Documentation
Q. I am confused about how to cite a video recording of a live performance (an opera). It was originally performed and recorded by a Metropolitan Opera Television production in 1991, but a 2000 version (a rerelease in DVD format) is being distributed by another organization. It also comes in the 1991 version in the VHS format. It is important to distinguish between the two for a variety of reasons, especially if someone were looking for the DVD. The 2000 DVD is in German, but can have subtitles in English, Chinese, and French. How would I cite the 2000 DVD?
A. CMOS gives several examples of how to cite musical recordings at 17.268. Probably the closest to your example would be the following:
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus. Le nozze di Figaro. Vienna Philharmonic. Riccardo Muti. With Thomas Allen, Margaret Price, Jorma Hynninen, Ann Murray, Kurt Rydl, and the Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor. © 1987. Original sound recording made by EMI Records Ltd. CDS 7 47978 8 (3 compact discs).
In styling your citation, write the 2000 information first, following the Mozart example (composer, title of opera, orchestra, conductor, principal artists, date, DVD format, etc.) and then add the information about the original 1991 VHS recording (without repeating the information that’s the same for both). When you have extra bits of information that don’t appear in one of our examples, include everything you think your readers will want or need. State the facts clearly without worrying too much about how to style them. For instance, to your DVD citation you could add “In German. Includes subtitles in English, Chinese, and French.” Try to style all similar citations in the same way.
