I found experiencing the epic Opera Les Troyens by Berlioz on Saturday evening January 5th 2013 exhausting although with a five o’clock scheduled start I was prepared for a long session. I was not mistaken. As if the cinema management knew we were to have a long sitting they kept us standing outside until a few minutes before the scheduled beginning of preliminaries. As on my last visit I had booked an aisle seat to one side knowing that I would not have a stranger next to me in what had been a fairly full cinema theatre. In this instance there was a whole row vacant adjacent so I was able to move to the centre theatre which added to the enjoyment of the experience.
I had no advance knowledge of the story or the music other than knowing of Berlioz from the Symphony Fantastique, a record of which I thought I possessed but did not find so am listening to a performance on You Tube from August of 2011 Society des Concerto du Conservatoire, André Cluytens conducting at a BBC Promenade Concert, Other known pieces are his Romeo and Juliet and Harold en Italie. I also knew he had created an opera on Benvenuto Cellini and La Damnation de Faust which includes an appearance of Helen of Troy.
In the second interval we learn that the male lead Bryan Hymel as Aeneas, the Trojan military leader had appeared in one of the rare production at Convent Garden in June and July of 2013 and that he was only recruited to this production at the last minute after the house tenor Marcello Girordano pulled out of a role which tenors find difficult because of the sustained singing and range required, a fate which fell the great Placido Domingo previously. Hymel had only a two hour rehearsal of his role before the performance just before the New Year and this made his performance even more remarkable.
This was said to only be the second time the Opera has been performed at Metropolitan because of requirements with a dozen lead singers, a huge chorus of 120 and a full corps des ballet with lead dancers and other extras such as children who play young Trojans.
After reading the available information I find from photos that the Covent Garden production appears better staged and was available to hear live at the time. Even better I have now discovered the full opera is available on Youtube in a production from Paris and as a consequence I abandoned the intention to go an watch Quartet this afternoon, decided listen and watch again parts of the whole opera with Quartet rescheduled for next week as long as there are showings during the day. I had also forgotten that I am going see Les Misérables,, the film on Friday morning.
I was late setting off on Saturday and stopped in Shields to collect a second supply of ink cartridges only to find there was only three blacks left so got the rest of the five (one replacement) in colours. I therefore left myself only a few minutes spare to get some food and the ticket before the scheduled start. I went straight to the Asda sandwich deal counter parking nearby and found among the few items left a smoked salmon and cheese sandwich marked down from £2 to £1. It was delicious although eaten on the hoof as I walked from the supermarket to the cinema and attempted to obtain the ticket from the automated machine only to be told to go to the ticket counter where I discovered the problem was having booked two events at the same time.
My only knowledge of the Opera was from its title The Trojans a subject which been covered in our popular and high culture in a variety of ways with Troy and Brad Pitt 2004 and Helen of Troy back in 1966 and who will forget Elizabeth Taylor as Helen in the 1967 production of Dr Faustus with Richard Burton, and which they also performed on stage at the Oxford Playhouse. I went in search of the programme but as I did not find I assume I did not see. I did see Marlowe’s Dr Faustus at Stratford Royal Shakespeare Company in 1986and a production of Faust based on Goethe’s version at the Theatre Royal Newcastle.
The story of the Trojan wars has featured in a number of Operas Troilus and Cressida by William Walton and I have seen the William Shakespeare Play performed by the RSC, Sam Mendes, directed at the Theatre Royal with David Troughton as Hector and Ralph Fiennes as Troilus ( Alfred Burke was Nestor). The Belle Heléne by Offenbach, Dido and Aeneas by Purcell, King Priam by Michael Tippet and Achilles by Gay are other operatic versions. There are various poems and plays created by Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, and I am sure I have seen RSC little productions of the Trojan Women and Electra but this may be false memory. There were three radio plays in 1998 with Paul Scholfield and a TV mini series in 2003.
There was also the extraordinary Tantalus with nine plays which I saw over three days at the Theatre Royal and where I then acquired the script. (My search also discovered the programme from the Earls Court performance of AIDA sponsored by the Prince’s Trust and where he attended a performance with his then wife, Diana on 28th June 1988. Attended on Saturday 2nd July seats R 23 -27 although we quickly moved to overlook the stage from the side!)
