View: Next message | Previous message Next in topic | Previous in topic Next by same author | Previous by same author Previous page (May 1999, week 1) | Back to main OPERA-L page Join or leave OPERA-L Reply | Post a new message Search Options: Chronologically | Most recent first Proportional font | Non-proportional font ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 May 1999 23:25:58 +0000 Reply-To: "H.E.Elsom" Sender: Discussion of opera and related issues From: "H.E.Elsom" Subject: Admeto, Cambridge, 2May99 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Admeto Catherine Griffiths Aleste Kay Jordan Antigona Majella Byrne Trasimede Christine Botes Ercole Rodney Gibson Meraspe Douglas Bowen Orindo Ruth Massey Dancers Barabara Segal, Hugh Hillyard-Parker Cerberus Timothy Robertson Conductor Andrew Jones Director Richard Gregson Translated and edited by Andrew Jones Admeto was one of the most succesful of Handel's operas during his lifetime, and is full of good things. First performed in 1727, three years after Guilio Cesare and within a couple of years of Flavio and Radamisto, it had Seneniso in the title role and the Rival Queens, Cuzzoni and Bordoni as in the two soprano roles. They are in fact rival queens in the plot as well, one, Alceste, married to Admeto but believed dead, and the other, Antigona, about to be married to him. Alceste and Antigona are clearly related to Polly and Lucy in The beggar's opera, written in 1728. The story is that of Euripides' Alcestis, expanded into a melancholy romantic comedy with Admeto's discovery after Alceste's death that his first love, Antigona, is not dead after all. Although it's not quite as uncuttable as Ariodante, the action and emotional development is lucid. And the arias are first rate, with the couple that don't move the action on fine examples of the simile aria comparable to Va tacito. Yet Admeto is one of Handel's less performed operas today. (I think there is one CD in print, with Rene Jacobs as Admeto, so presumably a reissue.) Perhaps the blend of genuine tragedy and romantic farce is difficult to bring off. Admeto's physical and mental torment (caused initially by his wickedness as king) and Alceste's sacrifice for him are replaced by a complex of disguises, misunderstandings and mistaken identities more like Xerxes. The resurrected Alceste is disguised as a soldier, Antigona is disguised as a shepherdess, and everyone falls in love with pictures and reputations. There is also a rather naff scene in hell, when Alceste is tormented by demons and Ercole clobbers Cerberus. This sort of thing is felt to be fine in Calisto, which is all Ovidian camp, and in Zorastre, which is overloaded in every way. But it seems out of place in a drama which deals seriously with love, death and mourning in ways which are at times surprisingly modern. Think of Resnais' L'amour a mort, or even Truly, madly deeply. Gluck would have done the same job in two hours instead of four, without the risk of bad taste. (I'm not sure that he didn't.) But Euripides' play is supposed to be close to a satyr play, with Heracles roaring for pea soup. I think Handel comes close in Admeto to making an effective tragi-comedy of love and death that pushes at some realistic anxieties that are also absurd if you try to think about them in the abstract: how much does Admeto need to mourn Alceste (personally) given that she willingly gave her life for him? Isn't he entitled to marry Antigona, since he broke off their engagement because of Trasimene's deceit and now believes that Alceste is dead because of her own deceit? And isn't it possible to be in love with two people at once blamelessly? The Cambridge Handel Opera Group did a generally fine job of brining out the complexities of Admeto, which they performed uncut. (The programme includes a quotation from Tom Stoppard's The invention of love, which is interestingly relevant, not only because it is set in Hades but also because it deals with the need for love and the impossibility of love except as an self-induced illusion. In Admeto, the most passionate lovers are in love with pictures not people.) Catherine Griffiths was superb as Admeto. She has a terrific, rich but fluid low mezzo, and was expressive and musical. Kay Jordan perhaps didn't find quite the right tone as Alceste in diguise -- she spends a lot of time watching her rival furiously -- but she did a couple of terrific fury arias, and was very moving at the start of the opera. Majella Byrnes was more flexible as Antigona, getting the arch shepherdess with warbly runs spot on, but managing to be convicing in her act of clemenza at the end. She was given too much schtick in an otherwise well judged production. Catherine Botes, impressive two years ago as Bradamante, didn't have quite so much to work with as Trasimede, the mendacious brother, though she still has a fine, solid but flexible voice, sounding quite a bit smaller than Griffiths' this time round. Douglas Bowen gave a resonant account of Merapse's one (I think) aria. The main cause for toe-clenching was Rodney Gibson as Ercole, but it wasn't really his fault. His singing (only two arias, but exactly the sort you'd expect Ercole to sing) was better than all right, though not overwhelming. But a man of smallish average height and build in a blond wig and hairy poncho thing, he looked like Dionysos disguised as Heracles, or perhaps a politician pretending to be a wrestler. The scene in hell was similarly misjudged, with a scruffy little Cerberus -- I think they knew they couldn't do a scary one, so played it for laughs -- and a tatty hell-mouth with a flapping jaw. What did work was the two dancers, as demons in genuininely scary black costumes with insect-like appendages. They tormented Admeto at the beginning and Alceste in Hades in authentic-looking and very accurate dance. The orchestra was similarly effective. Andrew Jones' translation seemed more singable than the one he did for Alcina, though there were a couple of bad spots, including one of the most pointless and inelegant split infinitives I've ever heard. (It was in recitative, and could have been avoided by a minimal alternation to the music.) Some of the furniture from Alcina two years ago reappeared, painted white with black smears which might have been marble-effect, but actually looked like something off a junk-heap. But the set overall was well designed, with a tree-like silver false-proscenium on the stage to allow fast transition between scenes by means of a white curtain. The costumes looked reasonably in period. Overall, and with substantially the same cast, Admeto works a lot better than Alcina in a basic, performer driven production like this. Everything happens in Admeto because of someone's feelings (as it does in say, Ariodante). You don't need sweet illusion to set the tone, only a sense of humanity. Regards, Helen - H.E. Elsom he@helsom.demon.co.uk http://www.helsom.demon.co.uk/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Back to: Top of message | Previous page | Main OPERA-L page ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Back to the LISTSERV home page at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU.