Anja Silja

Every evening at 6:45 p.m. sharp, a prominent guest takes a seat on the red sofa—and DAS! provides daily updates on what's hot in the north.

Richard Strauss's opera, from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

The embittered widow, Kostelnicka, drowns her infant grandson to save her beloved stepdaughter Jenufa from the shame and hardship of raising an illegitimate child.

Staging directors Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser infuse German composer Engelbert Humperdinck's fairy-tale opera with more than a dollop of black humor in this 2008 London performance that's both enchanting and menacing. Angelika Kirchschlager and Diana Damrau play Hansel and Gretel, respectively, and beloved British baritone Thomas Allen portrays their father in an outstanding production led by maestro Colin Davis.

A young peasant wants to marry, but the despotic sovereign chooses the bride for one night on the basis of the "ius primae noctis" and declares her fair game. In despair, the young woman turns away from God and towards a Satanic cult. After returning from a campaign, the tyrant pursues her at the insistence of the fanatical village priest. She is confronted and murdered. This act shakes up the peasants; they rise up against the lords.

In the late 1960s Rolf Liebermann, the legendary intendant of the Hamburg State Opera, had the visionary idea of presenting a number of operas in filmed versions, among the first ever done in color, to be shown on German television. This is the historic recording of a 1968 production by the Hamburg State Opera.