MASSENET : CHÉRUBIN

INTRODUCTION
SYNOPSIS
PIANO SCORE

Here again is that seventeen-year old devil known to us by the name Cherubino (in Mozart's version of The Marriage of Figaro, originally a French play by Beaumarchais). He is still chasing ladies, notably Countess Almaviva, as he celebrates his promotion from pageboy to officer in the army; but Susanna is no longer available (she and her husband Figaro are not in the picture). The objects of his affection (not to say seduction) are the Countess, a Baroness, a Spanish dancer (L'Ensoleillad), and Nina (The Countess's maid); Barbarina is missing, too. He is involved in three duels, but manages to worm his way out of all three, and he chooses to marry Nina.
   This opera of Jules Massenet (1905) is  based on a play by Francis de Croisset. Beaumarchais had already written his own sequel to the two Figaro comedies (The Guilty Mother, made into an opera by Darius Milhaud), in which Figaro and Susanna play a pivotal role in protecting the Countess from the Count's unwarranted jealousy. In that story, Chérubin actually has his way with the Countess Rosine, but he goes off to die in battle; she bears a son named Léon, and the Count knows it is not his; but he has a ward named Florestine (fathered by him).

MILHAUD : LA MÈRE COUPABLE

Radio New Zealand Concert Network
Sunday 20th of September 2015, 6 - 8 pm

INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND
REVIEW 
FLORESTINE'S ARIA
MILHAUD: La Mère Coupable, an opera in three acts,
after the last play in Beaumarchais' Figaro trilogy,
'L'autre Tartuffe ou la mère coupable'
Begaers........................ Stephan Loges
Comte Almaviva.......... Markus Butter
Figaro........................... Aris Argiris
Florestine..................... Frederikke Kampmann
Leon............................. Andrew Owens
Regie............................ Herbert Fottinger
Rosine, Comtesse Almaviva..... Mireille Delunsch
Suzanne....................... Angelika Kirchschlager
Vienna Radio SO/Leo Hussain
(recorded at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna)

This is interesting: it is based on the sequel to the Marriage of Figaro by Beaumarchais (1792). Darius Milhaud composed it in 1966.
   The four main characters are there: Count Almaviva and his wife Rosine, Figaro and his wife Suzanne; but Cherubino is missing; he had finally gone soldiering and  had died in battle, after making the Countess pregnant, and this illicit coupling had produced a son named Léon. For his part, the Count has a ward named Florestine, and these two young people are in love.
   Figaro and Suzanne have to foil an Irish schemer (a blackguard named Bégearss, begorra) who wants to marry Florestine and inherit the Almaviva fortune (which is being squandered in Paris by the Count, because he does not wish Léon to inherit it).
   A happy ending ensues, with the lovers being united, since they were not brother and sister, as had been thought.

TCHAIKOVSKY : THE MAID OF ORLEANS

Radio New Zealand Concert Network
Sunday 6th of September 2015, 6 - 9 pm

TCHAIKOVSKY: The Maid of Orleans (Orleanskaya deva)
an opera in four acts and six scenes
King Charles VII.............. Oleg Dolgov
Archbishop....................... Stanislav Trofimov
Dunois.............................. Igor Golovatenko
Thibaut d'Arc................... Petr Migunov
Raymond.......................... Arseniy Yakolev
Bertrand........................... Otar Kunchulia
Soldier.............................. Vladimir Krasov
Joan of Arc....................... Anna Smirnova
Agnès Sorel...................... Irina Churilova
Angel................................ Anastasia Shchegoleva
Bolshoi Theatre Chorus & Orch/Tugan Sokhiev
(recorded in the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow)

INTRODUCTION
SYNOPSIS

Here is Pyotr Ilyich's version of the life and death of Jeanne d'Arc (based on a play by Friedrich Schiller, as many operas are: William Tell, Don Carlos,  I Masnadieri). 
   Joan, the virgin warrior, falls in love with a Burgundian knight named Lionel; he should have been slain by her in battle, but when she saw the beautiful face he was hiding under his visor she saved him for her own (it is Tristan and Isolde again).
   She also saves Mother France from the English, who have no right to be there (maybe they could lay claim to Saxony, they being Anglo-Saxons, or even the whole of Germany, but their invasion of France is a gross intrusion). Anyway, when the Englanders catch Lionel and Joan naughtily embracing in a forest, they put him to the sword and her to the stake. So it ends with an immolation scene (shades of Götterdåmmerung); and, even though she has been too friendly with Lionel, there is room for her in Heaven, and her soul ascends thither.
   This is the opera that was to make Tchaikovsky world-famous, or so he thought, and it was the last opera that soprano Mirella Freni preformed in.
   First staged in Saint Petersburg in 1881, it was in the French style, with a ballet in Act 2. The Russian libretto was written by the composer himself, emulating Wagner by creating the words and the music himself.

DELIUS : THE MAGIC FOUNTAIN

INTRODUCTION
COMPOSER
REVIEW (of the recording)

Frederick (Fritz) Delius (1862 - 1934) composed this 'lyric drama' in 1893-5, but it did not receive its first performance till 1977, and this was as a concert in London, recorded by the BBC, and issued on vinyl discs. I snapped up a set, and later acquired the CD version, coupled with Margot la Rouge, a short opera (50m) from 1901-2.
   Delius was influenced in this project by Wagner's Tristan und Isolde: he wrote the libretto himself; the action begins on a ship (Act 1); his story has a woman of one ethnic group (Irish/ Amerindian) seeking revenge on a man of another group (Cornish/Spanish), but the pair die together as lovers; the leitmotif device is used; the music flows.
   Solano, a Spanish nobleman dreams of finding a fountain of eternal youth. He is shipwrecked on the coast of Florida. Witawa rescues him, but she intends to kill him. Eventually she takes him to the magic fountain, acknowledges her love for him, and the waters cause them to die together.
   

CAVALLI : LA CALISTO

La Calisto (1651) is an opera by Francesco Cavalli (1602-1676) from a libretto by Giovanni Faustini based on the mythological story of Callisto. (note the double L [-ll-)] as in Greek kallisté, 'most beautiful'; her Hellenic name is Kallistô).

INTRODUCTION
SYNOPSIS
PREVIEW
LIBRETTO (Italian)

The setting is Pelasgia in the Peloponnese, later known as Arcadia, named after Arcades, the son of Jove and Calisto
   Jove (alias Jupiter, Zeus) takes a fancy to Callisto, a nymph in the circle of Diana (Artemis); Diana is under a vow of virginal chastity, though the shepherd Endimione (Endymion) is in love with her, and she is minded to reciprocate his love; but the god Pan also hankers after her and punishes his rival.
   Jove takes the advice of Mercury (Hermes) and disguises himself as Diana (this god will go to any extreme to have his way with women). This works. However, the real Diana is puzzled by Callisto's sudden amorous behaviour towards her.
   Enter jealous Juno, Jove's ever suspicious spouse; she quickly twigs, and turns Calisto into a little bear. Jove takes her to Olympus and installs her as a star, Ursa Minor.
  Endimion and Diana will be content with eternal chaste love, with none of the complications that have occurred in the other encounters we have observed.
   Those are the elements of the plot, but they are not necessarily in that order in the drama (comical as it is).
   I have two recordings: Glyndebourne, Raymond Leppard, Janet Baker as Diana, Ileana Cotrubas as Calisto (2 black discs, Argo/Decca 1972); Glimmerglass Opera, Jane Glover, abridged from 2h 10m to 78m (one compact disc, BBC 1996).                                                                          

NICOLAI : MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR

Radio New Zealand Concert network
Sunday 23rd of August 2015 at 6 - 8.40 pm

NICOLAI: The Merry Wives of Windsor, opera in three acts
Alice Ford........................ Anneke Luyten
Meg Page.......................... Sabina Willeit
Sir John Falstaff............... Franz Hawlata
Fenton.............................. Davide Giusti
Ford.................................. Werner van Machelen
Anne Page........................ Sophie Junker
Page.................................. Laurent Kubla
Slender............................. Stefan Cifolelli
Dr Cajus........................... Patrick Delcour
First citizen....................... Patrick Mignon
Le thérapeute.................... Sébastien Dutrieux
Liège Royal Phil Chorus & Orch/Christian Zacharias
(recorded at the Opéra, Liège, by Belgium Radio)

INTRODUCTION
LIBRETTO (Deutsch) 
LIBRETTO (English)
SCORE  
PREVIEW

The Merry Wives of Windsor (in German: Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor) is an opera in three acts by Otto Nicolai to a German libretto by Salomon Hermann Mosenthal based on the play The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare.

