Citation, Documentation of Sources

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 in paragraph 14.263. Probably the closest to your example would be the following:

Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus. Don Giovanni. Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Sir Colin Davis. With Ingvar Wixell, Luigi Roni, Martina Arroyo, Stuart Burrows, Kiri Te Kanawa, et al. Recorded May 1973. Philips 422 541-2, 1991, 3 compact discs.

In styling your citation, you’d put the facts about the DVD in place of the information about the compact discs. If you needed to, you could add “Also available in VHS from . . .” 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.