Mozart composed his Singspiel Die Entführung aus dem Serail in 1781, encouraged by no one less than the Austrian emperor Joseph II in order to emphasise the importance of this "national" form of music theatre as opposed to the Italian opera. It was a great success during Mozart’s lifetime and has until today lost none of its magic.

In 1976 the Deutsche Oper Berlin presented a new stage direction by the renowned Günther Rennert, after Gustav Rudolf Sellner’s had been played there for many years. Besides widely known soloists like Horst Laubenthal and Zdzisława Donat, and the actor Hans Peter Hallwachs as Selim, the star of the evening was undoubtedly the Finnish multi-talented bass Martti Talvela.

The premiere in December 1976 was recorded live and broadcast on ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen).

Cast:
- Selim: Hans Peter Hallwachs
- Konstanze: Zdzisława Donat
- Blondchen: Barbara Vogel
- Belmonte: Horst Laubenthal
- Pedrillo: Norbert Orth
- Osmin: Martti Talvela
 
Stage Director: Günther Rennert

Live recording from the Deutsche Oper Berlin, 1976

Sound Format: PCM Mono
Picture Format: 4:3
DVD Format: DVD 9 / NTSC
Subtitles: DE (Original Language), GB, FR
Running Time: 130 mins
FSK: 0
Region Code: 0
Worldwide available