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May 29, 2006
May 29, 2006: Final preparations: a Mannheim crescendo...
From the conductor's point of view, the final preparations are some of the most satisfying because one really has to have the whole piece and all its details in mind at once, an intense process which often yields new musical insights. Many of the things I find most exciting about Idomeneo have to do with its freely flowing (and characteristically French) forms, from recitative to aria and/or chorus and dance. The recits are most often accompanied by the orchestra, and, in addition, something new often happens musically at the end of an aria to introduce the recit, or the recit may carry forward and transform some of the material in the aria. An aria may also metamorphose into a chorus or a chorus into a march, which has the effect of keeping the stage action continuous.
Mozart even moves seamlessly from the overture into the first recit. The simple magic of the transition is that the last chord of the overture (which has changed from a dramatic to contemplative mood at its close) serves as the chord from which Ilia's voice is introduced. One doesn't hear the accompanying keyboard instrument (the "continuo") until the next measure. Then, at the end of Ilia's recit and the beginning of her first aria, the harmony and rhythm are unstable until the fifth measure of the aria. In each case, we are in the new form before we realize it, and the effect perfectly matches Ilia's anxious monologue and unsettled state.
An aspect of characterization which I didn't fully appreciate until rather late in the learning process was the youthful innocence of Idamante established early in the opera, before and just after his first confusing confrontation with his father in Act I and well before his transformation in the great sacrificial scene of Act III. His opening aria is full of swelling lines and fitful starts and stops, while being harmonically relatively simple and texturally transparent. It has some similarities to Cherubino's "Non so piu," Mozart's great characterization of adolescence in his next opera, The Marriage of Figaro.
Another "French" aspect of this opera is its tone painting. An exquisite example of this is the way the orchestra simulates the caressing breezes in Ilia's aria at the opening of the third act, and to make it work, the strings must articulate their repeated notes with an especially gentle touch. On the other end of the emotional scale, Mozart's admiration for Rameau's storm scenes is evident in the rapid chromatic figuration and bold harmonies that characterize the dancers and chorus fearfully fleeing a tempest and monster at the end of Act II. Similarly, in Act I, it's hard to know which is more impressive -- Elettra's interior tempest metamorphosing into an external storm scene, or that storm subsiding into the lapping of the waves at the shore as we are introduced to Idomeneo, the exhausted survivor of a shipwreck.
The final chorus in Act I hints at a few important elements of the original performing circumstances of the opera by its text and music alone. The text says "Let Neptune be honored...with dances and sounds we must celebrate." Curiously, but perhaps typically, the supertitles we secured for the performance left out the word "dances." We reinserted it, as we have reinserted the dance itself during this wonderful and vivacious Ciaconna. Also, towards the end of the movement there is a very long crescendo which builds from nothing to a final climax. This kind of effect has been called a "Mannheim crescendo" in honor of the virtuoso orchestra for whom Mozart wrote the work. In the middle of it Mozart has the trumpets enter to the text "Now sound the trumpets," and after a dramatic pause, the movement closes with a four-bar pattern (a rock and roll staple) of satisfyingly static energy after tremendous development.
Actually making all this come to life with full orchestra, soloists, and the dance company becomes a mad intense dash in the final week, without any time for reflection, so this blog ends here. I hope through this blog you've gotten a glimpse of the intellectual process that leads us to the rehearsal stage, and that you will come enjoy the musical fruits of this process at our performances on June 2 and 3.
Posted by at May 29, 2006 04:37 AM