Is Purcell’s ‘semi-opera’ The Fairy Queen 'the greatest work for the stage by a British composer'? Who cares? - it's a gem, and this week we are treated to live streaming of that gem mounted brilliantly in a wonderfully witty and enchanted Glyndebourne production. It's available all week, from Monday 24th August till the following Monday. Go here for the link and Glyndebourne trailer. W
A wonderful week for opera lovers at home. And not just because it's Fairy Queen week. Read on to learn about the treat from the Met - further down this post. It's Verdi Week!
But first, Fairy Queen. It premiered in 1692 and was certainly the first great success of the hundreds of operas born of Shakespeare’s plays. (We viewed this production in 2018, and for many in our group it was the most joyful of all the operas from Shakespeare we explored. There’s a quick introduction here.)
Is it an opera? Who cares? Is it Midsummer Night’s Dream? Well, there’s no Shakespeare text in the Purcell pieces, but this production interweaves the Bard (in bits) with the beautiful music. The crazy plot of the play drives it and the enchantment holds it and the music weaves it together. Titania’s night with Bottom is set to Purcell’s “If love’s a sweet passion” Here’s conductor William Christie talking of how the baroque music is translated to the orchestra and thus to the stage.
It’s brilliant, glorious baroque music, ranked as Purcell’s greatest piece. (More about him here.) Variously described as a masque or semi-opera, it was in his day a fine example of "Restoration spectacular". And this production is a Glyndebourne spectacular in the best of that company’s tradition – splendid scenery, witty and wonderful choreography, a fine cast playing to a fine baroque orchestra. You’ll know some of the songs, as they are often concert pieces. But this gem of a production makes it clear the music deserves production as an opera – and the original Shakespeare is celebrated in both. More on the relation of play and music here. Spoiler alert: Oberon gets the child in a ‘happy happy ending – here.
And this production? As this reviewer put it, the production is ‘a riot, but not one without its moments of delicacy and beauty.’
Here’s a splendid quick summary of why you absolutely should see it.
A note about the viewing experience: Glyndebourne is triumphing in taking staged opera to the screen. Video director is François Roussillon, and his filming assumes a big screen, lighting is subtle and clever and you view as though from the audience, with advantage of close ups but always seeing the whole.
In case I haven't made it clear, I found this production a joy. Just what we need right now. Maestro Christie's summary of why this opera was right for Glyndebourne in 2009 was this: ‘Its all about summer, it’s about love, the good things… what more could one want, really?’
Warning – Only one more week of Glydebourne’s livestreaming - next week! ‘The final opera in #GlyndebourneOpenHouse season will be their biggest production ever - Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.’ More in next week's blog.
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.
..and from Opera Queensland, 'a heaven of happier times...'
In a splendid contribution to our lives, Opera Queensland is recording An Aria a Day during these hard days, releasing a new aria performance every day at 6pm, recorded in the homes of local artists. It's free and the recordings stay available. Check out the arias recorded so far, and if you're feeling low, listen to the great Australian baritone Peter Coleman-Wright performing Schubert’s Lied ‘An die Musik’ - 'To Music’). Here are the words in English. Or to stay with Purcell this week, check out Dimity Shepherd's version of Dido's lament (she named it 'Dido in Iso').
VIVA VERDI! Our treat from the Met
The Met is gifting us a Verdi week, with a fine performance of a Verdi opera every night. Together they cover a wide range of his creations with wonderful melodies, fascinating characters. Not, of course, all of his operas – he wrote 27. Here’s the list.
Want to know more about Verdi? Our brief introduction in 2018 is here. .
The Met’s selection covers much of the master’s life – but not screening in order chronologically. Here’s the dates, so you can see the work maturing.
· Luisa Miller, 1849
· Rigoletto, 1851
· Il trovatore, 1853
· La traviata, 1853
· Un ballo in maschera, 1859
· Don Carlos, 1867
· Falstaff, 1893
Many of these operas have featured in the Met’s live streamed treats over the now 24 weeks of an opera a night during lockdown. But none of the productions offered this week are repeats. The comparisons are fascinating, so for those who’ve watched Verdi offerings so far, I’ve inserted details of the productions already screened. Dates are all for Melbourne.
(Since the Met's week is a day behind, the Verdi extravaganza starts on our Tuesday. Meanwhile, on Monday, August 24 we have Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel - see my previous post.
