Favorites of 2024: Live performances

We saw a lot of great live performances this year, so it was difficult to narrow my choice of favorites to just eight. In chronological order of performance:

Premier Ensemble of the San Francisco Girls Chorus with musical director Valerie Sainte-Agathe. Image source: San Francisco Girls Chorus

Antonio Vivaldi, Juditha Triumphans (Judith triumphant, 1716), libretto by Iacopo Cassetti.

Performers: Premier Ensemble of the San Francisco Girls Chorus, musical direction by Valerie Sainte-Agathe, stage direction by Céline Ricci, score arranged by Adam Cockerham.

Co-presenters and venue: San Francisco Girls Chorus and Ars Minerva; Z Space at Project Artaud, San Francisco; seen 9 March.

Antonio Vivaldi wrote many of his works for the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice. The Pietà was one of four orphanages that took in abandoned girls and provided musical training to those who showed talent; at various times Vivaldi was a teacher, music director and composer there.

So it's entirely fitting that the sacred oratorio Juditha Triumphans, written for the highly skilled women of the Pietà, was performed by the Premier Ensemble of the San Francisco Girls Chorus. The oratorio tells the Apocryphal story of the beautiful Bethulian widow Judith, who, when her city is beseiged by an Assyrian army commanded by Holofernes, goes to his camp and pretends to betray her people. But when she and her maid are left alone with Holofernes in his tent, she plies him with wine until he falls asleep, beheads him with his own sword, and escapes back to her city.

Judith beheading Holofernes, by Artemisia Gentileschi, ca. 1612. Image source: Wikimedia Commons

The score of the oratorio was arranged for a small instrumental ensemble and the arias were judiciously trimmed by theorbist Adam Cockerham. Stage director Céline Ricci assigned the role of Judith in turn to different members of the Premier Ensemble, suggesting that all women possess Judith's courage and strength. The singers were dressed in contemporary clothes, with each Judith being strapped by her compatriots into a breastplate symbolic of her warrior status. The transformation from one Judith to the next was often effected through a magic box onstage; one Judith would enter the box and after a few moments the next would emerge. Sharing the part of Judith was a meaningful way to distribute the taxing role among multiple young singers, who each fully embodied the heroine dramatically and vocally.

From Juditha Triumphans, the song of the Assyrians welcoming Juditha to their camp, "O quam Vaga," sung by members of the Premier Ensemble accompanied by Corey Jamason on harpsichord:

https://youtu.be/d1WP3N-dEzI?t=3218

After their excellent performance of Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas with Voices of Music at the 2018 Berkeley Festival and Exhibition, the San Francisco Girls Chorus did full justice to another great Baroque work written for young women with Juditha Triumphans. More, please! Next, might I suggest John Blow's Venus and Adonis (the other opera that we know was performed in the 1680s at Josias Priest's boarding school in Chelsea for "young gentlewomen"), or more music composed for the Ospedali? For more information on their upcoming projects please visit the SFGC website.

Clockwise from top left: Gregório Taniguchi, Mischa Bouvier, Julie Bosworth, Jesse Blumberg, Steven Brennfleck, and Agnes Vojtkó. Image source: American Bach Soloists

Johann Sebastian Bach, St. John Passion (1724), librettist unknown (possibly Bach himself).

Performers: Gregório Taniguchi (Evangelist), Mischa Bouvier (Jesus), Jesse Blumberg (Pilate), Daniel Yoder (Peter), Julie Bosworth (soprano), Agnes Vojtkó (mezzo-soprano), and other soloists, with American Bach Soloists conducted by Jeffrey Thomas.

Presenter and venue: American Bach Soloists; St. Mark's Lutheran Church, San Francisco; seen 10 March.

Bach's Johannes-Passion was written for his first Good Friday in Leipzig in 1724. Just a few weeks shy of its 300th anniversary, Jeffrey Thomas conducted a taut, compelling performance of the drama of Christ's condemnation and crucifixion. His soloists were uniformly excellent, but I must make a special mention of mezzo-soprano Agnes Vojtkó's moving rendition of "Es ist vollbracht!" The indefatigable tenor Gregório Taniguchi as the Evangelist and the bright-voiced soprano Julie Bosworth were both late substitutes in their roles and performed admirably. For information about the remaining concerts in ABS's 2024–25 season, please visit the ABS website.

Jory Vinikour and Rachel Barton Pine. Image source: Early Music in Columbus

Johann Sebastian Bach: Sonatas and Partitas (1717–23)

Performers: Rachel Barton Pine, Baroque violin, with Jory Vinikour, harpsichord.

Presenter and venue: San Francisco Early Music Society; St. Mark's Lutheran Church, San Francisco; seen 7 April.

This concert featured two of Bach's Sonatas for violin and harpsichord (No. 1 in B minor and No. 3 in E major), along with the great Partita for solo violin in D minor. All were written by Bach during his years in Cöthen, before he took the position of Thomaskantor in Leipzig. Rachel Barton Pine gave bold, extroverted interpretations of these works, particularly the monumental, 13-minute-long Chaconne of the Partita. It's the supreme test of any violinist, and she met its challenges with flawless technique. Although this was not as searching or inward an interpretation as some I've heard, Barton Pine's bravura performance was an equally valid reading and a stunning achievement. The 2024–25 San Francisco Early Music Society season continues; details can be found on the SFEMS website, where pay-what-you-can tickets are available.

Amanda Forsythe. Image source: Helen Sykes Artist Management

Awake, Sweet Love: English music for voice and viols (late 16th–early 17th century)

Performers: Amanda Forsythe, soprano, with Voice of the Viol, Elizabeth Reed, director.

Presenter and venue: San Francisco Early Music Society Berkeley Festival and Exhibition; Berkeley City Club; seen 11 June.

Amanda Forsythe is a pure-toned soprano who can manage astonishing flights of coloratura with apparent ease. This program called on a different talent: conveying deep emotion through deceptively simple means. Accompanied by the consort Voice of the Viol led by Elizabeth Reed, Forsythe performed love songs by English composers such as John Dowland, William Byrd, and John Wilbye, who bridged the time of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I. The Julia Morgan-designed Berkeley City Club ballroom, with its wood panelling and bright acoustic, was the perfect venue for this concert. If ultimately I think I prefer Forsythe in 17th- and 18th-century opera, it was still wonderful to hear her in this intimate repertory. This is the second of three entries in this list presented by the San Francisco Early Music Society, which seems to be going from strength to strength under the leadership of director Derek Tam (himself a well-regarded early music performer).

The Fortune Teller, Jean Frederic Bazille, 1869; The Death of Dido, Joseph Stallaert, c. 1872. Image source: The Handel Opera Project

Antonio Caldara: The Card Game (Il giuoco del Quadriglio, 1734), librettist unknown (possibly Pietro Metastasio).

Performers: Eliza O'Malley (Livia), Courtnee Rhone (Clarice), Daphne Touchais (Camilla), Katherine Gray (Ottavia); stage director Olivia Freidenreich.

Henry Purcell: Dido and Aeneas (1688?), libretto by Nahum Tate.