Now to this extraordinary five act Opera Les Troyens. There is no memorable music such as from Aida, Madam Butterfly or Carmen but I am left with a sense of great emotional and at times passionate intensity, and extraordinary chorus work. The five acts into three sessions with the first two acts some 90 mins forming an opera on its own and where the principal singers take their bows. The first two acts cover the finding of the Trojan horse left by the departing Athenians after the years of siege and the city’s destruction after they misguidedly take into the City. The star of this two act opera is Deborah Voight as Cassandra who forecasts what happens and commits suicide with other Trojan women after Aeneas has been persuaded to lead the male army away to fight another day
I had not heard Deborah sing before but knew the name from the publicity over her firing from Covent Garden because of her excessive weight and her decision to use surgery to almost half her size. She gives an outstanding performance which was appropriately recognised at the closure of the second Act She has attempted to persuade her father King Priam and her fiancée Coroebus played by another known name Dwaine Croft who has sung some 25 roles at Met and whose brother Robert is the more well known Internationally, not to bring the horse into the city, Both perish as a consequence. The sequence where she persuades other Trojan women not to yield to the Athenians but die with her is most moving. Prior to this Aeneas the warrior is persuaded by the ghost of Hector to flee the city before the Athenians exit the Horse and to found a new Empire of Trojans in Italy.
I stayed for the first part of the interval where Voight is interviewed and then hastily went over to McDonalds to enjoy a 99p chicken burger and £1 20 or thereabouts good cup of coffee, returning for an interview with the Met‘s new conductor Fabio Luiso. I would not have survived otherwise.
The third and fourth acts combined are even longer and the Met production last well over an hour and a half with at last half an hour of dancing which for once impressed me greatly although led one member of the audience to comment about padding during the next interval.
The people of Tyre fled to North Africa and the city of Carthage and seven years late under the leadership of the Queen Dido, (played by Susan Graham), still mourning the murder of her husband. Graham also played Dido at the Théátre du Chátelet in the performance I am listening to at this moment.
The exiles from Tyre have prospered and now two events in quick succession are to significantly change fortunes. Aeneas, his son and his men have sought sanctuary from the storms at the sea the city’s harbour and bring various gifts of treasure to the Queen to beg her indulgence. These she accepts and offers the hospitality of her city and its people. However the good times are dramatically broken with the news that the Barbarians, the Numideans have declared war and are approaching the city having destroyed outposts. The city is short of arms and Aeneas offers his men to fight alongside placing his son in the care of Dido. The son is traditionally played by a young soprano whose name in this instance I am yet to find but who performance was impressive.
As a consequence of the alliance the enemy is defeated and the ballet is part of the celebrations as well as the couple falling in love and with great on stage passion as clearly Dido has great personal admiration for the young tenor Bryan Hymel aged 33. His voice is ideal for a role which as mentioned defeats many established tenors. L learned that Graham and Hymel have sung together before when he was only 24 and they instantly took to each other and this is clear in the performance and after their Act 4 interview. On stage the problem, of their romance is that Dido neglects her leadership which cause her adviser Narbal, played by Kwangchul Youn justified concern at the commencement of Act 4
In the second and shorter interval I slipped out at quickly for an ice cream, a single scup without toppings and cherry based which was very good although steep at £2,60 and worth about £1 less.
The final Act 5 lasts one hour and I find Aeneas about to make his way to Italy despite his love for Dido because of the appearance of Hector, Priam, Coroebus and Cassandra demanding and urging him to fulfil his destiny. When Dido finds out she curses him wishes his failure and damnation. When his fleet sets off she is so angry and distraught she orders the creation of a pyre of everything which reminds her of him and the Trojans. She prophesises that her fate will be remembered and that a future general Hannibal will destroy Italy and revenge her in so doing. She stabs herself to death with the sword of Aeneas and in that moment has a vision of the destruction of Carthage by Rome. The curse on Aeneas is echoed by all the Carthaginians witnessing the death of their Queen.
An opera to be considered great has to be more than a great spectacle or giving the audience their money’s worth in terms of length and number of principal artists. This not a great opera which I suspect means it is the main reason why it is not performed more frequently. However there were some I was there great singing by the principals. The experience will be memorable although I do not anticipate I will view again or purchase a recording.
