Every morning at dawn, in the Lammermuir hills in Southern Scotland, the beautiful Lucia meets Edgardo of Ravenswood, a mysterious young man with whom she is in love. However, just as in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the lovers are the progeny of two feuding families and do not have the right to love each other. Lucia, a magnificent flower shattered by the violence of a society of men, is embodied by South Africa’s Pretty Yende, a rising star of the opera stage, in this production by Andrei Serban, conducted by Riccardo Frizza.

This telecast offers a rare opportunity to see the legendary Joan Sutherland in the role that first catapulted her to international stardom. She drove audiences wild by the way her opulent voice caressed the music’s long phrases and sprinted effortlessly through the fiendish runs, trills, embellishments and stratospheric high notes. One of the glories of the operatic world, her portrayal of Donizetti’s hapless heroine is a multifaceted and moving characterization. The incomparable tenor Alfredo Kraus is Edgardo, the man Lucia loves but cannot have. (Performance taped November 13, 1982. Broadcasted September 28, 1983.)

1986 production of Donizetti's opera at the Teatro Regio in Parma.

Live from the Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova 2003

Legendary soprano Anna Moffo stars as Lucia and Lajos Kozma plays her lover, Edgardo, in this lush production of Gaetano Donizetti's great bel canto opera. Featuring gorgeous cinematography, the film was shot in authentic Italian locations in 1971 and directed by Moffo's first husband, Mario Lanfranchi. The cast also includes Paolo Washington as Raimondo, Guilio Fioravanti as Enrico, Glauco Scarlini as Normanno and Pietro di Vietri as Arturo.

Live from La Scala Wednesday 13 May 1992

Love can be questionable, especially when it involves forgery and attempted murder. David Alden directs and Daniel Oren conducts.

Diana Damrau’s reputation as the world’s leading coloratura soprano has been built on her extraordinary technical virtuosity, her sensitive musicianship and her acute psychological insight. In this DVD of Katie Mitchell’s sometimes radical production of Lucia di Lammermoor from London’s Royal Opera House, she is, as the Financial Times wrote, “brilliantly convincing”. The British award winning director Katie Mitchell – took a revisionist approach to the drama, updating the action to the mid-19th century and applying a feminist slant as she added new and unexpected elements. The Financial Times wrote: “Mitchell shows us on stage personal traumas that a self-respecting woman in the early 19th century was meant to keep to herself. It is a messy, bloody list — nocturnal sex trysts, a knife murder, a miscarriage, a suicide in the bath … In all this Damrau is brilliantly convincing. Her rebellious Lucia is a woman of modern attitudes stuck in a still feudal Victorian world.”

Lucia loves Edgardo, the last heir of her family’s enemy clan. They are in danger, but Lucia refuses to betray her love. A ring falls to the floor, the nightmare begins – the nocturnal sky fills with lightning and thunder, madness and blood reign, there is a corpse, then another and yet another. Staatsoper Hamburg's Lucia di Lammermoor turns the city into a stage. Inspired by worldwide women's protests, director Amelie Niermeyer has filmed dancers in the city and invites them into the theatre via video. They rush to the aid of the main character Lucia, who - like the director - asserts herself as a woman in a man's world.

Despite what you may read on IMDb and elsewhere, Enrico Caruso does not appear in this film though it was mimed to a recording by Caruso. Mendel’s system utilized prerecorded commercial recordings of famous artists lip-synched by look-alike actors during film shooting. The music is the sextet Chi mi frena in tal momento from Act Two of Gaetano Donizetti's opera Lucia di Lammermoor which premiered in 1835.

Legendary opera stars Renata Scotto and Carlo Bergonzi are in peak form in this magnificent live 1967 performance of Donizetti’s bel canto masterpiece. The cast also includes Mario Zanasi as Enrico and Plinio Clabassi as Raimondo. The NHK Symphony Orchestra and Tokyo Philharmonic Chorus are under the direction of Maestro Bruno Bartoletti.

The tragic tale of "the bride of Lammermoor" has always been a favorite of opera-goers and sopranos alike. Yet with the riveting singing actress Natalie Dessay in the title role, Lucia's plight and descent into madness take on another dimension. Joseph Calleja is an ardent Edgardo, the man she loves but is not allowed to marry. Instead, her brother Enrico forces her into a union with the rich Arturo to save the family fortunes. It proves too much to bear for Lucia.

Lucia di Lammermoor, dramma tragico in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti (1797 - 1848). Libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, after Walter Scott's 'The Bride of Lammermoor'. First performance in Naples, Teatro San Carlo, 26 September 1835 Recording: December 23 2015 - Gran Teatre del Liceu | Barcelona

Director: Fabrice Castanier

Conductor: Marco Armiliato Orchestra & Chorus of the Gran Teatre del Liceu

This production of Lucia was the work of Stefano Mazzonis di Pralafera who is the General Director of the company. In his detailed program note he wrote about how he had clearly thought about the setting and the relationship between the libretto and the original novel. This was a very classic staging – one where the gentlemen wore tartan kilts and the ladies long, flowing dresses. There was a lot of standing and delivering and a fair bit of falling to the floor with Enrico in particular seeming to have a thing for pushing other characters to the floor.

On May 21, soprano Nadine Sierra takes on one of the repertory’s most formidable and storied roles, the haunted heroine of Lucia di Lammermoor, in an electrifying new staging by in-demand Australian theater and film director Simon Stone, conducted by Riccardo Frizza. Show-stopping tenor Javier Camarena adds to the bel canto fireworks as Lucia’s beloved, Edgardo, with baritone Artur Ruciński as her overbearing brother, Enrico, and bass Matthew Rose as her tutor, Raimondo. This live cinema transmission is part of the Met’s award-winning Live in HD series, bringing opera to movie theaters across the globe.

Lucia’s brother Enrico is horrified to learn she has fallen in love with his sworn enemy Edgardo. He hastily arranges her marriage to his associate Arturo. Edgardo and Lucia privately exchange rings before he leaves to fight in France. Enrico tricks Lucia into believing that Edgardo has been unfaithful. Longing for death, she signs the contract with Arturo – moments before Edgardo returns. Lucia murders Arturo in their wedding bed. His death is followed first by Lucia’s, and then by Edgardo’s.

Star soprano Anna Netrebko adds Donizetti’s hapless heroine to her growing list of Met triumphs in this production by Mary Zimmerman that updates the events to the 19th century. Rising young tenor sensation Piotr Beczała is Edgardo and Mariusz Kwiecien plays Lucia’s brother Enrico whose brutal authority forces her to deny her heart and marry for the sake of her family. The famous mad scene brilliantly depicts the cascading fragments of Lucia’s disintegrating mind.