Performers: Sara Couden (Dido), Wayne D. Wong (Aeneas), Daphne Touchais (Belinda), Katherine Gray (2nd Lady), Don Hoffman (Sorcerer), Eliza O'Malley, Ellen St. Thomas and Reuben Zellman (Witches); stage director Ellen St. Thomas.

Presenter and venue: The Handel Opera Project; First Church of Christ Scientist, Berkeley; seen 15 June.

I'm of the school that Henry Purcell's 50-minute-long Dido and Aeneas is a full program all by itself, on stage or record, and needs no pairing (with the possible exception of John Blow's Venus and Adonis, the opera that Dido and Aeneas was clearly modelled on). So I approached this double bill with a bit of trepidation. That trepidation was only heightened when I noticed a banjo and electric bass player (Ryan Danley) listed among the instrumentalists, and that the Sorceress in Dido had become a Sorcerer (in the oldest surviving score the role is in the alto range).

And, in fact, apart from the vocal and instrumental forces required, there isn't really any connecting thread that I could discern between Caldara's witty comedy and Purcell's profound tragedy. The Card Game portrays a hand of quadrille played by four argumentative friends (the program helpfully included a reproduction of an 18th-century guide to the game). As one character sings, "card playing reveals your real character, whether you're winning or losing," and each player sings an aria illustrative of her personality—blithe, impatient, competitive, moralizing—until they all become frustrated and quit the game with a final chorus and invitation to dance.

It's a soufflé-light entertainment originally written for the Habsburg Archduchess Maria Theresa to perform in on her 17th birthday (she sang Clarice, while her sister Maria Anna sang Livia), and it was given a charming staging by Olivia Freidenreich. Perhaps a more closely related companion piece would have been Caldara's Le cinesi (The Chinese women, 1735), written for Maria Theresa to perform in on her 18th birthday, or Gluck's version of two decades later, which was Vittoria Tesi's final opera performance.

But we were there for Dido, and weren't disappointed. Sara Couden gave a magnificent performance in the title role, her deep, powerful alto conveying all the sorrow of the wronged queen. Daphne Touchais was an excellent Belinda, at first urging her queen to love the hero Aeneas (Wayne D. Wong) and too late realizing that her counsel has brought disaster.

There were subtle touches throughout Ellen St. Thomas's staging, which made good use of the unusual space in the beautiful Bernard Maybeck-designed church. And Danley's electric bass provided some eerie rumbling sound effects at the change of scene from Dido's court to the cave of the sinister Sorcerer (Don Hoffman) and his trio of witches (Eliza O'Malley, Ellen St. Thomas and Reuben Zellman). It was a production that made the most of its strengths, particularly Couden's memorable assumption of the title role. For current and future projects see The Handel Opera Project's website.

The servant Leporello (Donghoon Kang) clings to his master Don Giovanni (Hyungjin Son) in the Merola Opera Program's production of Don Giovanni. Photo credit: Kristen Loken; image source: SF Classical Voice

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Don Giovanni (1787)

Performers: Hyungjin Son (Don Giovanni), Donghoon Kang (Leporello), Lydia Grindatto (Donna Anna), Viviana Aurelia Goodwin (Donna Elvira), Moriah Berry (Zerlina), Justice Yates (Masetto), Benjamin R. Sokol (Commendatore), and Michael John Butler (Don Ottavio), with the San Francisco Opera Center Orchestra conducted by Stefano Sarzani; stage direction by Patricia Racette.

Presenter and venue: Merola Opera Program; Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall, San Francisco Conservatory of Music; seen 3 August.

As I wrote in my full review, "the inspiration for director Patricia Racette's production of Don Giovanni was the neorealist film movement in postwar Italy." But "her focus was less on the concept and more on helping the performers create fully fleshed-out characterizations. Interactions among the characters were also carefully thought through. As a result, this seemed more like a true ensemble work than merely a showcase for Hyungjin Son's excellently-sung Don Giovanni. . .Many a major opera company would love to be able to produce a Don Giovanni so well-performed and -directed." For future productions and showcases, see the Merola Opera Program website.

Ambroisine Bré. Image source: Olyrix.com

The Sound of Music in Versailles (late 17th–early 18th century)

Performers: Ambroisine Bré (mezzo-soprano), with Les Talens Lyriques directed by Christophe Rousset.

Presenter and venue: San Francisco Early Music Society; First Church UCC, Berkeley; seen 12 November.

What a privilege to see the renowned Christophe Rousset and musicians from his ensemble Les Talens Lyriques. They appeared twice on my Favorites of 2021: Recordings list, and could have appeared again this year with Lully's Acis et Galatée (Aparté AP269), in which Ambroisine Bré sang Galatea. She also sang Climene in Francesco Cavalli's L'Egisto (Château de Versailles Spectacles CVS 076), another candidate for my favorites list that was cut (for reasons of space, not quality).

The program was French music primarily from the time of Louis XIV by Lambert and Lully, with two rarely performed cantates by Montéclair that were first published in 1728, during the reign of Louis XV, but may have been written earlier. Lambert's music was simpler and each song tended to focus on a single feeling or state of mind, while the Lully and Montéclair selections were more like miniature operas, calling on Bré to express a wide range of emotions. Her voice is lovely, with an appealing richness in its lower range. As Christophe Rousset says in the preview video below, this is music of intimacy and refinement, and Bré and Les Talens Lyriques were its ideal exponents.

https://youtu.be/op0TH9lSd9c

For more information about the remaining concerts in the 2024–25 season, please see the SFEMS website.

Alexa Anderson as the title character in La Flora. Image source: Ars Minerva

Antonio Sartorio and Marc'Antonio Ziani: La Flora (1681), libretto by Novello Bonis.

Performers: Alexa Anderson (Flora), Jasmine Johnson (Pompeo), Wayne Wong (Silla), Aura Veruni (Emilia), Sara Couden (Servio), Nina Jones (Geminio), and others; stage director Céline Ricci.

Presenter and venue: Ars Minerva; ODC Theater, San Francisco; seen 17 November.

All opera involves suspension of disbelief, but the lieto fine or "happy ending" of Baroque opera is a convention that can stretch credulity past the breaking point. After three hours of misunderstandings, reversals, threats, betrayals, and anguish, in the final scene all conflicts are abruptly resolved and the proper couples are united at last.

But in the end is everything always made right, and are the right couples always united? Sometimes (as in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea (The Coronation of Poppea, 1642), or Handel's Agrippina, 1709) that question is raised explicitly, but even when it seems we're supposed to take the happy ending at face value we can feel a distinct unease.

In La Flora, director Céline Ricci brilliantly heightened that unease. The Roman ruler Silla (Wayne Wong) orders his son-in-law Servio (Sara Couden) to divorce Silla's daughter Emilia (Aura Veruni) so that she can be married instead to Pompeo (Jasmine Johnson). The new marriage is planned for Sulla's political advantage; the feelings of Emilia and Servio, who love each other, as well as those of Pompeo and Flora (Alexa Anderson), who are also a couple, are not consulted.

