Monteverdi Resurrected: L'incoronazione di Poppea at LA Opera (25 November 2006)
Nov 26 '06 (Updated Dec 13 '06)
The Bottom Line Rare Renaissance period opera done spectacularly well with a brilliant cast (von Stade, Graham, Daniels). RUNNING 'TIL DEC 16! If you like Monteverdi's madrigals, you'll like this.
Claudio Monteverdi‘s L’INCORONAZIONE DI POPPEA (The Coronation of Poppea) An opera in 3 acts.
This is a review of a live opera performance from Los Angeles Opera at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, CA, USA on 25 November 2006.
Written in 1642, this is the youngest of Monteverdi’s only 3 surviving operas. And it is ambitious at a tad over 4 hrs in length (including 2 intermissions)! It is an intriguing work, really. The bad guys win! Though the music evens it out nicely in making their victory sounds so hollow. I think the whole thing is a satire that doesn’t really promotes immorality, but exposing it for how it occurs in real life. The music is very elegantly simple and beautiful. With minimalistic orchestra (usually just 2 or 3 strummed instrument accompanying the voice), the focus is on the voice singing and telling the dramatic story. If you've heard his other late opera Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, it sounds quite similar and even ends the same way with a gorgeous love duet. For a very good sample of the opera's best known duet Pur ti miro sung by David Daniels and Anna Caterina Antonacci, go here:
http://www.bayerische.staatsoper.de/569--~kosmosoper~search_audio.html
The track is about half way down the page under L'INCORONAZIONE DI POPPEA. There are great clips from other opera, too, if you have time. The Bavarian State Opera is one of the best in the world.
The story is set in 1st Century Rome (this was a big break through at the time since all opera before Poppea were mythologically themed, this work was the first one that depicts real life historical people). All opera by Monteverdi opens with an allegorical prologue, and this one has the goddesses Fortune and Virtue in a shouting match... each claiming supremacy over humans. The goddess of love, Amor, settles the matter by claiming the title of master manipulator herself, controlling both human fortune and virtue. To prove her case, she resolves to maneuver the infamous bad-boy Roman Emperor Nerone to dispose of his wife Octavia and install the courtesan Poppea as his Empress against all virtue and morality.
Main story
Act I begins with Poppea’s abandoned boyfriend Ottone (Otho) arriving back from a foreign post to find Nerone’s been spending the night at Poppea's (who has secured the Emperor’s promise to dispose of Octavia in her favor .... many women know what they want, this one actually says it!). Ottone naturally finds that objectionable and, after a failed attempt to win back Poppea’s love, stalks off. The virtuous (and pompous, as noone seems to appreciate his noble traits more than he himself does) senator Seneca; meanwhile, alienates everyone he talks with. Octavia is sore with him for telling her to ‘stand by your man’ even when he is romancing a prostitute. Nerone is sore with him for saying that his plan to marry Poppea in spite of Octavia is immoral. So when Poppea tells the Emperor to get rid of the excessively moral senator, Nerone is more than happy to oblige and issues him with a death sentence.
Act II begins in Seneca’s garden, where he is warned of his impending death by Mercure (the messenger of the gods). Proving himself virtuous to a fault, Seneca welcomes it as a gift to leave this world of morally inferiors behind and commits suicide despite the efforts of his friends to dissuade him. At the same time, Octavia proves herself her husband’s wife and orders Ottone to assassinate his ex-lover Poppea. Ottone agrees and asks Drusilla (who is hopelessly in love with him) for her clothes to use as disguise in getting into Poppea’s garden (apparently that’s where Romans like to sleep!). Just as Ottone raises his knife over Poppea; however, the goddess Amor intervenes (here with such a realistic explosion that it scared half the audience into a pack of chirping birds.... and the next 3 or 4 lines of music went unheard. The downside of live opera... no ‘rew’ button!). Poppea wakes up in time to catch a glimpse of Drusilla’s green dress escaping the garden (but not the Ottone in it, of course) and identifies her as the attempted murderer.
Act III sees Drusilla arrested for Ottone’s deed. Her insistence in taking the blame for the attempt murder is bested by Ottone’s persistent confession in order to spare her life, as his comes with the perk of also naming Octavia as the master mind of it all. Delighted at the perfect excuse for carrying out his lust into reality (or is it all just Amor’s inspiration in proving her points from the Prologue?), Nerone banishes Octavia, Ottone, and Drusilla to the country and installs Poppea as Empress instead. The opera ends with a heavenly (if somehow strangely hollow) love duet between the diabolically amoral couple who come out on top in the end.
