English Touring Opera are delighted to announce a season of lyric monodramas to tour nationally from October to December. The season features music for solo singer and piano by Argento, Britten, Tippett and Shostakovich with a bold and inventive approach to making opera during social distancing.
This tenth of ten Live from London concerts was in fact a recorded live performance from California. It was no less enjoyable for that, and it was also uplifting to learn that this wasn’t in fact the ‘last’ LfL event that we will be able to enjoy, courtesy of VOCES8 and their fellow vocal ensembles (more below …).
Ever since Wigmore Hall announced their superb series of autumn concerts, all streamed live and available free of charge, I’d been looking forward to this song recital by Ian Bostridge and Imogen Cooper.
The Sixteen continues its exploration of Henry Purcell’s Welcome Songs for Charles II. As with Robert King’s pioneering Purcell series begun over thirty years ago for Hyperion, Harry Christophers is recording two Welcome Songs per disc.
Although Stile Antico’s programme article for their Live from London recital introduced their selection from the many treasures of the English Renaissance in the context of the theological debates and upheavals of the Tudor and Elizabethan years, their performance was more evocative of private chamber music than of public liturgy.
In February this year, Albanian soprano Ermonela Jaho made a highly lauded debut recital at Wigmore Hall - a concert which both celebrated Opera Rara’s 50th anniversary and honoured the career of the Italian soprano Rosina Storchio (1872-1945), the star of verismo who created the title roles in Leoncavallo’s La bohème and Zazà, Mascagni’s Lodoletta and Puccini’s Madama Butterfly.
Evidently, face masks don’t stifle appreciative “Bravo!”s. And, reducing audience numbers doesn’t lower the volume of such acclamations. For, the audience at Wigmore Hall gave soprano Elizabeth Llewellyn and pianist Simon Lepper a greatly deserved warm reception and hearty response following this lunchtime recital of late-Romantic song.
Collapsology. Or, perhaps we should use the French word ‘Collapsologie’ because this is a transdisciplinary idea pretty much advocated by a series of French theorists - and apparently, mostly French theorists. It in essence focuses on the imminent collapse of modern society and all its layers - a series of escalating crises on a global scale: environmental, economic, geopolitical, governmental; the list is extensive.
For this week’s Live from London vocal recital we moved from the home of VOCES8, St Anne and St Agnes in the City of London, to Kings Place, where The Sixteen - who have been associate artists at the venue for some time - presented a programme of music and words bound together by the theme of ‘reflection’.
'Such is your divine Disposation that both you excellently understand, and royally entertaine the Exercise of Musicke.’
Amongst an avalanche of new Mahler recordings appearing at the moment (Das Lied von der Erde seems to be the most favoured, with three) this 1991 Mahler Second from the 2nd Kassel MahlerFest is one of the more interesting releases.
‘And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven … that old serpent … Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.’
If there is one myth, it seems believed by some people today, that probably needs shattering it is that post-war recordings or performances of Wagner operas were always of exceptional quality. This 1949 Hamburg Tristan und Isolde is one of those recordings - though quite who is to blame for its many problems takes quite some unearthing.
There was never any doubt that the fifth of the twelve Met Stars Live in Concert broadcasts was going to be a palpably intense and vivid event, as well as a musically stunning and theatrically enervating experience.
‘Love’ was the theme for this Live from London performance by Apollo5. Given the complexity and diversity of that human emotion, and Apollo5’s reputation for versatility and diverse repertoire, ranging from Renaissance choral music to jazz, from contemporary classical works to popular song, it was no surprise that their programme spanned 500 years and several musical styles.
The Academy of St Martin in the Fields have titled their autumn series of eight concerts - which are taking place at 5pm and 7.30pm on two Saturdays each month at their home venue in Trafalgar Square, and being filmed for streaming the following Thursday - ‘re:connect’.
The London Symphony Orchestra opened their Autumn 2020 season with a homage to Oliver Knussen, who died at the age of 66 in July 2018. The programme traced a national musical lineage through the twentieth century, from Britten to Knussen, on to Mark-Anthony Turnage, and entwining the LSO and Rattle too.
With the Live from London digital vocal festival entering the second half of the series, the festival’s host, VOCES8, returned to their home at St Annes and St Agnes in the City of London to present a sequence of ‘Choral Dances’ - vocal music inspired by dance, embracing diverse genres from the Renaissance madrigal to swing jazz.
Just a few unison string wriggles from the opening of Mozart’s overture to Le nozze di Figaro are enough to make any opera-lover perch on the edge of their seat, in excited anticipation of the drama in music to come, so there could be no other curtain-raiser for this Gala Concert at the Royal Opera House, the latest instalment from ‘their House’ to ‘our houses’.