Here is an opera that I have actually been in (singing in the chorus, when the Perkel Opera came to Palmerston North and Wanganui). Perkel Opera was launched in Auckland in 1974, and produced some 20 operas, touring widely in the North Island. In 1989 it merged with two smaller companies to form Auckland Metropolitan Opera.
   This is really a Singspiel (a play with singing as well as speech, or vice versa if you prefer) like Mozart's Seraglio and Magic Flute, spoken dialogue not recitative.
   Falstaff is on the loose again, and the lusty (lustig, anyway) wives are ready to entrap him, thrice. They are here known as Frau Fluth (Ford) and Frau Reich (Page). He is thrown out of a laundry basket into a river; next he is dressed up in woman's clothing to disguise him as an old lady (like a pantomime dame); and finally he is ill-treated in Windsor Forest. But this is a comic opera, so there is reconciliation in the end.

ROSSINI : IL VIAGGIO A REIMS

Radio New Zealand Concert network
Sunday 28th of June 2015 at 6 - 9 pm

ROSSINI: Il Viaggio a Reims, an opera in three acts
Madame Cortese................... Alessandra Marianelli
Contessa di Folleville........... Sofia Mchedlishvili
Corinna................................. Laura Giordano
Marchesa Melibea................ Marianna Pizzolato
Conte di Libenskof............... Maxim Mironov
Chevalier Belfiore................ Bogdan Mihai
Lord Sidney........................... Mirko Palazzi
Don Alvaro........................... Mysketa Gezim
Barone di Trombonok........... Bruno Praticò
Don Profondo........................ Bruno de Simone
Don Prudenzio...................... Baurzhan Anderzhanov
Modestina............................. Annalisa d'Agosto
Don Luigino.......................... Carlos Cardoso
Maddalena............................ Oleysa Chuprinova
Antonio................................. Lucas Somoza Osterc
Zefirino................................. Artavazd Sargsyan
Gelsomino............................. Yasushi Watanabe
Delia...................................... Guiomar Cantò
Poznan Bach Chorus, Virtuosi Brunensis/Antonio Fogliani
(recorded in the Königliches Kurtheater, Bad Wildbad, Baden-Württemberg,
Germany by South West German Radio, Baden-Baden)

INTRODUCTION
SYNOPSIS
LIBRETTO (Italian/Spanish) 
LIBRETTO (Italian)

Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868), Il Viaggio a Reims (The Journey to Rheims) (1825)
or: L’Albergo del Giglio d’Oro (The Hotel Golden Lily)
Composed for the occasion of the coronation of Charles X of France (and we thought they guillotined kings there); the characters are in a spa hotel in Plombières, preparing to go to Rheims for the event; the journey does not eventuate; they never leave the hostelry, but they do a great deal of singing.
Maddalena (Magdaleine): native of Caux in Normandy, housekeeper of the spa hotel
Don Prudenzio (M. Prudence): medico of the bath-house  
Antonio: maître d’hôtel
Madam Cortese : hotel owner, spirited, friendly, born in the Tyrol, husband a travelling businessman 
Contessa di Folleville (Countess): young widow, graceful , animated, and fashionable
Modestina: Countesses’s chambermaid, a shy and slow girl
Don Luigino: cousin of the Countess
Baron von Trombonok: German major, passionate about music
Don Profondo: friend of Corinna, member of various academies, fanatical antiquarian
Don Alvaro: grandee of Spain, navy admiral, enamoured of the Marchesa Melibea
Marchesa (Marquise) Melibea: Polish lady, widow of an Italian general who was killed in a surprise enemy attack on their wedding day
Conte di Libenskof: impetuous Russian general, also jealously in love with the Marquise
Corinna: celebrated Roman improvising poetess
Delia  young Greek orphan, Corinna’s companion
Lord Sidney:  English colonel,  secretly in love with Corinna
Chevalier Belfiore:  young French officer, dashing and elegant, courting the Countess, and all the ladies
Conductor, on stage with Mariinsky Theatre orchestra, in 1930 costume, Valery Gergiev

Incidentally, I bought the compact audio-disc set of Il Viaggio aReims (DG 1985) when it first came out (The Chamber Orchestra of Europe conducted by Claudio Abbado, and Katia Ricciarelli as Madama Cortese). Peter Mechen and I were both enthusiastic about the rediscovery and reconstruction of this lost opera; but a lot of the tunes were used again in  Le Comte Ory, which I already knew.

SYNOPSIS (The Israeli Opera)

A group of European aristocrats planning to attend Charles X’s coronation in Reims, await their departure at the Giglio d’oro. 

Madama Cortese, the director of the Giglio d’oro, anxious that her guests have a good time, instructs her crew (including Maddalena, Antonio and Prudenzio, a buffoonish doctor) to treat them with great consideration.  

    The first guest to appear is a fashion-crazed Parisian, Contessa di Folleville, followed by her migraine-ridden maid Modestina and, shortly after, by her cousin Luigino, who arrives with bad news: her luggage has been irreparably lost in an accident. At the prospect of having nothing to wear to the coronation, Folleville first faints, then recovers her senses and bitterly laments her loss. But Modestina, much to the amusement of the onlookers, cheers her up again by miraculously producing a hat which survived the mishap. 

   The German music lover Barone di Trombonok, who has witnessed the incident, is soon joined by Don Profondo, a fanatical antiquarian and by Don Alvaro, a Spaniard, and his travel companion, the Polish Marchese Melibea. Closely following them in blind jealousy of Melibea is the Russian Count Libenskof. When Madama Cortese enters to explain why their departure has been delayed, the two rivals are about to fight. Disaster is avoided only by the intervention of the famous Italian singer Corinna who is heard singing outside: her ode to peace and fraternal love momentarily leads everyone to reconcile. 

   Another guest makes his appearance: Lord Sidney who tormented by his undeclared love for Corinna offers her flowers. He soon abandons himself to dreams of eternal love.  

   Corinna enters with her orphan protיgיe Delia; they are greeted by Don Profondo. Left alone, Corinna must suffer the impertinent advances of the Cavaliere Belfiore, a French womanizer and Folleville’s lover. She rejects him in disdain.

   Don Profondo re-enters in order to make a list of all the travellers’ possessions. He eventually rejoices at the prospect of the pending departure. The guests progressively gather, expecting to leave, when Zefirino, another employee of the Giglio d’oro, informs them that their trip has to be cancelled: there is a technical problem and absolutely no means of transportation could be found to take them to Reims. The company reels with horror. But Madama Cortese appears with a letter from her husband in Paris, announcing that sumptuous festivities will be held there after the king returns from the coronation. Folleville invites them all to Paris, offering to accommodate them for the occasion, and all rejoice in this unexpected twist of fate. 

   The next morning, all agree to have a banquet at the Giglio d’oro while they are waiting. At Trombonok’s urge, the only remaining issue – the lovers’ quarrel between Libenskof and Melibea – is resolved. Libenskof begs for her forgiveness, she yields to his tenderness, and they make peace in an ardent duet. 

