possibly imaginary young woman, an aging virtuoso mimes his aria to an old
78 rpm recording and dies. • Music composed by
Ruggero Leoncavallo • Sung by
Enrico Caruso • Directed by
Bill Bryden • Written by Bill Bryden and
Don Boyd • Starring
John Hurt,
Sophie Ward • Running time: 4 minutes The closing credits, after replaying a small excerpt of each of the ten operas, are again set to the overture to
Giuseppe Verdi's
La traviata, thus closing the cycle. ==Production==