CAST:
Nerone (Nero, Roman Emperor) ::: Kurt Streit (tenor)
Poppea (Nerone’s ambitious mistress) ::: Susan Graham (mezzo soprano)
Octavia (Nerone’s rejected wife) ::: Frederica von Stade (mezzo soprano)
Ottone (Otho, Poppea’s rejected suitor) ::: David Daniels (soprano counter-tenor)
Seneca (Roman senator) ::: Reinhard Hagen (bass)
Drusilla (Noble lady, loves Ottone) ::: Christine Brandes (soprano)
Nutrice (Octavia’s nurse) ::: Jim Grove (tenor)
Arnalta (Poppea’s nurse) ::: Christopher Gillet (tenor)
Valletto (Seneca’s page) ::: Keith Jameson (soprano counter-tenor)
Fortuna (Goddess of Fortune) ::: Tonna Miller (mezzo soprano)
Amor/Damigella (Goddess of Love) ::: Hanan Alattar (soprano)
Virtu/Pallade (God of Virtue/ Pallas Athene) ::: Stacey Tappan (mezzo soprano)
Mercurio/1st Tribune (Mercury, messenger of the gods) ::: Levi Hernandez (tenor)
Conductor: Harry Bicket / Los Angeles Opera Orchestra
Director: Pierre Audi
A word of advice if you want to buy a ticket to the LA Opera. Go for the expensive Orchestra Level seat if possible, and if you must do the balconies... go for the front row, otherwise you’ll likely find your view of the front of the stage (where opera singers LOVE to go) blocked by the heads in front of you... plus the tall railing (opera-goers, please SIT BACK in your seat. You are blocking the view for people behind you when you lean forward or sideway).
Anyhow, I find the minimalistic and abstract staging of the show works very nicely. There is nothing on stage during Act I except for a huge medicine ball (with steps in the back the performers can climb part way up on) and a golden round column on the right side. Act II (which begins at Seneca’s) is a stone garden, and Act III has nothing but 2 thin and long rectangle strips (one lying diagonal across the stage and the other upright on stage right). So you have to imagine the real scenes yourself while watching the singers and their stylized choreography. The costumes resemble something out of the Nativity plays to me (with Seneca dressed like Jesus and walks around holding a Shepard’s stick). The oddball (in every way ... as it turns out) is Arnalta (Poppea's nurse). She is in this bare shouldered stiff gown with what looks (from the vintage point of the balcony’s 3rd row) like one of those winged Chinese drama hat... and she is choreographed like a crazy female robot (often with her hands up in the ‘about to scream’ position and runs stiffly around like that). It's a brilliant tongue in cheek satire interpretation of the opera! Bravo to director Pierre Audi!
On the singing front, the whole cast was superb. The American mezzo, Susan Graham was making her LA Opera debut in the title role of the lustrous Poppea, and she is certainly the main event. Clad in a flowing red gown in much of the opera (fitting of her ‘Scarlet Woman’ role), she played one of the most amorally seductive character in all of opera with relish (it helps to be as voluptously tall and beautiful as she is, too). Her real asset is her voice; however, it is a creamily and sumptuous (and rather light) mezzo-soprano voice with a real ‘cut’ to it, and having no trouble with Poppea’s florid music either. Her coloratura runs (florid singing of many notes in succession to decorate the melodic line... the rapid fire 'ha..ha.' stuff) were more supple than I’ve ever heard of her before and more emotionally expressive, too. Her gorgeous half of the climatic duet finale ‘Pur ti miro’ is now tied with Anna Caterina Antonacci’s Munich version as the best ever in my book.
As Nerone was the tenor Kurt Streit, who makes a good case for the tenor voice in this role (Nerone can be played by a counter-tenor, a tenor, or a mezzo-soprano), with the exception of his being severely overshadowed as the other half in the final duet (the voice tends to disappear on long phrases... leaving Poppea’s hanging in need of the counterpoint). He was excellent otherwise, though. A very pleasant light lyrical tenor voice that does well in betraying Nerone’s fickle, undergrown personality. His acting was convincing as well,.... even in the comical stab at Nero’s homosexual tendencies during his little celebration (of Seneca’s death) duet with the pageboy Lucano. Made me wonder exactly whose 'kiss' Nerone was getting nostalgic about...
Nerone’s wife, Octavia, was none other than the legendary American mezzo Frederica von Stade, who showed up looking half her age and sang beautifully. I find her light voice a warm, womanly and sympathetic one.... even when her character got angry in the beautiful air 'Disprezzata regina', I felt afraid for her instead of afraid of her (those not familiar with opera might have seen her in ‘On the Town’ with Tyne Daly). Though that didn’t hurt much in live setting because this is one of the most committed actress on stage. The voice is still strong and lyrically beautiful, though not quite focus up high now. I’m very happy to hear her live in theatre at last even this late into her long career.