   After dinner, the Baron proposes a round of musical toasts. After delivering songs in their respective national styles, the guests all ask Corinna to sing, each suggesting a theme on which she should improvise. Unsurprisingly, the one that is chosen is “Charles X, King of France”. Corinna starts singing, joined by everyone in a solemn finale.

BORODIN : KISMET

Robert (Bob) Wright and George (Chet) Forrest, Kismet (1953)
INTRODUCTION

So, you don’t think this is opera? Even though it uses the beautiful tunes of Borodin?
John Drummond, musc professor in Dunedin, NZ, has said that Kismet started his love of opera.
Gilbert and Sullivan, and Rodgers and Hammerstein can pass as "light opera"; and Kismet (along with their Song of Norway, using music of Grieg) is in the Penguin Guide to Opera on Compact Discs. (Incidentally, Rimsky-Korsakov had been their first choice.)
It is topical: it mentions Baghdad, Nineveh, Damascus, and the Califate.
Here we have an Arabian Nights type of fantasy, in praise of polygamy, more precisely  polygyny, but not polyandry or polytheism.
God (Allah) is frequently invoked, but remains an off-stage character.
This is the MGM version (1955, wide-screen CinemaScope, dazzling Eastman Color).
The dialogue is witty, and the colour is pretty.
Howard Keel (genial baritone) as Hajj, the beggar-poet who rises from rags to riches
Ann Blyth as Marsinah (half his size, sweet soprano, who did not get to sing with Mario Lanza in The Great Caruso, but did better in the Student Prince, though Edmond Purdom mouthed Mario’s voice)
Dolores Gray as Lalume, wife of the Wazir (‘Vizier’)
Vic Damone (sort of tenor) as the Calif (or Caliph, Arabic khaliifa, “successor”, to Muhammad, as leader of the Muslims).
André Previn is the conductor.
It is supposed to be the 11th century (the 5th Islamic century, I guess).
I have only recently acquired a video recording of Kismet; previously I only knew the songs without understanding the storyline. This has prompted me at last to research the etymology of the word kismet: it is from Turkish, but its Arabic original is qismat, meaning “portion” or “lot”, from the root qsm “divide’. (Classical Arabic is one of my languages, but it does not get as much practice as my Hebrew and Aramaic.)
These are the songs (as usual the movie will omit and add):
(1) Overture and Sands of time (2) Rhymes have I (3) Fate (4) Not since Nineveh (add [Bored]) (5) Baubles, Bangles, and Beads (6) Gesticulate (7) Stranger in Paradise (8) Was I Wazir? (9) Rahadlakum (10) And this is my beloved (11) The Olive Tree
   Act 1 Baghdad
   A poet, who lives on the streets and lodges with his daughter Marsinah in a camel stable, is trying to sell his wares, unsuccessfully (“Rhymes! Fine Rhymes”); so he sends his daughter Marsinah to steal some oranges for breakfast, while he sits down to beg. 
Three beggars protest that he is occupying the position of Hajj, who is on the pilgrimage to Mecca (h.âjj means pilgrimage, and h.ajji is a title accorded to anyone who has performed this duty).  The penniless poet persists in the place of Hajj, claiming to be his cousin; and he earns some money by threatening to curse those who resist giving him any.
   Mistaken for Hajj, he is whisked away into the desert to face the brigand Jawan. Fifteen years before, the real Hajj had placed a curse on Jawan, and his young son had disappeared; he wants the curse to be removed; the poet assures him that all willl be well; he is paid; and Jawan goes to Baghdad to find his son.
   In the city, the Wazir of Police enters the Bazaar, with his lovely wife-of-wives Lalume.
To repay a loan, he must persuade the young Caliph Harun to marry one or all of the princesses of Abubu; but they prefer to return to their homeland; Lalume advises them that Baghdad is the most exciting place in the world (“Not since Nineveh”).
   Marsinah is rescued from the clutches of the fruit merchant who has caught her stealing. Her father arrives with the money, gives her half of it to buy clothes and jewels (“Baubles, Bangles, and Beads”). Hajj buys some very obedient slave-girls, and while he is luxuriating with them he is arrested by the police for his connection with Javan.
   Marsinah has now bought a house, and there she meets the Prince, who she takes to be the gardener. He had been struck by her beauty and had followed her .They fall in love (“Stranger in Paradise”).  They promise to meet there in the evening.
   Hajj is on trial before the Wazir: as a convicted thief he is sentenced to receive twenty lashes and his right hand is to be cut off; but a poet needs his hands for gesturing (“Gesticulate”). He curses the unyielding Wazir. Jawan is brought in, still looking for his son; he recognizes the medallion around the Wazir’s neck, and he praises the great magician Hajj for this reunion; but the Wazir declares that it would not be right for the chief judge of Mesopotamia (`Iraq) to be associated with the chief criminal; he sends Jawan to be executed. Then he realizes that Hajj has cursed him, and he is about to execute him when the Caliph arrives, with the news that he has found a bride, a commoner, and intends to marry her that night.
    The Wazir is in distress; the Caliph must wed the Abubu princess(es) or he will be financially ruined; thinking the situation is the result of Hajj’s curse, he offers him a reprieve and the title of Emir.. Lalume is fascinated by the cunning poet and will assist him, knowingly and lovingly.
   Act 2
The Caliph, in a wedding procession,  approaches the house of his beloved (“Night of my Nights”}. But Hajj is telling Marsinah that they must flee to Damascus, but she refuses, and they go their separate ways. She is not there when the Caloiph arrives.
   The Wazir learns that the Caliph’s intended has disappeared; he thinks his wizard Emir has done this (actually, he has). However, Marsinah finds Hajj in the harem of the Wazir, and they are reconciled; she asks him to find her lover. At the same time the Caliph instructs  the Wazir to find her. (“And this is my Beloved”)
   Omar, the poet-laureate and adviser of the Caliph, warns Hajj not to go too far (“The Olive Tree”).
   The Wazir shows the Caliph his harem (to convince him that polygamy is the way) and Marsinah is there! The Wazir claims she is one his wives, and when the distraught Prince leaves, he does marry her, against her will.
   The Caliph has to choose one of the candidates to be his wife-of-wives, and they dance for him. On learning that the Wazir has married Marsinah, Hajj kills him, by drowning him in his own pool. Marsinah is delivered to the Prince, and Hajj goes into a pleasant exile with Lalume, in a distant oasis.

SHOSTAKOVICH : LADY MACBETH (KATERINA IZMAILOVA)

Radio New Zealand Concert network 
Sunday 17th of May 2015 at 6.03 - 9.30 pm

SHOSTAKOVICH: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, an opera in four acts
Based on a short story by Nikolay Leskov, Shostakovich gives a sympathetic view of a provincial merchant's wife who is at the centre of a whirl of passion, greed and brutality. Its earthy approach to sex, graphic language and extreme violence made it an immediate critical and popular success in Russia in the 1930s, until Stalin saw the production. The resulting subjugation of individual creative freedom of all the arts in Soviet Russia is a matter of history. Shostakovich never completed another opera, but he revised this one under the title Katerina Izmailova.
Boris Izmailov................. Anatoli Kotscherga
Zinoviy Ismailov.............. Raymond Very
Katerina Izmailova.......... Eva-Maria Westbroek
Sergei............................... Brandon Jovanovich
Aksinya............................ Holli Harrison
Tattered peasant............... Allan Glassman
Steward............................ Rod Nelman
Porter................................ Brandon Cedel
First workman.................. Kurt Phinney
Second workman.............. Daniel Clark Smith
Third workman................ David Lowe
Priest................................ Mikhail Kolelishvili
Policeman........................ Vladimir Ognovenko
Old Convict...................... Dmitry Belosselskiy
Sonyetka........................... Oksana Volkova
Policeman........................ Earle Patriarco
Convict............................. Kelly Cae Hogan
Drunken wedding guest... Jeffrey Mosher
Driver............................... Dustin Lucas
Teacher............................ Scott Scully
Millhand........................... Tyler Duncan
Prison Guard.................... Richard Bernstein
Prison Officer................... Paul Corona
Metropolitan Opera Chorus & Orch/James Conlon (EBU)

 INTRODUCTION
SYNOPSIS
REVIEW
REVIEW 
LIBRETTO (transcribed Russian, Spanish translation!)

