I have the Mackerras/Decca CDs and a couple of videos with Mackerras and Rattle.

I have seen performances from ENO, Welsh National, Opera North, Berlin Komische, and Opera Vlaanderen in Ghent, but the first time I saw it was at the 1981 NYCO production, with sets by Maurice Sendak.

This was my first and only visit to NY. When returning home, I experienced devastating jet lag and have since refused any long haul flights.

For me the Vixen’s dream sequence always causes the tears to flow, but they are “happy tears.” The opera is life affirming, but also recognizes that life comes to an end. The vixen kills the chickens; the vixen is shot by Harasta. In the Gamekeeper’s glorious closing solo the frog which he sees is not the frog from Act I.  “That was my grandpa,” says the frog. The cycle of life goes on.