From Glyndebourne, this week, it’s Hamlet - the opera. That is, the only successful one of some 40 attempts over the years to make an opera from Shakespeare’s play. By an Australian modern composer. And it was a palpable hit. Glyndebourne live streams that 2017 premiere on their YouTube channel from Monday 17th August for the whole week : trailer here.
Brett Dean is quoted here remarking before the opera's arrival in 2018 for the Adelaide Festival, "Here we were, a bunch of colonials, taking Shakespeare to the Brits. It was the sort of thing they could have got very sniffy about." They didn't - the reviews were ecstatic.
They also could have got sniffy about the re-use of Shakespeare. Like the play, it's not everyone's idea of a relaxing night's viewing. Indeed if you revere the play, it's at once familiar and disturbingly different. As Dean put it, his librettist, Matthew Jocelyn, " used only Shakespeare's words and, my God, they are good words." But they are spread across a newly condensed version of the well known story. Among other changes, Ophelia is made a more complex victim of the madness.
Most remarked is the use of Hamlet's most famous line: "or not to be". Listen here to one bit of the famous soliloquy, 'To be or not'. The pulling apart of the hallowed text was highly controversial, but grabbing and demanding.
Bachtrack called it 'the operatic equivalent of fridge magnet poetry'.
“Or not to be” are Hamlet's first solo words. The rest of the speech, and many other familiar lines, recur in the Players’ playing with words.
There's much more about this extraordinary modern opera on our website here. And videos and notes on Glyndebourne's site here. Listen here to the team, in preparation of the premiere Then listen to the music, and the way Dean creates, as this TLS review puts it, the uncanny.
And whatever your reaction, admit that making Rosencrantz and Guildenstern look-alike countertenors was a brilliant embellishment of the comedy in this tragedy. As was the libretto of the grave scene.
Did you see Hamlet in Adelaide, where it was a towering success? Read the review here .
And a thoughtful piece in the Conversation here.
(Dean, by the way, returned to the Adelaide Festival in March this year to conduct a special ASO concert. He contracted COVID19 on his way to Adelaide, one of the earliest cases, and was hospitalised. He's recovered.)
Sarah Connolly, singer of many parts
A note about Gertrude. The Glyndebourne premiere had Sarah Connolly play Hamlet’s mother.
Yes, we saw her last week do Caesar in Handel’s opera. And more recently she had a break from trouser roles when she played Fricka in Wagner’s Ring Cycle.
Are you in need of a good musical laugh after this Hamlet? Check out Connolly’s performance in 2009 at the Proms.
Warning!
– Only two more weeks of Glydebourne’s livestreaming - they tweeted this week, ‘We are very pleased to announce that the final opera in our #GlyndebourneOpenHouse season will be our biggest production ever - Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.’
Enjoy while we can. Fairy Queen is next week’s post topic.
Available until 16 Aug - Giulio Cesare
16-23 Aug - Hamlet
23-30 Aug - The Fairy Queen
30 Aug - 6 Sept - Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Elsewhere
Until 29 Jan| OperaVision is screening a crazy but musically marvellous version of Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman. From the Finnish National Opera and Ballet, directed by Kasper Holten.
that's it from me - Lyn 14 Aug 2020
Meanwhile....
And the Met is offering – for its Week 23
You can watch each of these at the appointed time by going to https://www.metopera.org/. Dates are for Melbourne. Comments by T the T.
Tuesday, August 18 Puccini’s Tosca Starring Patricia Racette, Roberto Alagna, and George Gagnidze, conducted by Riccardo Frizza. From November 9, 2013. See how Zelko Lucic – my favourite baddie baritone – handles Scarpia – my favourite baddie.
Wednesday, August 19 Zandonai’s Francesca da Rimini Starring Renata Scotto, Plácido Domingo, and Cornell MacNeil, conducted by James Levine. From April 7, 1984. Premiered 1914, a story of secret love against Daddy’s wish, ending badly. Try it, just because you’ve never heard of Zandonai (at least, I hadn’t), even though he wrote 13 operas.
Thursday, August 20 Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin Starring Anna Netrebko, Elena Maximova, Alexey Dolgov, Peter Mattei, and Štefan Kocán, conducted by Robin Ticciati. From April 22, 2017. The Met trots out its stock production by Deborah Warner (and Netrebko as its stock Tatiana), brilliantly contrasting the bleak Steppes with lavish St Petersburg. Will be worth watching. Review here, but with a different Onegin (Mariusz Kweicien). Listen to the last act here.
Friday, August 21 Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera Starring Aprile Millo, Harolyn Blackwell, Florence Quivar, Luciano Pavarotti, and Leo Nucci, conducted by James Levine. From January 26, 1991. A strange tale of regicide, set in Sweden so as not to offend local royalty or censors. I find the opera fascinating for its study of power; don’t know this production.
Saturday, August 22 Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra Starring Adrianne Pieczonka, Marcello Giordani, Plácido Domingo, and James Morris, conducted by James Levine. From February 6, 2010. Another study of power, with a lavish production set in 14th Century Genoa – and Domingo in the title role at age 69. Bachtrack review.
Sunday, August 23 Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia Starring Kathleen Battle, Rockwell Blake, Leo Nucci, Enzo Dara, and Ferruccio Furlanetto, conducted by Ralf Weikert. From December 3, 1988. John Cox’s familiar and fun production, should be well worth watching for Kathleen Battle as Rosina.
Monday, August 24 Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel Starring Judith Blegen, Frederica von Stade, Jean Kraft, Rosalind Elias, and Michael Devlin, conducted by Thomas Fulton. From December 25, 1982. An old but lavish production for children - in English. Frederica von Stade as Hansel should be terrific fun -listen to these splendid 'children' here.