HANDEL : THEODORA

Handel's oratorio opera THEODORA (in English)

INTRODUCTION
SYNOPSIS
LIBRETTO (English)

George Frideric Handel (1685 - 1759) Theodora  (1750)
It is said that this was Handel’s favourite among his oratorios, but the public largely  stayed away from the three performances (Lord Shaftesbury approved of it, having heard it three times). Handel also thought the chorus at the end of Part 2 (concerning the widow of Nain) was even better than his Hallelujah chorus.
   This performance, from Glyndebourne (1996) has three parts or acts; it lasts 206 minutes. The director is Peter Sellars (famous for mangling the Magic Flute in 1990, and known to us for his interesting work on Dr Atomic, by John Adams). In turning static oratorio into active opera, he not only moves the bodies about on the stage, but he has them gesticulating energetically, you will notice. He puts the characters in modern American dress. The two martyrs are given poisons by injection, but they still die on crosses.
   The person to see and hear is Lorraine Hunt [Lieberson] (1954 - 2006) who (like Kathleen Ferrier) died of cancer before she could leave us a sufficient legacy of recordings; but this is one to treasure. We know Dawn Upshaw from the Gorecki (Goretsky) sorrowful songs symphony.

Richard Phillips tells me that Theodora was performed in Auckland by Handel Consort and Quire in 2012; he was in the “quire” and also sang the minuscule but in no way minimalist role of Messenger (in Part 1, and Part 3).

Antioch (in Syria) in 304, during the reign of the anti-Christian Roman Emperor Diocletian
Theodora, a Christian of noble birth, a princess, a martyr (Dawn Upshaw)
Didymus, an officer in the Roman army, lover of Theodora (David Daniels, counter-tenor)
Septimius, another Roman officer, close friend of Didymus (Richard Croft)
Irene, a Christian leader, friend of Theodora (Lorraine Hunt)
Valens, President of Antioch (Frode Olsen)
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, William Christie

Overture. [1.1] At a public gathering, President Valens proclaims “a feast, and solemn sacrifice to Jove (Jupiter)”, and whosoever “disdains to join the sacred rites, shall feel our wrath in chastisement, or death”. He places Septimius in charge. Didymus politely objects: many people in Antioch do not offer sacrifices to idols, but are Caesar’s friends. (Valens has a heart attack!) No, they will be subjected to “racks, gibbets, sword and fire”.
[1.2] Didymus is reluctant to enforce the decree: “Ought we not to leave the free-born mind of man still ever free? ... No engine can a tyrant find, to storm the truth-supported mind.”
For his part, Septimius, feels pity for those who suffer under Roman rule, but soldiers must obey orders.
[1.3] In a clandestine Christian meeting, Theodora bids adieu to the world of “empty treasures, fleeting pleasures”; she gives up her jewels and her privileges to pursue nobler joys, in faith and hope. Irene praises her, and disparages prosperity; “True happiness is only found, where grace and truth and love abound”. The other Christians concur.
[1.4]  A messenger reports the terrible edict, and urges them to flee. Irene dissuades them.
[1.5]  Septimius comes and upbraids them for their foolish disobedience. Theodora replies that it is not rebellion, but perseverance in obedience to God. She is taken away to be a prostitute in the service of Venus.
[1.6] Didymus arrives: Unhappy, happy crew!! Where is my love, my life, my Theodora, my kind instructor in fair virtue’s path?
Irene replies: A Roman soldier led her trembling hence to the vile place where Venus keeps her court (a whore house).
Didymus responds: Kind Heaven, if virtue be thy care, with courage fire me. On the wings of the wind will I fly, with this princess to live, or [with?] this Christian to die.
[1.7] Irene: O love, how great thy power! She praises the young man’s virtue, and the Christians pray that his virtuous love will be rewarded, but they hint that martyrdom may be his reward.
[2.1] President Valens is leading the “heathens” in worship: Ye men of Antioch, with solemnn pomp, renew the grateful sacrifice to Jove. Pour on the smoking altars floods of wine, for Flora (goddess of summer) and the Cyprian queen (Venus). (In this production he is already inebriated, but he avoids having another heart attack.)
The crowd seconds his motion, and adds Jupiter, the cloud-cracker (send her down, Yuwiy, we still say to Yu-piter, Father Jove, when it is raining). And long live Caesar (Diocletian by name, you will recall): Send him victorious, happy and glorious, long to reign over us (or words to that effect).
And after those thanks to the sponsors of the show, back to the sport of baiting Christians (now more readily available than bears).
Mr President then orders Septimius to go to “the stubborn maid” to remind her that if she makes an offering to the gods of Rome before sundown she will be free; if not, “the meanest of my guards with lustful joy shall triumph over her boasted chastity”.
The mob is sure that Venus will appreciate this; she will be laughing, and applauding her votaries.
[2.2] Theodora is naked (not in this production) in her prison cell, pondering her situation, going through several recitatives and airs. She wishes angels would waft her to the skies as on the wings of a dove.
[2.3] Didymus is with Septimius, and in the closeness of their friendship based on having saved each other’s life in battle, he confesses that he is a Christian; and he is given permission to visit Theodora.
[2.4] As night falls, possibly the final night for the faithful band of Christians, Irene thinks about Theodora’s plight, and calls on Heaven to save her from “unexampled lust and cruelty”.
[2.5] Didymus approaches Theodora; she does not recognise him (his vizor is down!); she thinks he is the first of the gang of rapists; his plan is for them to change clothes (difficult if one is naked); in their love duet, each says to the other: I hope again to meet on earth, but sure shall meet in Heaven.
[2.6] Irene is comforting the Christians. Sleep is impossible with death hovering over their heads; but prayer is their refuge, praying to Christ who can raise the dead to life and joy; they recall his raising of the son of the widow of Nain (Luke 7:11-17).
[3.1] Strong in hope, Irene and the Christians sing and pray, night and day, even amid thunderstorms and earthquakes.
[3.2] Enter Theodora in the “habit” of Didymus. Irene welcomes Didymus; but Theodora, “discovering herself”, tells them that she has escaped, with the help of Didymus, her “kind deliverer”, as the clothes she is wearing will testify. Heaven has heard her prayer, and sent the generous youth to save a wretched virgin’s fame [reputation], and turn her grief to joy.
[3.3] The messenger’s second edition of bad tidings reports that Didymus has been arrested and that President Valens has now imposed the death penalty on Theodora.
She decides to go to the President to ransom Didymus with her own life. Irene tries to dissuade the Princess,  but “Duty calls, I must obey”. Irene laments alone, but she is hopeful that such virtue will be rewarded with “boundless love and joys ineffable”.
[3.4] Valens is interrogating Didymus: Is it a Christian virtue to rescue someone condemned  by his imperial authority? Didymus replies that his religion condemns all crimes, including disobedience to just power; if the President had delivered a death sentence, Didymus would not have intervened,  but this action was so terrible that Valens would be judged to be odious, and it should be prevented. Valens retorts that it was actually “the charms of beauty, not of virtue, that tempted you to save her”. “ Take him hence, to repentance, or to death.”
[3.5] Theodora arrives and interrupts the proceedings of the court. She has come to pay the debt with her own blood.
Septimius (the soldier-friend of Didymus) is deeply moved by this demonstration of “virtuous courage” by a woman. He calls to mind the rape of the innocent Lucretia in Roman history, and he proposes this solution: “Let justice for the hero plead, and pity save the fair [Theodora]”.
Didymus pleads that he alone should die; Theodora argues that she is the one at fault and should be put to death.
Valens is unrelenting: if they both plead guilty, then they should both be executed; if they will honour the Roman gods they will “fall” as supplicants, and if they despise them they will be offered as a sacrifice to them.
[3.6] Septimius is dismayed that such beauty and valour will be destroyed.
But the loving couple concentrate their thoughts on the rewards they will receive in Heaven, for purity and faith: streams of pleasure, fruits ambrosial, golden thrones, starry crowns, immortality, and eternal rest.
(In the Peter Sellars production they are executed by injection of poison, in a crucifixion stance.)
[3.7] Irene and the Christians (still not rounded up?) ponder on the wonder of love divine and wish to emulate them: “they are gone to prove that love is stronger far than death”.

