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May 08, 2006
May 8, 2006: Our First Choices Were Made...
Opera Lafayette has performed the repertoire of Lully (late 17th century), Rameau (mid 18th century) and Gluck (later 18th century), and their contemporaries. This repertoire may be the largest body of great dramatic music that has not yet been incorporated into the repertoire of major American opera companies. For whatever reasons this may be — the preponderance of German and Italian immigrants contributing to 19th century America's musical culture, French opera's dance requirements, the difficulty of finding players of the period instruments that facilitate this repertoire, or the special relationship of the French language to dramatic recitative - the fact remains that the public is just beginning to know the joys of these operas again.
As the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth was approaching, I asked myself what Opera Lafayette could bring to the understanding and appreciation of a composer, who, unlike those we've been dedicated to so far, needs no introduction?
An answer quickly presented itself. We would do Mozart's 'French' opera, Idomeneo, the one most influenced by Mozart's study of Rameau and Gluck, and the one which, though in Italian, was taken, often line by line, from a French libretto (Danchet's Idomenée, which Campra set around 1712.) And, not incidentally, Idomeneo is an opera of Mozart's which seemed to cry out for rethinking. Before I had seen a staged production of it, I noticed that those who had would invariably talk about how gorgeous the music was, but how long it all seemed. When I saw a DVD of the opera, I understood what they meant, but instinctively felt that, regarding length, it did not have to be this way. Most obviously, the production on video hadn't captured the essential balance of drama and divertissement, or intensity and release, which seemed to be built into this 'French' opera. Idomeneo needs the ballet and the exhilaration of movement to contrast with the agonizing story of a father forced to sacrifice his son.
Our first choices were made — we would do Idomeneo, and the form the performance would take — a concert version with dance, similar to performances we had done of operas by Lully and Gluck in the past — would offer by itself, without staging, a fresh perspective on the piece. The New York Baroque Dance Company, our longtime collaborator, was an obvious choice as I knew the director Catherine Turocy had already choreographed many of the dances in Idomeneo. I had played excerpts from the opera with her a number of years ago at Lincoln Center.
The next step would be figuring out which version of Idomeneo to perform.
Posted by claricesmith at May 8, 2006 12:49 AM