This was not so for the modern opera Satyagraha where I purchased a CD recording. It was shown last night on Sky Arts and I recorded to view at a later date.
I had no advance knowledge of the story or the music other than knowing of Berlioz from the Symphony Fantastique, a record of which I thought I possessed but did not find so am listening to a performance on You Tube from August of 2011 Society des Concerto du Conservatoire, André Cluytens conducting at a BBC Promenade Concert, Other known pieces are his Romeo and Juliet and Harold en Italie. I also knew he had created an opera on Benvenuto Cellini and La Damnation de Faust which includes an appearance of Helen of Troy.
In the second interval we learn that the male lead Bryan Hymel as Aeneas, the Trojan military leader had appeared in one of the rare production at Convent Garden in June and July of 2013 and that he was only recruited to this production at the last minute after the house tenor Marcello Girordano pulled out of a role which tenors find difficult because of the sustained singing and range required, a fate which fell the great Placido Domingo previously. Hymel had only a two hour rehearsal of his role before the performance just before the New Year and this made his performance even more remarkable.
This was said to only be the second time the Opera has been performed at Metropolitan because of requirements with a dozen lead singers, a huge chorus of 120 and a full corps des ballet with lead dancers and other extras such as children who play young Trojans.
After reading the available information I find from photos that the Covent Garden production appears better staged and was available to hear live at the time. Even better I have now discovered the full opera is available on Youtube in a production from Paris and as a consequence I abandoned the intention to go an watch Quartet this afternoon, decided listen and watch again parts of the whole opera with Quartet rescheduled for next week as long as there are showings during the day. I had also forgotten that I am going see Les Misérables,, the film on Friday morning.
I was late setting off on Saturday and stopped in Shields to collect a second supply of ink cartridges only to find there was only three blacks left so got the rest of the five (one replacement) in colours. I therefore left myself only a few minutes spare to get some food and the ticket before the scheduled start. I went straight to the Asda sandwich deal counter parking nearby and found among the few items left a smoked salmon and cheese sandwich marked down from £2 to £1. It was delicious although eaten on the hoof as I walked from the supermarket to the cinema and attempted to obtain the ticket from the automated machine only to be told to go to the ticket counter where I discovered the problem was having booked two events at the same time.
My only knowledge of the Opera was from its title The Trojans a subject which been covered in our popular and high culture in a variety of ways with Troy and Brad Pitt 2004 and Helen of Troy back in 1966 and who will forget Elizabeth Taylor as Helen in the 1967 production of Dr Faustus with Richard Burton, and which they also performed on stage at the Oxford Playhouse. I went in search of the programme but as I did not find I assume I did not see. I did see Marlowe’s Dr Faustus at Stratford Royal Shakespeare Company in 1986and a production of Faust based on Goethe’s version at the Theatre Royal Newcastle.
The story of the Trojan wars has featured in a number of Operas Troilus and Cressida by William Walton and I have seen the William Shakespeare Play performed by the RSC, Sam Mendes, directed at the Theatre Royal with David Troughton as Hector and Ralph Fiennes as Troilus ( Alfred Burke was Nestor). The Belle Heléne by Offenbach, Dido and Aeneas by Purcell, King Priam by Michael Tippet and Achilles by Gay are other operatic versions. There are various poems and plays created by Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, and I am sure I have seen RSC little productions of the Trojan Women and Electra but this may be false memory. There were three radio plays in 1998 with Paul Scholfield and a TV mini series in 2003.
There was also the extraordinary Tantalus with nine plays which I saw over three days at the Theatre Royal and where I then acquired the script. (My search also discovered the programme from the Earls Court performance of AIDA sponsored by the Prince’s Trust and where he attended a performance with his then wife, Diana on 28th June 1988. Attended on Saturday 2nd July seats R 23 -27 although we quickly moved to overlook the stage from the side!)