BARTOK : BLUEBEARD'S CASTLE

Radio New Zealand Concert network
Sunday 15th of March at 6.03 - 10 pm

BARTÓK: Bluebeard's Castle, an opera in one act based on the French tale La Barbe bleue by Charles Parrault with libretto by Béla Balázs
Bluebeard.................... Mikhail Petrenko
Judith........................... Nadja Michael
Metropolitan Opera Orch/Valery Gergiev

INTRODUCTION
LIBRETTO (Hungarian)
LIBRETTO (English)

We are told that this is not the horror fairy-tale, nor a murder mystery, but a psychological drama about the interior life of the composer Bartok himself, or perhaps about the sufferings of Everyhuman.
   Judith (why this preeminently Jewish name?) is the fourth wife of Bluebeard, and while there is blood everywhere, the other three wives are not dead, in separate chambers, but alive and together and richly clothed.
   I will not attempt to unravel it, but the Wikipedia article and the English translation will provide the clues and the opinions.
   

AUBER : FRA DIAVOLO

Fra Diavolo, ou L'hôtellerie de Terracine (Fra Diavolo, or The Inn of Terracina) is an opéra comique in three acts by the French composer Daniel Auber, from a libretto by Auber's regular collaborator Eugène Scribe. It is loosely based on the life of the Itrani guerrilla leader Michele Pezza, active in southern Italy in the period 1800-1806, who went under the name of Fra Diavolo ("Brother Devil"). The opera was first performed by the Opéra-Comique at the Salle Ventadour in Paris on 28 January 1830 (Wiki)

INTRODUCTION (Wiki)
INTRODUCTION (French Wiki)
COMPOSER
LIBRETTO
SCORE (Orchestra)

This is a comic opera, with a libretto by Eugène Scribe; it is based on an Italian bandit (or leader of a band of freedom fighters against Napoleon’s French invaders in southern Italy in the period 1800-1806). His name was Michele Pezza, code name Fra Diavolo (Brother Devil). In this setting he is a robber and a burglar.
The setting is an inn at Terracina, on the west coast of Italy, not far from Rome; it was and is a tourist resort, connected to the Appian Way. (I think I have been there)
The innkeeper is Mathéo; his daughter Zerline loves Lorenzo, a humble soldier; but her father insists that she will marry Francesco, who is old and rich.
Fra Diavolo has disguised himself as a marquis, and has ingratiad himself with two wealthy English travellers, Lord Cockburn (or Cokbourg) and his wife Lady Pamela; he robs them.
Lorenzo retrieves part of the hoard; he is rewarded with enough money to marry Zerline.  However, the villain returns with his two comical henchman, named Giacomo and Beppo; they steal Zerlina’s dowry (Lorenzo’s reward). Lorenzo appears, and thinks the marquis is a rival, and challenges him to a duel.
Fra Diavolo plans to kill Lorenzo, and to rob Milord of his wealth and his wife; but he and his accomplices are caught; Lorenzo replaces Francisco in the wedding  ceremony.

The real Fra Diavlo was executed by the French, in good King Napoleon’s reign.

We will watch an early Hollywood movie of the opera (MGM, with the menagerie lion), from 1933. It is reduced to 87 minutes.  FRA DIAVOLO  or The Devil’s Brother.
Notice that Beppo and Giacomo become Stanlio and Ollio, two well-known comic actors of the time. Say no more.

LEHAR : MERRY WIDOW

Radio New Zealand Concert network
Sunday 15th od February 2015 at 6.03 - 9 pm

LEHÁR: The Merry Widow, Die lustige Witwe
an operetta in three acts
After many comical misunderstandings, the wealthy widow Hanna Glawari and Count Danilo Danilovitsch fall in love, ensuring the financial health of the tiny country of Pontevedro
Hanna Glawari........................ Renée Fleming
Count Danilo Danilovitsch..... Nathan Gunn
Baron Zeta............................... Thomas Allen
Valencienne............................ Kelli O'Hara
Camille.................................... Alek Shrader
Njegus..................................... Carson Elrod
Kromow.................................. Daniel Mobbs
Bogdanovitch.......................... Mark Schowalter
Sylviane.................................. Emalie Savoy
Raoul....................................... Alexander Lewis
Vicomte Cascada.................... Jeff Mattsey
Olga......................................... Wallis Giunta
Pritschitsch............................. Gary Simpson
Praskowia................................ Margaret Lattimore
Metropolitan Opera Chorus & Orch/Andrew Davis

INTRODUCTION
PREVIEW
LIBRETTO

MOZART : LA CLEMENZA DI TITO

Radio New Zealand Concert network
Sunday 2nd of August 2015 at 6.03 - 8.30 pm
Sunday 30th of November 2014 at 6.03 - 8.30 pm

MOZART: La Clemenza di Tito, an opera in two acts
2015
Tito................................... Kurt Streit
Vitellia............................. Karina Gauvin
Sesto................................. Kate Lindsey
Annio................................ Julie Boulianne
Servila.............................. Julie Fuchs
Publio............................... Robert Gleadow
Aedes Chorus, Le Cercle de l'Harmonie/Jérémie Rhorer
(recorded in the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris by Radio France)
2014
Tito................................... Toby Spence
Vitellia............................. Kristine Opolais
Sesto................................. Tara Erraught
Annio................................ Angela Brower
Servilla............................. Hanna-Elisabeth Müller
Publio............................... Tareq Nazmi
Bavarian State Opera Chorus & Orch/Kirill Petrenko
(recorded in the National Theatre, Munich)

INTRODUCTION
CRITICISM
LIBRETTO (Italian/English)

 I crave your clemency as I advertise this opera of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791, composer of about twenty operas and oratorios),

Mozart is to be distinguished from two other composers with the same surname, namely his father Leopold Mozart, and hs son FX Mozart (the initials FX do not indicate he was a "special effects" person; they stand for Francis Xavier).

This is not one of the celebrated ones;  it was the first Mozart opera to be performed in London (1806), and, incidentally,  Colin Davis adores it. The irreverent Denis Forman rates it as a B-grade opera, though he admits that it has some good pieces. Mozart certainly wrote it in a hurry (three weeks). You know the line in the movie *Amadeus*, where the emperor says that there are too many notes in *The Marriage of Figaro*. Well this one has half as many as *Figaro* and *Don Giovanni*.  It was written at the same time as *Die Zauberflöte* (The Magic Flute) and the Requiem, in 1791 (look again at Mozart's years). It is a "serious opera", entitled *La Clemenza di Tito* (The Clemency of Titus), set to a text of Metastasio (Don Bewley was the world-expert on this wonderful and woeful wordsmith, not as exciting as Da Ponte). The libretto was revised for Mozart by Mazzolà. Caldara had been the first to set it to music (in 1734) followed by five dozen others, including Gluck (1752).