Tuesday, August 25 Verdi’s Rigoletto This is Michael Mayer's 2013 'Las Vegas' production, starring Diana Damrau as Gilda with Piotr Beczała as a Frank Sinatra boss type - (rather too nice for the count in my view) and Željko Lučić as a formidable Rigoletto.
Thoughtful review here of how the radical interpretation works.
(Back at July 30 the Met screened the 1977 production of this opera with Ileana Cotrubas, Plácido Domingo, and Cornell MacNeil.
And then August 13, they gave us a Rigoletto from 1981, with Luciano Pavarotti.)
More on the opera here. Listen to Damrau and Lučić in the glorious Act 1 duet for father and daughter here.
Wednesday, August 26 Verdi’s Il Trovatore Starring Anna Netrebko, Dolora Zajick, Yonghoon Lee, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, and Stefan Kocán, conducted by Marco Armiliato. From October 3, 2015.
(Different from the production screened July 31 – that was the 2011 production with Sondra Radvanovsky, - but yes, Dolora Zajick as the gypsy, Dmitri Hvorostovsky as di Luna. Earlier - July 8 – we had the 1988 production, starring Éva Marton - when Dolora Zajick made her debut as Azucena. There she was joined by Luciano Pavarotti, and Sherrill Milnes.
Thursday, August 27
Verdi’s Luisa Miller Starring Sonya Yoncheva, Olesya Petrova, Piotr Beczała, Plácido Domingo, Alexander Vinogradov, and Dmitry Belosselskiy, conducted by Bertrand de Billy. From April 14, 2018.
(We were offered this opera on August 17 in the classic production with Renata Scotto, Plácido Domingo, 1979.)
Friday, August 28 Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera Starring Sondra Radvanovsky, Kathleen Kim, Stephanie Blythe, Marcelo Álvarez, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky, conducted by Fabio Luisi. From December 8, 2012.
(Heritage production from 1991 was screened August 21 with Luciano Pavarotti.)
Saturday, August 29 Verdi’s La Traviata Starring Diana Damrau, Juan Diego Flórez, and Quinn Kelsey, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. From December 15, 2018. More on the opera here.
(Too many Traviatae to list! Most recent, July 15 Ileana Cotrubaș, Plácido Domingo, and Cornell MacNeil, 1981.)
Sunday, August 30
Verdi’s Don Carlo This is heavy viewing - and special, ‘Verdi’ s darkest and most complex opera’, but often called his greatest.
The Met’s 2010 production was much praised, and had a fine cast. A long opera, it displays his handling of complex historical drama, and ‘unparalleled ability to musically communicate the struggles between people.’ . More on the opera here .
This 2010 production starred Alagna and Keenlyside both at their strongest vocally, with Marina Poplavskaya and Ferruccio Furlanetto - ‘a starry array of singers’ according to this review .
Monday, August 31
Verdi's Falstaff The Verdi week finishes appropriately, with his last and, many would claim, his best opera. Vulture describes Falstaff as ‘one of Verdi’s most perfect operas, the musical opposite of its blowsy title character. It is lean, compressed, lithe, and knowing — the last testament of a man who had made sovereigns and scoundrels sing, and had learned a thing or two about people along the way. I hope you’re not Falstaffed- out! This was a classic production by Robert Carsen, first at Covent Garden and then (2013) at the Met.
(Getting confused? We were offered the heritage 1992 Met production (screened here July 25th), and then Glyndebourne’s hilarious 2009 version, (week of Monday 27 July).
Like Glyndebourne, Carsen relocated the comedy to postwar Britain, but here it’s more about class, tinged with regret at the decline of the ruling class. ‘The backdrop of postwar London intensifies the friction between wild comedy and an autumnal haze of sadness.’ More here and here. The cast is brilliant. Ambrogio Maestri is Falstaff (in his 200th performance in the role!!)
As I previously remarked of Falstaff, it’s all about the women, Shakespeare's Merry Wives.
Here they are played by (left to right) Lisette Oropesa (Nannetta) Angela Meade (Alice), Stephanie Blythe (Mistress Quickly), and Jennifer Johnson Cano (Meg). . James Levine conducting.
Thanks, Met! And thanks, Verdi!
Wiki reports that following the success of Otello, Verdi commented, "After having relentlessly massacred so many heroes and heroines, I have at last the right to laugh a little."