Servio obeys Silla's orders to divorce the stunned Emilia, but then dies when he attempts to lead a rebellion and kill Pompeo. Emilia is left bereft and in a state of shock, which was depicted with chilling verisimilitude by Ricci and Veruni. Her status as a sexual pawn in her father's political game is made wrenchingly clear to her, and to us. No happy ending is ever going to be possible for her, and indeed in the final scene Ricci imagines the opera's characters taking matters into their own hands to elude the dictator's calculated arrangements.

Once again, as she writes in her director's note, Ricci's staging of a centuries-old opera was "more than an exercise in musical archaeology." In La Flora, "the human cost of political machinations is illuminated—a reality as relevant today as it was in ancient Rome or 17th century Venice." On a budget several orders of magnitude smaller than that of our civic opera company, she brought together all the elements necessary for another incisive Ars Minerva production: a restored performing score by theorbist Adam Cockerham, an excellent period-instrument ensemble led by Matthew Dirst, a vocally and dramatically compelling cast, Entropy's scene-setting projections, Marina Polakoff's costumes (especially a series of glittering gowns for Flora), Joe McClinton's colloquial supertitles, and her own keenly intelligent direction.

As ever, Ricci's work brought us much pleasure this year. It's fitting that my list of favorite performances of 2024 begins and ends with her. For more on her past and future projects, please see the Ars Minerva website.

My Favorites of 2024:

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• Recorded music
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Favorites of 2024: Recorded music

Favorite recorded music of 2024

Opera

This was an especially rich year for new discoveries in opera. I limited myself to five choices, but my list could easily have been twice as long. In alphabetical order by composer:

Ludwig van Beethoven: Fidelio (1814), libretto by Joseph Sonnleithner (1805), Stephan von Breuning (1806 revisions) and Georg Friedrich Treitschke (1814 revisions).

Performers: Gundula Janowitz (Leonore), René Kollo (Florestan), Lucia Popp (Marzellina), Manfred Jungwirth (Rocco), Hans Sotin (Don Pizarro), Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Don Fernando), accompanied by Wiener Staatsopernchor and Wiener Philharmoniker conducted by Leonard Bernstein.

Recording: Deutsche Grammophon 474 420-2 (2 CDs); recorded 1978.

For regular readers of E&I this choice may cause some puzzlement. I'm on record as being ambivalent about Beethoven, about much 19th-century opera, and about the singspiel—with its spoken German dialogue—as a form. Also: it has a tenor hero, on this recording sung by René Kollo, whose voice sounds to my ears somewhat strained and constricted at the higher end of his range.

I would in no way claim that this is the best version of Fidelio available; I don't have a sufficient basis for comparison. But this version features two of my favorite singers: Gundula Janowitz (who gave definitive performances of Mozart's Pamina, Strauss's Four Last Songs, and his Orchestral Lieder) and Lucia Popp (a great Queen of Night, Susanna and Sophie).

Florestan (Kollo) has been condemned as a political prisoner by Don Pizarro (Hans Sotin), who spreads the rumor that Florestan has died. But Florestan's wife Leonore (Janowitz), disguised as a young man, "Fidelio" (the faithful one), goes to work in the prison to search for him. The warden Rocco (Manfred Jungwirth) is cheerfully corrupt but has occasional twinges of conscience. His good-hearted daughter Marzelline (Popp) falls in love with Fidelio, to the dismay of her would-be lover Jaquino (Adolf Dallapozza). But even if Fidelio can deflect Marzelline's impassioned attentions and locate Florestan in the dungeons of Don Pizarro, how can she win his freedom?

Fidelio is based on a French opera, Pierre Gaveaux's Léonore (1798), with a libretto by Jean Nicholas Bouilly. Winton Dean wrote of Léonore,

The compound of realism, low life and earthy humour on the one hand. . .and heroic endeavour, a last-minute rescue and an elevating moral on the other is typical of French opera in the revolutionary decade. [1]

It's also characteristic of two German operas well-known to Beethoven, Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Rescue from the Harem, 1783) and Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute, 1791); the sound-world of Fidelio is at times especially similar to the latter. As with Mozart, in Beethoven's opera the music of love and joy is supremely lovely, but not always unmixed with other emotions. In "Mir ist so wunderbar" (To me it is so wonderful), an ensemble from Act I, Marzelline sings of her love for Fidelio and her hope that he will love her in return, while Fidelio is fearful of exposure, Rocco looks on as the indulgent father, and Jaquino is wracked with jealousy:

https://youtu.be/A9l1wKCv9nE

In music writer Ralph Moore's survey of Fidelio recordings he says of Janowitz's Leonore that it is "a role not entirely suited to her lovely voice"; he thinks she sings too beautifully to be convincing as someone trying to pass as a young man. I think that on this recording she is a superb exponent of some of Beethoven's most lyrical music. Opera already requires a suspension of disbelief, and I can't be sorry that Janowitz does not have a more convincingly masculine sound. Instead I'm glad to be able to experience such beauty, most especially at this moment.

Marc-Antoine Charpentier: David et Jonathas (1688), libretto by François Bretonneau.

Performers: Reinoud Van Mechelen (David), Caroline Arnaud (Jonathas), David Witczal (Saul), Francois-Olivier Jean (La Pythonisse/Witch of Endor), Antonin Rondepierre (Joabel), Geoffroy Bufiere (Ghost of Samuel), accompanied by Ensemble Marguerite Louise conducted by Gaétan Jarry.

Recording: Château de Versailles Spectacles CVS102 (2 CDs + DVD/Blu-Ray); recorded 2022.

Marc-Antoine Charpentier had the bad luck to be a contemporary of Jean-Baptiste Lully. In 1672 Lully bought the privilege of the Opéra, essentially a lifetime monopoly on opera production in Paris and environs. Charpentier had to look elsewhere for employment.

In the early 1680s he was appointed as music director at the Jesuit Collège de Louis-le-Grand and church of St. Louis. He composed sacred music dramas for the Jesuits that were performed between the acts of tragic plays on Biblical subjects. David et Jonathas (David and Jonathan) was written for the Collège and performed in conjunction with Pierre Chaillmart's Latin play Saül. Like the other plays and the music-dramas for the Jesuits, these were performed by all-male casts.

Not so this production, captured both on CD and in an excellent staged production on the included DVD/Blu-Ray, where the soprano role of Jonathas is sung by Caroline Arnaud (there are also women among the dancers and chorus). Apart from a moment's disorientation when watching the DVD at Jonathas' first entrance (Arnaud does not look very boyish, and for a few seconds we were unsure of who this new character was), this caused us no difficulties, and follows a common modern practice when performing this opera. The singers are all very fine and the production is well staged in the Royal Chapel of Versailles. Of particular note are the costumes by fashion designer Christian Lacroix; the bejeweled La Pythonisse (The Witch of Endor) is especially spectacular:

https://youtu.be/z68upAcfHBA

Be forewarned: as those of you familiar with the Old Testament may remember, it doesn't end well for Saul or Jonathas (or pretty much anyone else around David; he left quite the swath of destruction in his wake). But despite the horrors depicted onstage, the music of this dual tragedy is exquisite.

Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre, Céphale et Procris (1693), libretto by Joseph-François Duché de Vancy.