Titus Flavius (29-81) was the Roman soldier who destroyed Jerusalem in the year 70 (no mercy shown on that occasion).  He brought back the sacred paraphernalia from the Temple, in triumph (as depicted on his commemorative arch in Rome); and his favourite toy from Judea was Princess Berenice, daughter of Herod Agrippa II. She is mentioned as a problem in the opera, but does not appear. Titus was Emperor of Rome from 79 to 81 (Roman emperors are back in fashion on television) and the action takes place in 79.

For the stories of Octavius Augustus and Titus Flavius (the second and the second-last of the Caesars) I have looked again at *The Twelve Caesars* by Suetonius (from Julius to Domitian), a poisonous history saturated with assassinations, executions, and massacres.

The reign of Titus was brief (27 months), perhaps because he was too kind, and his brother Domitian was constantly plotting against him. It was rumoured that Titus was a second Nero (certainly he wrote speeches and poems in Greek and Latin, and played the harp), cruel and profligate, with a troop of young men available for his self-gratification, and with an ominous passion for an Eastern princess (remember Julius and Cleopatra!).  Well, Titus had to send Berenice home, and tell his pleasure-boys to take up dancing on the stage. He became Chief Priest to keep himself honest, and he
became a just and generous ruler.

Titus had more than his share of national catastrophes: a fire in Rome, lasting three days (just like Nero!); an outbreak of plague; and an eruption of Vesuvius (which destroyed Pompeii and several other towns), and this is mentioned in the opera. In all these he issued wise edicts and distributed
much of his personal wealth to the needy.

Here is the cast of a Glyndebourne production, on a tilted stage, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Andrew Davis.
#Tito (Titus), a benevolent despot: Philip Langridge, tenor.
#Sesto (Sextus), a young patrician, a friend of Titus, and ardent admirer of Vitellia: Diana Montague, mezzo-soprano.
#Vitellia, daughter of Vitellius, the deposed emperor who preceded Tito's father Vespasian; so passionate about Titus she could kill him because he favours Berenice; she uses Sesto's infatuation to persuade him to commit the foul act of regicide: Ashley Putnam, soprano.
#Annio (Annius), another young patrician, to whom Sesto has promised his sister Servilia in marriage, but they don't know that Titus wants her: Martine Mahe, soprano.
#Servilia, sister of Sesto, promised to Annio: Elzbieta Szmytka, soprano.
#Publio (Publius), captain of the guard: Peter Rose, bass.

Notice that some of the men are played by women (though none of the men is a woman). We have shown the opera in two sessions. The first ends with Sesto (a female soprano) going off to murder Tito, and planting a long and fervent kiss on Vitellia's mouth (two women, but they are only pretending).

Will this be like Verdi's Masked Ball, where the king pardons his assassins as he dies?

This is a "serious opera" (opera seria, not "serial opera").  Serious, certainly, but this first act is a little farcical. Tito keeps changing his mind about which woman shall be his "Augusta" (empress), and Vitellia can not keep up with these changes, so the murder is on then off then on again and then off, because Titus has settled on Vitellia; but it is too late; Sextus has already gone to the Capitol, to burn it down and to strike his friend and lord down. He does the foul deed and spreads the word, sending everyone into mourning.

In Act 2, Scene 1, still at the Capitol (what's left of it after the fire). Sextus (alias Sesto) is leaning against a leaning pillar (do not try this at home) telling himself he is a rotter of a rottweiler. Annius corrects him: Titus is not dead. Go and confess and apologize to Titus. Vitellia comes in highly agitated (she does not want her part in the plot revealed) and advises Sextus to flee for his life. Publius arrests him for attempted murder: he struck another conspirator named Lentulus, disguised as Titus (serves him right), and he is not dead either.

  There is still an hour left, in which Titus will agonize over whether to be inclement (like the weather)

 All this is good exercise, for the mind, and it will make us "more worthier" (as King Lear says), more clement, more mild, and not prone to stormy outbursts, as the weather is.
   The word "clemenza" ("clemency") has echoes of "clementine", a sweet citrus fruit, not a lemon (though some critics mistakenly think this opera is a "lemon"). And on the other side of "clement" in the dictionary is "clematis", a genus of plants which includes "old man's beard". We will not
be seeing a grey beard on Titus in any of our versions (but the great basso Kurt Rydl, as Publius, was not prepared to part with his colourful whiskers).
  
   So, we now have a  taste of the best-known piece from the opera, No 9 ("Parto", "I am departing"), with the clarinet to the fore. Sextus sings this to his beloved Vitellia (though his love is quite unrequited) as he goes off, at her instigation, to stab his friend and lord, the emperor Titus, and burn down the Capitol. We see flames lighting up the Flavian amphitheatre, later known as the Colosseum, allegedly because of its size (but there had been a colossus statue of Nero there, which was demolished, and the colossal epithet was transferred to the stadium) it is also called Coliseum, but properly Collesseum, since we Collesses regard it as a family heirloom). This was built on the site of Nero's Domus Aurea,the Golden House, the glorious nucleus of his new Rome, after the great fire. In my interpretation of Revelation 13, the Beast with the personal number 666 is Nero; the numerical value of Nero Caesar (NRWN QSR written  in Hebrew letters) is in fact 666; he is the Antichrist who falsely claims divinity; the new gold-plated Jerusalem in Revelation 21 is set up as superior to Nero's golden city.

   After Sextus is dragged away for interrogation, the Roman people sing a chorus of thanks for the emperor's survival from the attempt on his life by the bungling conspirators (Julius Caesar was not so fortunate in his choice of assassins).
   Publius tells Titus that the populace (with other wild animals) is assembled in "the festive arena" awaiting some circus-sport. Titus cannot believe Sextus is guilty. Eventually Publius gives to Titus the Senate's sentence of death on Sextus and his accomplices (to be devoured by wild beasts), for his signature. Annius pleads for the life of their mutual friend. Titus is in shock. But he summons Sextus into the imperial presence, to explain himself.
   Sextus denies that he wanted the throne for himself, but he refuses to incriminate Vitellia (unlike Adam, "that woman made me do it"). Titus cannot understand this seeming arrogance, and finds him guilty. He signs the death warrant. After further consideration he destroys it. Clemency is triumphant
(but we and Titus are the only ones who know that at this point in time).
   Annius and Servilia implore Vitellia to intercede for Sextus, but apparently to no avail. However, because Titus has not spurned her, Vitellia realizes that Sextus has not dobbed her in. She decides to own up, and abandon her dreams of flower-garlands and a bridal-bed, and accept her punishment of death (22-23).
   Titus enters the amphitheatre to the acclaim of the crowd (24). They are ready for the "joyous entertainments". The felons stand in dread, and the felines wait to be fed. The former are to be the "pasto infelice" (the hapless repast) of the latter.
   Titus reminds Sextus of his crimes. (What crimes? He had foiled the attempt of Lentulus to murder the emperor! If Sextus had played his cards right he would have been awarded a medal and a holiday-villa on the Italian Riviera!)
   Anyway, Vitellia rushes in, kneels down, and gets it all off her chest by blurting out her own guilt: it was all her idea to seduce his best friend into slaying him, for twice passing her over (first Berenice, then Servilia) when he was looking for a suitable bride to rule at his side.
   Titus is disconcerted, but still able to burst into passionate recitative. Now he has two of his dear friends to punish severely or pardon sincerely. Can he rise to such heights of magnanimity and clemency?
   Benevolence and malevolence contend for dominance within him, but in the end (Fine) compassion overrules revenge. All the prisoners are reprieved. The lions and tigers skulk and sulk (not respectively, nor respectfully). No free lunch today.
 
