You can never have too much Handel. That's what I say. For whatever reason, baroque music has really been growing on me lately. My thirst is unquenchable!
Deidamia is a minor character from Greek mythology; she was the princess of Scryos with whom Achilles was romantically involved during the period while he was disguised by his father's friend as a girl to avoid being killed in the Trojan War, as predicted. The opera opens as the Greeks, led by Ulysses, come by to ferret him out and get him to fight for them. The other characters are Deidamia's friend Nerea, her father Licomede, and another Greek hero, Fenice.
So I feel like operatic tragedy, in the sense that we think of it, wasn't really a thing until the nineteenth century. And you couldn't consider this a tragedy, really. But what's interesting is that it does have more serious intent, and a certain amount of pathos, underlying it than any other Handel opera I've seen (for what it's worth, this may technically be his last opera; afterwards he devoted himself to English-language oratorios--some of which, however, are supposed to be signficantly opera-like). We know that Achilles is going to leave, and that he's going to be killed; the conclusion is all about recognizing the fleeting nature of pleasure and the necessity for embracing it while we have it. Handel (or his librettist) could easily have just completely changed the story, as he was certainly perfectly willing to do in other operas, but no, here we're made to confront the incipient tragedy.
Anyway, this was fun to watch as always, with great music. For the record, I am firmly anti-Trojan-War, which puts me at odds with the text, but that is OKAY. This production is basically a hoot, though it would definitely irritate tedious purists--and I have to admit, some of the incidental background characters are a bit much even for me. But basically, it's fun stuff: I shouldn't say "modernized;" it's really more out-of-time...as, I come to realize, most Handel I've seen has been. The Greeks arrive in a submarine at the beginning, and there are outrageous costumes galore and elaborate sets featuring tropical islands and docks on the ocean--the whole thing has a very oceanic feel, come to that. Seems appropriate; all these Greeks running around in the Mediterranean trying to get their shit together. The cast is all strong, notably Sally Matthews in the title role and Silvia Tro Santafé as Ulysses. The only thing I had a little trouble with was Olga Pasichnyk as Achilles. Very much to my surprise, this apparently wasn't originally a castrato role; it was always sung by a soprano. Which is fine, but there's certainly some potential confusion with a woman playing a man dressed as a woman (well, the same issue comes up in Rosenkavalierand no doubt others), but Pasichnyk really butches it up, leaving no doubt who she's meant to be. Still, whether it's the way she plays it or just something fundamental in the role, I found her alleged love for Deidamia kind of impossible to believe, which seems like a bit of a problem. Of course, Achilles has always been kind of a prick, so it may be true to life (...mythological life), but still. I'm not too sure.
Still, fuckin eh, man, Handel. I'm glad he wrote a shit-ton of operas, because I want to SEE a shit-ton of Handel operas.
No comments:
Post a Comment