Performers: Reinoud van Mechelen (Céphale), Déborah Cachet (Procris), Ema Nikolovska (L'Aurore), Samuel Namotte (Arcas), Lore Binon (Dorine), accompanied by a nocte temporis and the Choeur de Chambre de Namur conducted by van Mechelen.

Recording: Château de Versailles Spectacles CVS119; recorded 2023.

Céphale et Procris was Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre's first and only opera. As listeners of this recording can attest, it is filled with striking and beautiful music. Her contemporary Hilaire Rouillé du Coudray wrote, "I have great hopes for the new opera by la petite La Guerre. I have seen two rehearsals; it will be very good." However, the work was not well received and was only given a few performances. It's not clear why it failed, but it can't be ruled out that it was rejected by the public because its composer was a woman. It may not have helped that it was also the first opera written by its librettist, Joseph-François Duché de Vancy. Whatever the reason(s), Jacquet de La Guerre never attempted another drama for the stage.

Based on Ovid's Metamorphoses, Céphale et Procris tells a story of humans as the playthings of the gods. Céphale and Procris are about to celebrate their wedding, but the goddess Aurora desires Céphale for herself and sends a priestess to interrupt the festivities with the message that their union is forbidden by the gods. Instead, Procris is commanded to marry Prince Borée; later, Aurora will abduct Céphale and sow doubts in Procris' mind about his faithfulness.

From Act II, the farewell of Procris (Déborah Cachet) and Céphale (Reinould van Mechelen) after they have learned of the goddess's decree, "Le Ciel m'avait flatté de la vaine espérance" (The heavens have flattered me with a vain hope):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xet4wLiaPA4

Although in this opera Jacquet de La Guerre generally followed the conventions of Lullian tragedy, she departed from them in the stunning final scene. Aurora repents, assuages Procris' doubts and jealousies, and tells her that her marriage to Céphale can proceed. Overjoyed, Procris rushes to reunite with Céphale. However, Borée, enraged by the sudden reversal of his plans, attacks Céphale. In the melée Céphale shoots an arrow that strikes Procris, mortally wounding her. As her life ebbs, the music grows slower and quieter, and the phrases are separated by lengthening pauses; with Céphale we listen to her last breaths. In despair he vows to join her in the Underworld; at his final words marking his own death, the opera simply ends, without any final chorus or instrumental passage. [2]

Contemporary audiences may have been shocked by this innovation; perhaps it is another reason the opera was not accepted. Fortunately in this recording it has now received a performance that enables us to appreciate its many remarkable qualities.

Jean-Philippe Rameau: Les Boréades (1763), libretto attributed to Louis de Cahusac.

Performers: Mathias Vidal (Abaris), Nicolas Brooymans (Borée), Déborah Cachet (Alphise), Caroline Weynants (Sémir), accompanied by Collegium 1704 conducted by Václav Luks.

Recording: Château de Versailles Spectacles CVS026; recorded 2020.

Les Boréades is a story of the defiance of the gods: Alphise (Déborah Cachet), queen of Bactria, loves Abaris (Mathias Vidal), a handsome stranger whose parentage is unknown (he has been raised by Adamas (Benoît Arnould), the High Priest of Apollo—perhaps that's a clue?). By time-honored custom, the Queen of Bactria must marry one of the descendants of Boréas (Nicolas Brooymans), the God of the North Wind. Queen Alphise decides instead to abdicate and marry Abaris, giving him a golden arrow bestowed on her by Amour (Helena Hozová). But before the rites can be concluded the angry Boréas sweeps in and abducts Alphise. He takes her to his realm, where his two sons vie for her hand. Brandishing the golden arrow, Abaris follows to attempt a rescue. A mortal cannot successfully oppose the will of the gods—but is Abaris truly a mere mortal, or does he have a certain powerful god on his side?

Rameau's final opera, written when he was 80 years old, Les Boréades was never publicly performed during his lifetime. Its first full staging actually didn't take place until 1982 at the Aix-en-Provence Festival with a largely British cast conducted by John Eliot Gardiner. After Gardiner's landmark first full recording came out in 1984 it was another 20 years until the staging of the opera directed by Robert Carsen and conducted by William Christie was released (to mixed reviews for the staging) on DVD. Since then Les Boréades has remained a rarity—at least until recently.

Like the proverbial buses, recordings of Les Boréades can take forever to arrive, but when they do there are three all at once. Sixteen years after Christie, Václav Luks' concert version was issued by Château de Versailles Spectacles. Just one year later the Komische Oper/Opéra de Dijon coproduction directed by Barrie Kosky and conducted by Emmanuelle Haïm came out on DVD. This year another recording of the complete opera has just been released, conducted by György Vashegyi, with the vocally stunning Sabine Devielhe as Alphise. We're spoiled for choice, and with its excellent cast Vashegyi's version is self-recommending.

Luks' version has not been put entirely into the shade, however. Luks' pacing of the opera is less frenzied than Vashegyi's, but still generates plenty of excitement, and his French and Belgian cast sing superbly.

https://youtu.be/_qqCWrWjExQ

One of the things about Les Boréades that has attracted conductors is the richness of its orchestration. As you might expect of an opera about the God of the North Wind, flutes, oboes, clarinets and bassoons are prominent. And when the rising of the wind is musically represented, the orchestra and chorus can whip up quite a storm (ends at 1:14:20). Rameau was also structurally innovative; the scenes linked in the previous sentence bridge Act III and Act IV without pause or the need for a change of scenery, sweeping the drama forward. Even at the very end of his long life, Rameau continued to perfect his art.

Antonio Sartorio: L'Orfeo (1672), libretto by by Aurelio Aureli.

Performers: Ellen Hargis (Orfeo), Suzie Le Blanc (Euridice), Ann Hallenberg (Aristeo), Anne Grimm (Autonoe), Josep Cabré (Chirone, Bacco), Harry van der Kamp (Esculapio, Pluto), accompanied by Teatro Lirico conducted by Stephen Stubbs.

Recording: Vanguard Classics 99194/Challenge Classics CC72020; recorded 1998.

This choice is a bit of a ringer, as this year is not the first time I've heard this recording. I've owned it for probably 20 years, but it had been more than a decade since I'd last listened to it. I was inspired to do so by Ars Minerva's production of Sartorio's La Flora (see Favorites of 2024: Live and streamed performances). And within moments of putting it on again, I discovered anew how wonderful this recording is. It was recorded live at the Early Music Festival Utrecht, but it sounds like a well-recorded studio version (applause has thankfully been edited out and there is no stage noise).

The opera is a highly elaborated retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice story. In this version Orfeo's brother Aristeo is a rival for Euridice's affections, and neglects his own lover Autonoe. Orfeo becomes so jealous that he sends a shepherd boy, Orillo, to murder Euridice (!). So the story is changed almost beyond recognition, including cameo appearances by the centaur Chiron, Achilles, and Hercules.