   Finally, I have been assailed by the odd idea that *Titus* is Mozart's *Parsifal* (goodness and light amid the evil and darkness of the world), and *The Magic Flute* (with its secret societies or guilds) must be his forerunner of *The Mastersingers*.

Notes for our opera sessions:

As I see it, the purpose of these sessions is to get to know this opera
better. At present I can only whistle or hum a couple of bars of the
overture.

So, we will start all over again. Levine's performance of the overture is
imposing. We see Titus, in un-ancient dress, looking more like King Louis or
Emperor Leopold,  wandering through the ruins, past his own statue, and
having visions of the three women he is involved with:
(1) Berenice (Jewess, in white, who will have to be sent home);
(2) Vitellia (daughter of Vitellius, a previous emperor, deposed and
replaced by Vespasian, the father of Titus; she wants to  marry Titus and
become empress, or else to kill him for choosing Berenice, having persuaded
Sextus, his friend and her ardent admirer, to assassinate Titus);
(3) Servilia (sister of Sextus, and the beloved of his friend Annius).

We will have a peep at Sextus (Tatiana Troyanos) and Vitellia (Carol
Neblett) fiendishly plotting, and then go to Drottningholm to see the
orchestra play the second half of the overture, using old instruments and
wearing the same garb as the performers, even later than the style in the
Vienna recording. And we will see this version of Act 1, up to the point
where we left off last time (the parting passionate kiss, which does not
happen in this one).

Next we will go back to our Glyndebourne production, with Sextus (Diana
Montague) singing "Parto, parto" again (listen for the clarinet), then
planting a kiss (twice!) on Vitellia's lips (Ashley Putnam). Most of the
men's parts are given to women, remember

Since we last partied and parted (singing Parto, parto,"I depart ditto"), I
have been looking at two more versions of *La Clemenza di Tito* (courtesy of
Don Bewley). The bad news is that they do not have subtitles either.
Nevertheless, they show us some different approaches, especially in the
period-costuming department.

One has the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under James Levine (though the
scenery is outside, among Roman ruins). The other is on the stage of the
Drottningholm Court Theatre, in Sweden, conductor Arnold Östman.

We will continue with the Glyndebourne production, from where we left
off to the end (from 15 to 26), with Philip Langridge as Tito, Diana
Montague as Sesto/Sextus, and Ashley Putnam as Vitellia (daughter of a
previous deposed emperor); London Philharmonic, Andrew Davis.
   However, I will wrap around it some more excerpts from the fascinating
version set in the Roman ruins connected with Titus and the other Flavian
emperors. Eric Tappy is Titus; Tatiana Troyanos is Sextus; Carol Neblett is
Vitellia; Anne Howells is Annius; Catherine Malfitano is Servilia; Vienna
Phiharmonic, James Levine.Tito 3, at 3 La Leña Grove, Summerhill, on (2/3/2006), at 2 pm.

GLUCK : ALCESTE

Radio New Zealand Concert network
Sunday 2oth of Nvember 2016 at 6 - 8 pm
Sunday 16th of November 2014 at 6.03 - 8  pm

GLUCK: Alceste
A lyric tragedy in three acts
Alceste......................... Lauren Armishaw
Admete........................ Tigran Matinyan
High priest/Hercules.... Sven Weyens
Coryphée..................... Heleen Bongenaar
Évandre....................... Lior Leibovici
Heraut/Apollo.............. Berend Eijkhout
Oracle.......................... Jasper Leever
Musica Sacra Maastricht, students and alumni
of Royal Conservatorium/Guy van Waas
2014
GLUCK: Alceste, an opera in three acts
Alceste.............................. Sophie Koch
Admète............................. Yann Beuron
Evandre............................ Stanislas de Barbeyrac
High Priest........................ Jean-François Lapointe
Hercules............................ Franck Ferrari
Apollo............................... Florian Sempey
Thanathos/Oracle.............. François Lis
Herald............................... Florian Sempey
Coryphée.......................... Marie-Adeline Henry
Les Musiciens du Louvre, Grenoble Chorus & Orch/Marc Minkowski
(recorded in the Palais Garnier, Paris by Radio France)

INTRODUCTION 
SYNOPSIS
LIBRETTO (Italian version with English)

The choice is between  the second version (in French), and the original Vienna version (in Italian). My recording of it (on 3 big black discs) has Jessye Norman and Nicolai Gedda singing French words, including her aria "Divinités du Styx" (sung as she faces death and descent into Hades).

VERDI : I DUE FOSCARI

Radio New Zealand Concert network
Sunday 2nd of November 2014 at 6.03 - 8  pm

VERDI: I Due Foscari, an opera in three acts
Francesco Foscari............. Plácido Domingo
Jacopo Foscari.................. Arturo Chacon
Lucrezia Contarini............ Davinia Rodriguez
Jacopo Loredano.............. Roberto Tagliavini
Barbarigo.......................... Andrew Owens
Pisana............................... Gaia Petrone
Attendant......................... Ioan Hotea
Servant............................. Marcell Attila Krokovay
Arnold Schoenberg Chorus, ORF Radio SO/James Conlon
 (recorded in the Theater an der Wien, Vienna)

INTRODUCTION 
SYNOPSIS
REVIEW (Vienna)
REVIEW (London)
LIBRETTO (Italian)
LIBRETTO (Italian/Spanish)
The libretto is yet again by Piave; it is based on a historical drama by Byron (The Two Foscari).
The recording I own is first on the Wikipedia list: from 1951, conducted by Giulini, with Carlo Bergonzi in the tenor role; this production has Placido Domingo as the old Doge of Venice, a baritone (as in his Simon Boccanegra, which likewise moved around the northern hemisphere).

RIMSKY-KORSAKOV : KITEZH

Radio New Zealand Concert network
Sunday 26th of October 2014 at 6.03 - 9.15  pm 

RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: The Invisible City of Kitezh
an opera in four acts (not the full title, see below)
Prince Yury Vsevolodovich...... Eric Halfvarson
Prince Vsevolod Yuryevich...... Maksim Aksenov
Fevroniya................................... Svetlana Ignatovitx
Grishka Kuterma....................... Dmitry Golovnin
Fyodor Poyarok......................... Dimitris Tiliakos
Page........................................... Mayram Sokolova
Gusli player/Lead singer........... Gennadi Bezzubenkov
Bear handler.............................. Albert Casals
Bedyay....................................... Alexander Tsymbalyuk
Burunday................................... Vladimir Ognovenko
Sirin........................................... Larisa Yudina
Alkonost.................................... Margarita Nekrasova 

Gran Teatro del Liceo Chorus & Orch/Josep Pons 

INTRODUCTION
SYNOPSIS
ANALYSIS
SCORE

The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya

Сказание о невидимом граде Китеже и деве Февронии, 
Skazaniye o nevidimom grade Kitezhe i deve Fevronii)

What a preposterous title! Nikolay Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was joking, surely.

But notice it comes out shorter in Russian, because they eschew (chew up?) the definite article; so there is no word for "the".
    It is not the same story as Brigadoon or Immensee.
    Some say it is his greatest work; his only religious opera; his Parsifal.
    I think he made a symphony out of it (a symphonic suite?).
   