Now to this extraordinary five act Opera Les Troyens. There is no memorable music such as from Aida, Madam Butterfly or Carmen but I am left with a sense of great emotional and at times passionate intensity, and extraordinary chorus work. The five acts into three sessions with the first two acts some 90 mins forming an opera on its own and where the principal singers take their bows. The first two acts cover the finding of the Trojan horse left by the departing Athenians after the years of siege and the city’s destruction after they misguidedly take into the City. The star of this two act opera is Deborah Voight as Cassandra who forecasts what happens and commits suicide with other Trojan women after Aeneas has been persuaded to lead the male army away to fight another day
I had not heard Deborah sing before but knew the name from the publicity over her firing from Covent Garden because of her excessive weight and her decision to use surgery to almost half her size. She gives an outstanding performance which was appropriately recognised at the closure of the second Act She has attempted to persuade her father King Priam and her fiancée Coroebus played by another known name Dwaine Croft who has sung some 25 roles at Met and whose brother Robert is the more well known Internationally, not to bring the horse into the city, Both perish as a consequence. The sequence where she persuades other Trojan women not to yield to the Athenians but die with her is most moving. Prior to this Aeneas the warrior is persuaded by the ghost of Hector to flee the city before the Athenians exit the Horse and to found a new Empire of Trojans in Italy.
I stayed for the first part of the interval where Voight is interviewed and then hastily went over to McDonalds to enjoy a 99p chicken burger and £1 20 or thereabouts good cup of coffee, returning for an interview with the Met‘s new conductor Fabio Luiso. I would not have survived otherwise.
The third and fourth acts combined are even longer and the Met production last well over an hour and a half with at last half an hour of dancing which for once impressed me greatly although led one member of the audience to comment about padding during the next interval.
The people of Tyre fled to North Africa and the city of Carthage and seven years late under the leadership of the Queen Dido, (played by Susan Graham), still mourning the murder of her husband. Graham also played Dido at the Théátre du Chátelet in the performance I am listening to at this moment.
The exiles from Tyre have prospered and now two events in quick succession are to significantly change fortunes. Aeneas, his son and his men have sought sanctuary from the storms at the sea the city’s harbour and bring various gifts of treasure to the Queen to beg her indulgence. These she accepts and offers the hospitality of her city and its people. However the good times are dramatically broken with the news that the Barbarians, the Numideans have declared war and are approaching the city having destroyed outposts. The city is short of arms and Aeneas offers his men to fight alongside placing his son in the care of Dido. The son is traditionally played by a young soprano whose name in this instance I am yet to find but who performance was impressive.
As a consequence of the alliance the enemy is defeated and the ballet is part of the celebrations as well as the couple falling in love and with great on stage passion as clearly Dido has great personal admiration for the young tenor Bryan Hymel aged 33. His voice is ideal for a role which as mentioned defeats many established tenors. L learned that Graham and Hymel have sung together before when he was only 24 and they instantly took to each other and this is clear in the performance and after their Act 4 interview. On stage the problem, of their romance is that Dido neglects her leadership which cause her adviser Narbal, played by Kwangchul Youn justified concern at the commencement of Act 4
In the second and shorter interval I slipped out at quickly for an ice cream, a single scup without toppings and cherry based which was very good although steep at £2,60 and worth about £1 less.
The final Act 5 lasts one hour and I find Aeneas about to make his way to Italy despite his love for Dido because of the appearance of Hector, Priam, Coroebus and Cassandra demanding and urging him to fulfil his destiny. When Dido finds out she curses him wishes his failure and damnation. When his fleet sets off she is so angry and distraught she orders the creation of a pyre of everything which reminds her of him and the Trojans. She prophesises that her fate will be remembered and that a future general Hannibal will destroy Italy and revenge her in so doing. She stabs herself to death with the sword of Aeneas and in that moment has a vision of the destruction of Carthage by Rome. The curse on Aeneas is echoed by all the Carthaginians witnessing the death of their Queen.
An opera to be considered great has to be more than a great spectacle or giving the audience their money’s worth in terms of length and number of principal artists. This not a great opera which I suspect means it is the main reason why it is not performed more frequently. However there were some I was there great singing by the principals. The experience will be memorable although I do not anticipate I will view again or purchase a recording.
This was not so for the modern opera Satyagraha where I purchased a CD recording. It was shown last night on Sky Arts and I recorded to view at a later date.
No comments:
Post a Comment