The libretto may be a mashup of mid-17th century opera conventions—a quartet of ill-matched lovers, a comically lustful nurse (Erinda) played by a male tenor in drag, a sage advisor (Esculapio) whose wisdom is ignored—but the music is absolutely gorgeous. When Orfeo (Ellen Hargis) learns of Euridice's death by snakebite, he sings a sorrowful lament—even though he'd sent Orillo to murder her!—and then sinks into sleep (sleep scenes being, of course, another Baroque opera convention). While unconscious he is visited by the spirit of Euridice (Suzie Le Blanc), who chastises him for not rescuing her from the Underworld in "Orfeo, tu dormi?" (Orfeo, are you sleeping?):

https://youtu.be/g6rqWlDNjGY

So many thanks once again to Ars Minerva for enabling me to rediscover this musical gem.

You will have noticed that three of my five favorite opera recordings this year were produced by Château de Versailles Spectacles. At a time when many labels are retreating from opera and, indeed, from physical media entirely, CVS continues to issue a stream of beautifully packaged recordings of superb performances of both acknowledged and underappreciated French Baroque masterpieces. It's no wonder it received 2022 Label of the Year from the International Classical Music Awards. In making the award the judges commended the label for "the attractiveness of the works (many of them world premiere recordings, and practically all of them recorded in the Palace of Versailles), the quality of the ensembles and artists, the excellent quality of the sound recordings and a presentation so luxurious that it can only be described as Versaillesque." Let us hope that they are able to continue long into the future.

Vocal music

Franz Schubert: An Die Musik and A Bouquet of Schubert

Performers: Elly Ameling, soprano; Dalton Baldwin, piano.

Recordings: Philips 410 037-2, Etcetera 1009; recorded 1983 and 1984.

I was first alerted to the wonderful Dutch soprano Elly Ameling by the Bollywood blogger Memsaab, who, in the comments of my post on The songs of Erich Korngold and Reynaldo Hahn, recommended Ameling's album of Schubert and Schumann lieder with Jorg Demus (piano) and Hans Deinzer (clarinet) as a place to continue my exploration of art song. Not for the first time, I regret not following up sooner on one of her recommendations.

During Ameling's active career (she retired in 1995), she was primarily a recitalist, and she approaches these songs with refinement and elegance—I might almost say delicacy. She does not over-emote, and she and Baldwin choose tempi that seem just right. Her voice has a beauty and warmth that makes for highly pleasurable listening, as in the title song of An Die Musik (words by Franz Adolph Friedrich von Schober):

https://youtu.be/PPRXPVzqx9I

An die Musik Du holde Kunst, in wie viel grauen Stunden, Wo mich des Lebens wilder Kreis umstrickt, Hast du mein Herz zu warmer Lieb entzunden, Hast mich in eine beßre Welt entrückt. Oft hat ein Seufzer, deiner Harf entflossen, Ein süßer, heiliger Akkord von dir, Den Himmel bessrer Zeiten mir erschlossen, Du holde Kunst, ich danke dir dafür.

To music Oh beautiful art, in so many dark hours, When the wild circle of life has entangled me, You have kindled my heart to a glowing love, And have carried me away into a better world. Often a sigh has flowed from your harp, A sweet and sacred chord of yours, Which opened up to me the heaven of better times. Oh beautiful art, I thank you for that.

Alessandro Grandi: Venetian Christmas Vespers 1630

Performers: Laura Heimes, soprano; Jennifer Ellis Kampani, soprano; John Taylor Ward, bass-baritone; accompanied by Voices of Music, directed by Hanneke van Proosdij and David Tayler.

Recording: Voices of Music CD; recorded 2013, issued 2017.

This recording is a reconstruction of the First Vespers on Christmas Eve as it might have been performed in 17th-century Venice. But despite the title, it's not a service that someone could have heard in 1630—it includes antiphons and additional music by other composers, such as Monteverdi, Frescobaldi, Merula and Marini, written both before and after that year. However, the lack of historical specificity makes no difference, because without exception the music in this performance is wonderful, and wonderfully performed. The opening Versicle & Response: "Deus in adjutorium meum intende" by Claudio Monteverdi, arranged by David Tayler:

https://youtu.be/ic8WFqApNP8 [ends at 1:56]

Alas, this disc is not available on the Voices of Music website. However, the recording is taken from the audio of the YouTube video of this program embedded above. The entire program has been made freely available by Voices of Music—I recommend watching the whole thing.

My Favorites of 2024:

• Movies and television
• Recorded music
• Live performances
• Books

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1. Winton Dean, "Beethoven and Opera," in Denis Arnold and Nigel Fortune, eds. The Beethoven Companion. London: Faber and Faber, 1971, p. 342.
2. In the usual version of the myth, Cephalus is out hunting and, hearing a rustling in the undergrowth as Procris approaches, shoots an arrow or hurls a javelin that mortally wounds her.

Favorites of 2023: Music

In my previous post I covered our year of French Baroque opera. In this sequel I'll list my other favorite live, streamed, and recorded musical performances of the past 12 months, ordered chronologically.

Live performances

Liv Redpath (photo credit: Thomas Brunot; image source: Minnesota Opera) and Alex Rosen (image source: Askonas Holt)

A Baroque New Year's Eve at the Opera. Liv Redpath, soprano, Alex Rosen, bass, with American Bach Soloists conducted by Jeffrey Thomas. Herbst Theatre, San Francisco, 31 December 2022.

Our year of concertgoing began, fittingly enough, with American Bach Soloists' Baroque New Year's Eve at the Opera, which for us has become an annual tradition. The 2022 edition featured soprano Liv Redpath and bass Alex Rosen in a program of arias by Handel, Purcell, Rameau and Vivaldi. Both soloists were impressive: Rosen possesses a rich bass, and Redpath's extraordinary voice offers both a pure high soprano and a lovely lower register.  

There were plenty of bravura fireworks, which both singers handled adeptly, but we especially enjoyed the more emotion-laden moments: Redpath's performance of "V'adoro, pupile" and "Se pietà" from Handel's Giulio Cesare, and "Felicissima quest'alma" from his Apollo e Dafne, as well as Rosen's singing of "Leave me, loathsome light" from Handel's Semele and "Puisque Pluton est inflexible" from Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie. A brilliant way to bring in the New Year; we're very much looking forward to this year's edition.

Update 7 November 2023: Rebecca Paller profiles Liv Redpath in the December 2023 issue of Opera magazine (p. 1552). Paller notes that this past summer Redpath made her debut at Glyndebourne as Tytania in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and in October stepped onstage at the Metropolitan Opera as Oscar in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera (A Masked Ball). She will appear as the heroine Pamina in the Met's production of Mozart's Magic Flute next month. Congratulations to Redpath, whose career seems to be taking off in a spectacular fashion. Her success is richly deserved. [1]

Joyce DiDonato. Image source: Joyce DiDonato: EDEN

Joyce DiDonato: EDEN, with Il Pomo d'Oro, Zefira Valova, violin and conductor. Presented by Cal Performances at Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley, 21 January 2023.