ROSSINI : TANCREDI

Radio New Zealand Concert network
Sunday 19th of October 2014 at 6.03 - 9  pm

ROSSINI: Tancredi, an opera in two acts
Tancredi........................... Marie-Nicole Lemieux
Amenaide......................... Patrizia Ciofi
Argirio.............................. Antonino Siragusa
Orbazzano........................ Roberto Tagliavini
Isaura................................ Josè Maria Lo Monaco
Roggiero........................... Sarah Tynan
Théâtre des Champs-Elysées Chorus & Radio France Phil/
Enrique Mazzola

INTRODUCTION
SYNOPSIS
LIBRETTO

This opera Tancredi is based on a play by Voltaire (Tancrède) in which the arch-satirist was not trying to be funny; it had a tragic conclusion. Rossini's opera had a happy ending (first performed in Venice in 1813), but a revision later in that year in Ferrara returned to Voltaire's version of the finale. I have a 1978 audio vinyl set of the tragic version with Fiorenza Cossotto, and a 1992 video recording of the Ferrara version, with the Venice original ending tacked on.
   Saracens in Syracuse in 1005 in the time of the Byzantine Empire.

MASSENET : THAÏS

Jules Massenet (1842-1912) THAÏS
INTRODUCTION
SYNOPSIS
SYNOPSIS
SCORE

Thaïs : Renée Fleming, Athanaël : Thomas Hampson, Nocias : Michael Schade.
New York Metropolitan Opera.  Conductor : Jesús López-Cobos
ACT ONE
Scene 1  A coenobite [monastic] settlement in the Thebaid (in the Egyptian western desert)
Athanaël, a monk, reports on his trip to Alexandria, city of sin, where the courtesan and actress Thaïs is all the rage. He confesses to the monks of his community that he was tempted by her in his youth, but now he wants to convert her to the Christian way of life. The elder monk Palemon warns him against involvement in the secular world, but after  a dream of her, he sets out on his mission.
Scene 2  The home of Nicias in Alexandria
Athanaël visits his school-friend Nicias, and meets Thaïs there.
ACT TWO
Scene 1 Chez Thaïs
Alone at last! She is away from brutal men and spiteful women. She asks her mirror to reassure her that she is beautiful; but she can not stop thinking that she will grow old and be ugly. She turns to the statue of Venus and prays that she will remain eternally beautiful,
   Athanael enters, quietly praying that her face will appear veiled to him, and the power of her charms will not triumph over his will. She warns him not to love her . He replies that he does indeed love her, but not in the way she means: not the rapture of one night, but never-ending felicity.
   Thaïs is shaken and moved by his words; she weeps and moans; she is afraid of death.
    The voice of Nicias is heard, calling for her to grant him love from her lips for one last time. She asks Athanael to go out and tell him that she hates him, and everything luxurious. Athanael says he will wait outside for her till morning. She becomes hysterical.

Interlude: Religious meditation (solo violin and orchestra)
This is the well-known and much-loved piece from this opera.

Scene 2 Outside the house of Thaïs
She has meditated throughout the night, and before sunrise she comes to Athanael, addressing him as Father,  and declaring that she has taken his words to heart; a light has arisen in her soul, and she has seen the emptiness of pleasure.
    He will take her to the convent of  Mother Albine (who is known to Thaïs as a daughter of the Caesars).
    As a sign of her break with her past, she is instructed to burn down her pleasure palace. However, she would like to take a little ivory-image of Eros with her, as a reminder of her sins against love. It was a gift from Nicias, and hearing this Athanael  explodes with anger and destroys the idol.
   Divertissement (ballet)
   Nicias himself arrives with a throng of revelers; he has won some money at gambling (and he could pay for more time with Thaïs).
    Some of them try to prevent Thaïs and Athanael from leaving, but Nicias distracts them by throwing gold into the air. The monk and the novice nun head for the desert.

ACT THREE
We now come to the ironic climax:  the monk had brought the courtesan to God, but now he wants her for himself, as a trophy to hang up in his cell in the desert. He has fallen passionately in love with her. (Sorry if that is a ‘spoiler’ for you.)

Scene 1 An oasis near the convent of Mother Albine
Athanaël has been ruthlessly  pushing the barefooted Thaïs across the desert, all in the name of penance. The sun is ovewhelming her, and she wants to rest. When he sees her feet are bleeding he feels pity for her instead of disgust. He kisses her feet adoringly, and calls her “holy, most holy Thaïs”. She is ready to go on, but he brings water and fruit to refresh her. Her respnse is: “My life is yours, God has entrusted it to you, I belong to you”. He is only too happy to recipocrate, and they experience ineffable sweetness.
   Nuns appear, chanting the Pater noster: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”. This is very timely, given the euphoria the couple are feeling.
   He tells Mother Albine that he has brought a precious bee to her hive. Thaïs is welcomed into the community of the White Sisters. She thanks her benefactor, and she bids him Adieu, till they meet in the Celestial City. He now realizes that he may never see her again.

Scene 2  The cenobite settlement (omitted in the 1961 Decca audio recording!)
Three weeks later Athanaël is in despair. After continual prayer, fasting, and flagellation, the physical image of Thaïs haunts him. His attempt to confess to Polémon fails; the elder had told him to stay away from Alexandria and Thaïs, and he thinks that Athanaël is now lost.
  The wayward monk has an erotic dream of the woman he lusts after. Voices tell him she is dying. He decides to go to the convent and steal her from God.

Scene 3  The convent
Thaïs has practised penance for three months, and her purity has made her a saint. She is dying when Athanaël arrives. She reminisces about their journey together, but he now wants her to believe that only earthly life and love are real. As she views Heaven opening, with the prophets, saints, and angels  welcoming her, and while she is delighting in the beatific vision (I see God) and is expiring, he repeatedly exclaims that he loves her. His last word is: Pitié! (Mercy!).

Subtitles will aid our understanding!

MEYERBEER : L'AFRICAINE

Radio New Zealand Concert network
Sunday 31st of August 2010  6.03 - 9.05 pm

INTRODUCTION 
LIBRETTO (French)
LIBRETTO (English and Italian!)
O Paradis (Gregory Kunde)

MEYERBEER: L'Africaine, an opera in five acts
Sélika..................................... Veronica Simeoni
Vasco da Gama..................... Gregory Kunde
Inès........................................ Jessica Pratt
Nélusko................................. Angelo Veccia
Don Pédro............................. Luca dall'Amico
Don Diégo............................. Davide Riberti
Anna...................................... Anna Bordignon
Don Alvaro........................... Emanuele Giannino
Grand Inquisitor of Lisbon... Mattia Denti
High Priest of Brahma.......... Ruben Amoretti
Teatro La Fenice Chorus & Orch/Emmanuel Villaume  
(recorded in Teatro La Fenice, Venice by Italian Radio)

Do you like your opera rare (full-blooded)?

A grand opera rarity (a French rareté) is raring (videlicet rearing or
roaring) to go, on the radio this evening, at 6 pm.

All operas by the Jewish composer Meyerbeer are rarely (sic) seen or heard,
but throughout my lifetime tenors have been stepping up to the microphone
and belting out a bleeding gobbet from one of them: "O Paradiso" or "O
Paradis" (viz. "O Paradise" en anglais), singing about some new world he had
discovered. The character is the Portuguese explorer named Vasco da Gama,
who, like all European explorators found something that was not lost: viz.
India. He achieved this by sailing around the southern cape of Africa. But
India was not the new land he is referring to: it is an undiscovered island.

This opera (libretto by his scribe Scribe) was given the title *Vasco da
Gama* by its composer (viz. Giacomo Meyerbeer, remember); but F-J Fétis
entitled it *L'Africaine" (videlicet, viz., it may be seen, "the African
woman", L'Africana en italien). But the lady in question (viz. Sélika) is
the Queen of this fabulous island, which is neither Africa nor India; but it
has a high priest of the Hindu god Brahma, so she is not African! (But in the early gestation of the story she did have a connection with the Niger.)

Sélika desires Vasco, but he loves Inès (one of his own kind, actually an
Australian super-soprano, Jessica Pratt) and they are to be sacrificed to
the god Brahma (who only has one temple of his own in India, they say).
 
And then...?