The Merchant of Venice (1969 film) and doubled for Venice; and filming was completed in Rome, where Welles was editing "Don Quixote". The film itself was a shortened version of the play, Welles even eliminated the character of Portia from the film after his mistress Oja Kodar declined the role, due to her then-limited knowledge of English. Francesco Lavagnino, who had written the musical scores of Welles's previous two Shakespeare films, "Othello" (1952) and "Chimes at Midnight" (1966), provided a full musical score for this film. Welles completed the film in the summer of 1969, and gave a preview screening to Oja Kodar and her mother
The Merchant of Venice (opera) role of Shylock was sung by the baritone Lester Lynch. Lynch is an African American and this in the opinion of the critic of "The Guardian" gave the opera "a further racist edge...[and] a deliberately shocking contemporary resonance." The Bregenz production was recorded as a DVD by Unitel Classica in 2014, and issued together with a documentary DVD about the planning and development of the production directed by Mark Charles (Unitel 2072708-1/-2). Notes Sources The Merchant of Venice (opera) The Merchant of Venice is an opera by André Tchaikowsky (1935–1982) to a libretto, based on the Shakespeare play, by John