This concert began with Joyce DiDonato vocalizing the trumpet part of Charles Ives' The Unanswered Question from about six feet behind us (we were in the next to last row of the mezzanine). Hearing the resonance of her powerful voice from just a few feet away was an almost overwhelming experience.

https://youtu.be/qqrVxjgZa-c

By the end of the piece DiDonato had made her way to the stage, where she continued this deeply felt program on the theme of "the nourishing and healing of our world and our hearts" in the face of the ever-worsening climate crisis and the devastations of the COVID pandemic. Through musical selections on the theme of nature ranging from Monteverdi contemporaries Biagio Marini and Francesco Cavalli, through 18th century composers George Frederic Handel, Josef Mysliveček and Christoph Willibald Gluck, to 20th and 21st century songs written by Aaron Copland and Rachel Portman, DiDonato addressed our need for connection to the natural world. 

If the seed packets handed out at the end of the concert seemed inadequate to the tasks we face, artists cannot solve global-scale crises but can only heighten our awareness, understanding, and empathy. In her program notes DiDonato herself pointed to Gene Scheer's words to Rachel Portman's "The First Morning of the World": "I am filled with nothing but questions." EDEN has been issued on CD, and interviews with DiDonato together with performances of musical selections are available as a YouTube playlist on her channel.

Le Concert Spirituel at St. James's Roman Catholic Church, Spanish Place, London, 6 June 2023. Photo credit: Matt Crossick/PA Wire

Handel: Solomon. Soloists with The English Concert and The Clarion Choir, Harry Bicket, conductor. Presented by Cal Performances at Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley, 5 March 2023.

Handel: Dettingen Te Deum and Coronation Anthems. Le Concert Spirituel, Hervé Niquet, conductor. Presented by Wigmore Hall at St. James's Roman Catholic Church Spanish Square, London, 6 June 2023.

It is undeniably thrilling to hear in person these pillars of the Monumental Baroque, which showcase the performance of massed choirs, blaring horns, piping winds and thundering timpani. 

As anyone who has every heard the Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah can attest, Handel was a particular master of this style. The opening chorus of the Dettingen Te Deum, "We praise thee, O God," performed by Le Concert Spirituel:

https://youtu.be/9TQAZMytckU

In comparison to the massive choruses and huge orchestras that sometimes present these pieces, the musical forces in these performances were (relatively) modest in scale, but did not lack awe-inspiring power—nor, when it was called for, subtlety. To our surprise, the London concert was attended by the recently crowned King Charles III, adding to the sense of occasion.

Colin Balzer (Ruggiero) and Mireille Lebel (Alcina) in Francesca Caccini's Alcina. Photo credit: Kathy Wittman. Image source: BEMF.org

Francesca Caccini: La liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola d'Alcina. Mireille Lebel (Alcina), Colin Balzer (Ruggiero), Cecilia Duarte (Melissa), and others. Presented by Boston Early Music Festival at New England Conservatory Jordan Hall, Boston, 10 June 2023.

From my original post, Music in London and Boston: "Francesca Caccini's Alcina (1625) is the first known opera composed by a woman. The story of Alcina is taken by librettist Ferdinando Saracinelli from Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso (1532), the same source used more than a century later for Handel's opera Alcina (1735). The knightly hero Ruggiero has been seduced by the beautiful sorceress Alcina into tarrying with her on her magic island in a haze of sensual pleasure. The sorceress Melissa, in male disguise, arrives and tries to recall Ruggiero to a sense of his martial duties. Ultimately Melissa prevails, and Alcina's enchantments of Ruggiero, and of her numerous former lovers who have been turned into the lush vegetation of her island, are broken."

An excerpt from Act II of the original 2018 BEMF production, in which Melissa brings Ruggiero to recommit to his knightly purpose:

https://youtu.be/ztjuPzFryk8

Alcina offered a strong cast and benefited from longtime BEMF stage director Gilbert Blin's thoughtful staging, choreographer Melinda Sullivan's expressive movement, and designer Anna Watkins' effective costumes (particularly striking when the chorus, portraying the enchanted former lovers, was decked out with leaves and branches).

Honorable mention

Michael Spyres at Wigmore Hall, 21 May 2023. Image source: Conessi all'Opera

Michael Spyres: Tenore Assoluto, with Il Pomo d'Oro conducted by Francesco Corti. Wigmore Hall, London, 21 May 2023.

For many people this concert would have been the highlight of their year. As I wrote in Music in London and Boston: "Spyres' voice is astonishing. He calls himself a 'baritenor,' and indeed has a remarkably wide range; he also has the vocal flexibility to execute rapid coloratura passages. But this concert, in which Spyres sang one fiery vocal showpiece after another, was almost too much of a good thing. For me the highlight of the evening was Spyres' first encore, 'J'ai perdu mon Eurydice' (I have lost my Eurydice) from Christoph Willibald Gluck's Orphée et Eurydice (1774), his French-language adaptation of Orfeo ed Euridice (1762). For this listener Spyres' moving and lyrical performance of this aria provided a grateful respite from the spectacular fireworks that preceded it." The music Spyres performed at this concert has been released on his album Contra-Tenor.

From Lully's Persée, "Cessons de redouter la fortune cruelle":

https://youtu.be/FjqZ16oXulY

Streamed and recorded performances

Philippe Jaroussky with Le Concert de la Loge at l'Abbaye de Royaumont. Image source: BEMF.org

Boston Early Music Festival 2022-23 virtual concert season. BEMF continues to make their concerts available via streaming, which is of inestimable benefit for those of us who don't live in the Boston area. Tickets cost about the same as a movie, and concerts are available for two weeks once they start streaming (generally, about two weeks after the concert date). Added bonuses are pre-concert talks and interviews with the artists. The 2022-23 season featured Philippe Jaroussky, Vox Luminis (both mentioned in my Favorites of 2022), chamber operas by Lully and Charpentier, Tallis Scholars, Bach Collegium Japan, Stile Antico, and many other accomplished artists. 

The opening of Antonio Vivaldi's Nisi Dominus, performed by Philippe Jaroussky with Le Concert de la Loge, Julien Chauvin, director:

https://youtu.be/EeYZNT7zLI8

BEMF's 2023-24 virtual season has just begun, and is well worth exploring.

Soula Parassidis (Iphigénie) and Jesse Blumberg (Oreste) in a scene from Boston Baroque’s production of Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride (1779). Photo credit: Sam Brewer. Image source: the arts fuse

Christoph Willibald Gluck: Iphigénie en Tauride. Soula Parassidis (Iphigénie), Jesse Blumberg (Oreste), William Burden (Pylade), and others, with Boston Baroque conducted by Martin Pearlman.

There are multiple versions of the legends surrounding the Trojan War. Part of the tradition (depicted in Sophocles’ Electra, for example) is that on its way to Troy, the Greek fleet anchors in the harbor of Aulis. Agamemnon goes ashore and kills a deer in a sacred grove, offending the goddess Artemis, who then causes the Greek fleet to become becalmed. Only by the sacrifice of Agamemnon's daughter will the anger of Artemis be appeased and favorable winds enable the fleet to sail.

There's another version of the Iphigenia story, in which Artemis intervenes at the last moment and substitutes a deer for the sacrificial victim, who is transported to Tauride to serve as high priestess at a shrine to the goddess. This is the background of Nicolas-François Guillard's libretto for Gluck's opera. When Iphigénie's brother Oreste and his companion Pylade are shipwrecked on Tauride, neither sibling recognizes the other. And as high priestess, Iphigénie is called on to sacrifice one of the Greeks on the altar of Artemis.

