Well, the Ukrainian Opera Marathon continues, sort of. According to Wikipedia, Bortniansky is "claimed" by both Ukraine and Russia. I cannot adjudicate this. Let's just call him Ukrainian, eh? There are already enough prominent Russian composers.
So, as you would probably have guessed, this isn't in Ukrainian; it has an Italian libretto--by Metastasio, no less. It's a one-act festival opera, written for a royal wedding; hence, it's not in his typical opera seria format. Do you know the story of Hercules at the Crossroads, sometimes known as The Choice of Hercules? Handel wrote an oratorio of that name, not to be confused with his plain ol' Hercules. Alcide is another name for Hercules. What's the difference between "Alcide" and "Ercole?" I truly could not say. Anyway, whatever his name is, it takes place before his labor and all that razzmatazz. He has to decide how his life is going to go; whether he wants to live an easy life of pleasure or a virtuous path of valor. He meets Edonide and Aretea, respective goddesses of these two things, listens to them, and ultimately chooses the latter, but Edonide reforms herself and comes along with him, the message being that pleasure isn't a bad thing when it's regulated by virtue. So there you have it.
I really liked this. Some very nice baroque music, and it's really interesting that Edonide has actual character development, which is not something you expect from allegorical figures. There are actually a few productions online, but I chose this one, and it's really good. A charming maestra conducts, and the countertenor in the title role, Viktor Andriichenko, has a very interesting, distinctive voice. Is there anything about the piece that would make me say, "that sounds characteristically Ukrainian?" Obviously not, but what could you possibly have been expecting? Check it out.
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