[VIDEO] Frank Guarrera - Credo in un Dio crudel (Iago) 1958 with Leonard Bernstein

FRANK GUARRERA sings "Credo in un dio crudel". From "What makes Opera Grand?" TV Broadcast: Omnibus, with Leonard Bernstein. 1958. Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. LEONARD BERNSTEIN: (...) In opera, the music expands the text to such a degree that the words must be almost rudimentary in their function. And the characters must be boldly carved, uncomplicated, and easy to recognize from the gallery. The operatic Iago has got to be either a good guy or a bad guy and no shilly-shallying. So when Shakespeare's play "Othello" becomes Verdi's opera "Otello" Iago becomes a plain, old-fashioned villain. No mystery about him. No complex motivations. No excuses. He is evil. He knows it. And he lets us know it smack in the face. "Credo!" he shouts. "I believe in a cruel god who fashioned me in his image. I believe that man is vile; and I am a man. I believe that man dies after all his folly and that after death, there is nothing. Heaven is a lie". From the Archive of American Television Presents: "What Makes Opera Grand?" from an "Omnibus" Telecast featuring Leonard Bernstein. Written and Narrated by Leonard Bernstein Directed by Seymour Robbie Frank Guarrera, Iago Produced by Robert Saudek Associates in Cooperation with The Metropolitan Opera Association in Association with the NBC Television Network Broadcast Live on the NBC Television Network: March 23, 1958. © 1990 RSA Venture LLC. Licensed by Broad Reach Enterprises, Inc. #FrankGuarrera #LeonardBernstein #Otello