Boston Baroque's spare, effective production made a virtue of its minimalism. The action took place in front of and around the musicians of the orchestra, and video projections supplied the scene- and mood-settings. The cast was uniformly excellent, with special honors to the three principals.

Iphigénie's Act II aria on learning of her brother's supposed death, "Ô malheureuse Iphigénie" (Oh, unhappy Iphigénie), performed by Soula Parassidis:

https://youtu.be/9hvx7HQwPAk

Boston Baroque's 2023-24 season is underway, and their live stream is pay what you can.

Left to right: Lenka Máčiková (Marquise Clarice), Kateřina Kněžíková (Vespetta), Jaroslav Březina (Patrizio), and Aleš Briscein (Count Orazio) in Act II of Giuseppe Scarlatti's Dove è amore è gelosia at the Baroque Theatre of Krumlov Castle. Image source: Lenka Máčiková

Giuseppe Scarlatti: Dove è amore è gelosia (Where there's love there's jealousy), libretto by Marco Coltellini. Soloists with the Schwarzenberg Court Orchestra conducted by Vojtěch Spurný. Baroque Theatre of Krumlov Castle, Czech Republic, filmed in September 2011, Opus Arte OA 1104 D.

Giuseppi Scarlatti, most probably the nephew of Domenico Scarlatti (although possibly his cousin), composed some 30 operas. Dove è amore è gelosia is a two-act comedy which features the love problems of an aristocratic couple (Marquise Clarice, a widow, and Count Orazio, her would-be second husband) and a servant couple (Vespetta, the Marquise's lady's maid, and Patrizio, Count Orazio's manservant). The Marquise finds the Count to be too jealous and possessive; Vespetta thinks Patrizio is taking her for granted. Both men are taught a lesson before all ends well.

From Act I, in the aria "Intendo la tua pena" the Marquise muses on her lonely situation as a young widow, but notes a woman's double bind. In the second verse she sings, "Trista è la vedovanza / In giovinetta età, / E se un piacer le avanza / Non è di libertà" (It is sad to be a widow / as a young woman / But when pleasure beckons / It means the end of freedom):

https://youtu.be/mqjEmqcOqx0?t=1669 [ends 29:54]

The opera was filmed in the same Baroque theatre in which it had its premiere on 24 July 1768. The occasion of the premiere was the wedding of Johann Nepomuk, eldest son of Prince Josef Adam of Schwarzenburg, to Maria Eleanora, Countess of Oettingen-Wallerstein. The premiere was a family affair: the Marquise was sung by the 21-year-old second daughter of Prince Josef, Maria Theresia; the Count by the Count of Salburg, a family friend; Vespetta by Giuseppe Scarlatti's second wife, the opera singer Antonia Lefebvre; and Patrizio by the opera's librettist, Marco Coltellini. It was conducted from the harpsichord by the composer himself.

Part of the attraction of the video of the opera is that it takes us behind the scenes (and beneath the stage) to show us Baroque stagecraft. Today the technical aspects of opera production are extremely sophisticated, thanks to computerization. Set changes can be automated, with motorized units moving into and out of place and hydraulic elevators quickly raising and lowering set pieces, props and actors. Projections can create ever-changing backdrops such as stormy seas, glowing sunsets, lush gardens or elaborate interiors. For changes in place, time of day, or mood, LED lighting instruments can be programmed to change color, focus on different spots, and vary beam widths on cue.

This production attempts to recreate the way the opera would have been staged in the 18th century. The singers perform and the orchestra plays by candlelight. Sets are painted flats on tracks, and backdrops are hung on pipes; both are changed in full view of the audience. Elevators and machines controlled by pulley systems and human muscle power bring singers or props up from below stage level (as seen in the video excerpt above). It's a fascinating glimpse of 18th-century stage practice, and the DVD includes an excellent bonus documentary on the restoration of the theater and the recreation of the opera's first performance. 

You can see an 11-minute documentary on the history of the theatre and its restoration on YouTube; below I've embedded a three-minute short on the production of Scarlatti's opera. Both are well worth your time.

https://youtu.be/StfiLQW4DZU

Posts in this series:

• Favorites of 2023: Our year of Byron
• Favorites of 2023: Our year of Agatha Christie
• Favorites of 2023: Movies and television
• Favorites of 2023: Our year of Alec Guinness
• Favorites of 2023: Music
• Favorites of 2023: Our year of French Baroque Opera

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1. Review of Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream by Mark Pullinger from Bachtrack, 2 July 2023: "[Tim] Mead['s Oberon] was well-matched by Liv Redpath’s Tytania, silvery voiced, bright top notes hit dead centre."
   Review of Verdi's Un Ballo en maschera by Keven W. Ng from Bachtrack, 1 November 2023: "The other outstanding performance of the evening comes from soprano Liv Redpath. . .Redpath brings a poised, rounded tone to the role [of Oscar]. She certainly has the coloratura chops for it, with brilliant staccati and a neat trill, but she impressed most in the ensembles, with a soaring radiance that many a Violetta would envy. She’s also a game performer, executing the manic choreography with ease." ^ Return

Favorites of 2023: Music - Our year of French Baroque opera

Amanda Forsythe (Éolie) and Karina Gauvin (Circé) in Henri Desmarest's Circé, centerpiece opera of the Boston Early Music Festival (seen 11 June 2023). Photo credit: Kathy Wittman. Image source: BEMF.org

It's the time of year when once again I choose my favorite music, books, and films first experienced in the past 12 months. To begin I'm going to review my favorite live, streamed, and recorded musical performances.  

Our year of French Baroque opera

Ordinarily I order my selections chronologically, but in this first installment I'm organizing them thematically as well, because for us this was the year of French Baroque opera.

I have been listening to French Baroque opera for about as long as I've been listening to opera, over three decades. But until this year I'd often felt that I generally preferred Italian opera to the operas of Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Jean-Philippe Rameau, and especially Jean-Baptiste Lully.

Lully, the man who defined French opera in opposition to Italian opera, ironically was himself an Italian. He was born in Florence as Giovanni Battista Lulli in 1631 and did not become a French subject until 1661. His operas, which became the model in France for the next century, are characterized by five-act structure plus an allegorical prologue. Airs are often short and are generally sung without repeats (except perhaps a refrain), and there are extensive passages of recitative (sometimes comprising whole scenes). The chorus, a large group separate from the soloists, has a prominent role, and extensive instrumental or dance sequences are often featured. The distribution of voices includes sopranos, high tenors, and basses, but rarely altos (the range of most castrati, who were not popular in France).