Ottone, the man who tried to kill his ex-girlfriend but redeemed himself in the end with his confession, was no other than the premiere counter-tenor of our time, David Daniels. This is truly another one of those singers who sound much more involved live than on studio recordings. His is a wonderfully lyrical male soprano voice that has enough weight to sound heroic and manly when needed, too. He made light of Ottone’s florid lines and was adept at shading his voice to bring out nuances. I love the way the voice sounded hollow when he made (probably preposterously empty) promises of his love to Drusilla in order to get her to lend him her clothes for disguise.
All the rest of the cast were wonderful as well. The comic side-kicks were hilarious, with Christopher Gillett stealing most of the scenes in the male drag role of Arnalta, Poppea’s aged female nurse. He has a heavier tenor voice than Mr. Streit, and that added a comic flavor to him singing a vain older woman. His Act II lullaby to Poppea was beautifully done (tho with some minor unsteadiness on long high notes) and caused a general out break of strained stomach in the audience from excessive laughing when he came out bragging about how she (Arnalta) will enjoy being untruthfully flattered by others now that she is the nurse of the Empress instead of just a lowly servant. Jill Grove displayed a startlingly powerfully deep and dark mezzo voice as Octavia’s surprisingly spry hunchback nurse Nutrice. She did well as a comic actress, also, playing off beautifully with Mr Gillett’s Arnalta. The German bass Reinhard Hagen was solid as the smug Seneca with impressive low notes and elegant singing in his Act II 'Solitudine amata'. Hanan Alattar was a strong-voiced Amor, though the top of it sounded acidic (corrosive, if you will, like a bubbling champagne... not smooth sounding) during her final air. And Levi Hernandez made the most of his brief appearance as Mercure, drawing spontaneous (though rather untimely) round of applause after firing off a convincing coloratura work while hanging high above the stage on a wire.
Maestro Harry Bicket conducted the minimum period instrument orchestra briskly. I like his take on the music (Monteverdi only left behind scores for the vocal lines and the bass line, so all the other instruments have to be interpolated). It is similar to the Nikolaus Harnoncourt version of the work, being bare and elegant, though without much florid improvisation from the continuo instruments. The entire opera is sung in Italian, with good sur-title projected above the stage (a libretto is not provided in the program booklet, tho a synopsis is).
All in all, the opera was so well performed that 4 hrs came and went as if only half its length, thanks to a stellar cast. This show is still running at the Los Angeles Opera at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Downtown Los Angeles, California (until December 16, 2006). I highly recommend it for those living nearby. This rarely performed opera with a cast of this caliber isn’t easy to assemble ... and Flicka von Stade isn’t going to keep singing forever either. If you’ve never heard what Renaissance period opera sounds like, now is your chance (and no, they aren’t paying me to advertise this either)!
Some good clips (audio and video) and photos of the production can be found at: http://www.laopera.com/bts/poppea.06.htm
If you go:
Even though I was somewhat intimidated to be among only the handful number of people who looked younger than 55 attending the pre-opera lecture (free and given on the 2nd floor an hour before the curtain rises), as it turned out there were more younger folks up in the Balconies (the cheaper seats) in the main auditorium. And though many do dress up for the event, you won’t look out of place in casual business dress... or even in sweater and dress pants (providing they aren't one of those Halloween flashing variety... and your seat isn't in the pricey Orchestra Level).
Backpacks and coats are checked (free! and the attendant is good humored). No recording devices are allowed (though they don’t frisk you for it). There are restrooms at all levels (though the line can get long, so don’t drink too much before going!). I’d advice that you eat elsewhere before hand as the restaurants there are quite expensive (I got a bottle of lemonade from the cheapest of these, ‘the Spotlight Cafe’ between the fountain and the street, for $3. Refrigerated sandwiches go for $6 a piece!). There are no cheap restaurants or corner grocer within 2 blocks of the thing (the nearest I saw was 4 or 5 blocks away on 1st Ave). Parking is pricey, too ($7). I took the train up from San Diego to Union Station in Los Angeles, which is only a bit over a mile from Bunker Hill Music Center (what the complex housing LA Opera and 4 other halls is known as). From there you can take the Subway Red line to Civic Center or walk (mostly uphill. Just go left on Alameda, right on Temple, and left on Grand). A cab ride costs about $6. And if you get there early, check out the other halls (Mark Taper Forum, Ahmanson Theatre, Walt Disney Concert Hall ( which looks like a big fat American twin of the famous Guggenheim museum in Bilbao... seen in the opening of the Bond film, The World is not Enough), or the Museum of Contemporary Arts a block away.
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
smorg
|
 - Top 1000 |
|
Member: Smorg
Location: Southern California, USA
Reviews written: 208
Trusted by: 307 members
|
|
|
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.