Pygmalion et Galatée by Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1890. Image source: American Bach Soloists

There are, of course, exceptions to this five-act structure, such as Rameau's Pygmalion, a one-act opera composed in 1748. The artist Pygmalion spurns his lover Céphise because he has fallen in love with his own creation, a Statue. L'Amour brings the Statue to life, and she and Pygmalion declare their mutual love. L'Amour consoles Céphise by finding her another lover, and everyone rejoices. This 45-minute work was enchantingly performed by the singers and musicians of American Bach Soloists led by director Jeffrey Thomas (seen 8 May 2023). The excellent soloists were Matthew Hill (Pygmalion), Morgan Balfour (Céphise), Amy Broadbent (La Statue Animée), and Mary Wilson (L'Amour). Coupled with Handel's lovely Italian cantata Apollo e Dafne, featuring Hadleigh Adams (Apollo) and Mary Wilson (Daphne), Pygmalion was the ideal work to inaugurate our season of French Baroque opera.

While in London during late May and early June, if we didn't have a concert or other evening activity planned we tended to stay in. Our thanks to the generous relative who gave us a subscription to the streaming service Medici.tv, which gave us the opportunity to revisit director Jean-Marie Villégier's production of Lully's Atys (1675). Filmed in Paris in 2011 and featuring Les Arts Florissants conducted by William Christie, it's your typical Baroque love quadrangle: the nymph Sangaride (Emmanuelle de Negri) is betrothed to the Phrygian King Celenus (Nicolas Rivenq) in obedience to her father, a river god (Bernard Deletré). However, she secretly loves the youth Atys (Bernard Richter), and he loves her. The goddess Cybèle (Stéphanie d'Oustrac) descends to bless the nuptials of King Celenus and Sangaride, and to declare her love for Atys. Now, if Atys and Sangaride's love is discovered it will offend father, King and goddess. It can't end well. . .

The closing minutes of Act I, the arrival of the goddess Cybèle ("Venez tous dans mon temple"):

https://youtu.be/hmy1PwW1RmU

Villégier's production, with Patrice Cauchetier's black, silver and gold period costumes, stylized gestures, and the Baroque dancers of Compagnie Fêtes galantes, was groundbreaking when it was first introduced in 1987. Decades later it remains extraordinarily handsome, and the cast could not be bettered.

It was excellent preparation for our next live experience of French Baroque opera, the Boston Early Music Festival's production of Henri Desmarest's Circé (1694). The scenic design, costumes and dance were inspired by Baroque models. You can read my full description of this performance in Music in London and Boston, where I wrote that "Circé was a spectacular triumph for the BEMF performers and production team." From the BEMF recording of Circé, the opening aria of Act III, "Désirs, transports, cruelle impatience," sung by Amanda Forsythe (Éolie) [1]:

https://youtu.be/pVdthstyaSk

On our return home, eager to see more, we continued our explorations on Medici.tv. Two productions of Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie (1733) caught our eye. The first, director Jonathan Kent's 2013 production from Glyndebourne, features William Christie conducting the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment with soloists that include Sarah Connolly as Phèdre and Stéphane Degout as her husband Thesée. Interestingly, they are also the Phèdre and Thesée in director Ivan Alexandre's 2012 production from the Opéra Bastille, featuring Emmanuelle Haïm conducting Le Concert d'Astrée. Both versions are highly recommendable. The Glyndebourne production uses hunting and consumption as governing metaphors (the Prologue, which takes place in a giant refrigerator, is a highlight). Christie's tempi are well-judged, and the soloists and the Glyndebourne Chorus are second to none. The Opéra Bastille production employs Baroque costumes, staging and dancing, and is visually and aurally splendid.

Amazingly, although Rameau was 50 years old at the time of the first performance of Hippolyte et Aricie, it was his first opera. Rameau's fellow composer André Campra famously remarked of Hippolyte that "there is enough music in this opera to make ten of them; this man will eclipse us all." [2] From the Opéra Bastille production, the Deuxième Air des Chasseurs, "A la chasse" ("To the hunt!"; the Huntress is sung by Andrea Hill):

https://youtu.be/-OksrK1ulHg

To close out our French Baroque opera discoveries this year I'll mention two more Lully operas seen on Medici.tv. Lully's Cadmus et Hermione (1673) was his first full-scale success, and determined the form of French opera for the next 100 years. The hero Cadmus is forced to undergo a series of trials to win the hand of Hermione, daughter of Mars and Venus. The 2008 production from the Opéra-Comique is directed by Benjamin Lazar with lavish Baroque costumes, scenery and staging. Musically it is superb, featuring the forces of Le Poème Harmonique conducted by Vincente Dumestre.

The final scene of Act IV, in which Cadmus (André Morsch) is reunited with Hermione (Claire Lefilliâtre) after rescuing her, with Athena's aid, from a giant. "Ah, how sweet is the memory of pain," they sing, "when at last one finds happiness!" But not so fast: a cloud descends from the heavens, and Hermione is abducted:

https://youtu.be/hknfcgh3jL8

Speaking of heros aided by Athena, our final French Baroque opera was Lully's Persée (1682). The hero Persée loves the daughter of King Céphée, Andromède, who is betrothed to her uncle Phinée. Andromède returns the love of Persée, but Mérope, Queen Cassiope's sister, also secretly loves him. Meanwhile the snake-haired monster Méduse is wreaking havoc on the kingdom; anyone who gazes at her is instantly turned to stone. Persée must slay Méduse and rescue Andromède from a sea monster before the couple can be united. But not so fast: the lovelorn Mérope interrupts the wedding ceremony to warn that Phinée and his assassins are about to attack the wedding to kill Persée.

The 2004 production by Toronto's Opera Atelier directed by Marshall Pynkoski features Cyril Auvity as Persée, Marie Lenormand as Andromède, and Monica Whicher as Mérope, with Tafelmusik Chamber Orchestra and Choir conducted by Hervé Niquet. In Act II's "Infortunés, qu'un monstre affreux," Mérope and Andromède meet, and each recognizes the other's love for the hero about risk his life to save the kingdom:

https://youtu.be/OBdcDpd6AIo

The intelligent direction and ravishing visuals of these productions are certainly an important part of their appeal. But what we find most compelling are the emotional dilemmas at their center: the impossible love of Sangaride and Atys, the separations faced by Cadmus and Hermione and Persée and Andromède, and the thwarted passions of Céphise for Pygmalion, Circé for Ulisse, Phèdre for her stepson Hippolyte, and Mérope for Persée. And we find that these dilemmas are heightened, rather than diminished, by the stylizations of Baroque stagings. Enhanced by their spectacular settings and costumes, these stagings also demonstrate the power of emotional restraint and understatement.

Posts in this series:

• Favorites of 2023: Our year of Byron
• Favorites of 2023: Our year of Agatha Christie
• Favorites of 2023: Movies and television
• Favorites of 2023: Our year of Alec Guinness
• Favorites of 2023: Music
• Favorites of 2023: Our year of French Baroque Opera

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1. A minor issue for us, although it may be a sticking point for some: BEMF co-director Stephen Stubbs employs Baroque guitar liberally throughout the Circé recording. Although we don't have an exact list of the instruments in the orchestra of the Académie Royale de Musique, the records we do have mention theorbos (generally plucked) rather than Baroque guitar (generally strummed). See James R. Anthony, French Baroque Music from Beaujoyeulx to Rameau, Revised and expanded edition, Amadeus Press, 1997, p. 123.
2. Quoted in Anthony, French Baroque Music from Beaujoyeulx to Rameau, p. 162.