"Before the ending of the day, creator of all things, we pray that, with your accustomed mercy, you may watch over us."
“One of the most insufferable prigs in a literature.” Handel scholar Winton Dean’s dismissal of Theodora, the eponymous heroine of Handel’s 1749 oratorio, may well have been shared by many among his contemporary audience.
Certainly, connoisseurs among his own circle spoke favourably of the oratorio. The Fourth Earl of Shaftesbury wrote to Handel’s friend James Harris, on 24th March 1750: ‘I have heard [Theodora] three times, and venture to pronounce it, as finished, beautiful and labour’d a composition, as ever Handel made.’ But, he added, ‘The Town don’t like it at all’. [1] It was one of Handel’s biggest flops. The first performance on 16 th March 1750, at the Theatre Royal Covent Garden, was followed by only two further performances that season (audiences were so poor that Handel undertook radical revisions), and one further single-performance revival in 1755.
The libretto by Thomas Morell takes us to 4th-century Antioch, where the Roman governor, Valens, has proclaimed that in celebration of the Emperor birthday all citizens must make sacrifice to Jove and join in a feast to the Emperor’s honour. In facing the threat of death for her refusal to abide by Valens’ decree, the Christian princess Theodora displays religious fidelity, personal integrity and steadfast bravery which are equalled by the Roman soldier Didymus who, loving Theodora, pleads for clemency and then attempts to save her by sacrificing himself in her place.
Why did this composition by the man who during the 1730s and ‘40s had single-handedly developed the unique form of the English oratorio, combining elements from Italian opera seria, English anthems and other forms, which such public and financial success, fall so flat on public ears? Various reasons have been proposed: the preachy moralising and solipsistic self-righteousness of the one-dimensional characters, the lack of ‘action’, the unfashionably tragic ending. With regard to the latter, Ruth Smith (in ‘Comprehending Theodora’ [2] ) observes that Handel chose not to set Morell’s conclusion, in which the courage of Theodora and Didymus during their execution resulted in the conversion of Septimius and a thousand Roman onlookers. We can only speculate why Handel rejected this ending (and also the ‘hallelujah’ which Morell supplied as a replacement) but the librettist’s original conclusion would have supplied some invigorating uplift; and, would have overcome the aloof detachment which seems to perfume the noble-born Theodora, whose Christian devotion is not used in service of her people.
That said, while Handel was later reported by Morell to have wryly commented that the Jews would not come because it was a Christian story, and the ladies would not come because it was a virtuous one, there would seem to have been much for Handel’s audiences to admire and enjoy in Theodora: bravery and self-sacrifice in the face of persecution, the loving constancy of youthful devotion, unwavering acceptance of and submission to the will of God - after all, one would expect them to have shared Theodora’s confidence in the blessings of heavenly after-life.
There is certainly no lack of potential for drama here. Though Theodora eschews heroic spectacle and grandeur, Handel’s other two late oratorios, Susanna and Jephtha, similarly place human drama centre-stage; and the conflict between human love and spiritual devotion surely invites the sort of vigorous emotional energies that Peter Sellars generated at Glyndebourne in 1996 when he put Theodora on the operatic stage, focusing on the rousing power of Theodora’s religious fervour.
There were, however, few stirring emotional heights or peaks of dramatic intensity in this performance of Theodora in the penultimate performance of this year’s BBC Proms season by Jonathan Cohen and Arcangelo. There was music-making of exquisitely beautiful poise and sensitivity, and Cohen directed his singers and musicians in a performance of utmost care and conviction, fashioning effectively broad canvases. He established a mood of apt solemnity, but the stylish playing of his 38 instrumentalists did not lack rhythmic buoyancy or crispness of articulation. Handel claimed that ‘He saw the lovely youth’ was the best chorus he ever wrote, and the 36-strong chorus gave no cause to dispute this, though it was perhaps a ‘polite’ rather than rendition fired with revolution. The female voices frequently provided radiance and freshness; muscular strength and vigour came from the men; the diction of all was excellent. The homophonic blend in ‘Go, gen’rous, pious youth’ warmed the heart.
There was, however, a lack of emotional variety: though there were moments of expressive intensity, serenity was the dominant mode. Even though the syncopations had a lively spring, the Romans’ orgy at the start of Part 2 was a tasteful homage to Caesar rather than a hedonistic knees-up. Perhaps the Royal Albert Hall is simply too large a venue to communicate a sufficiently realistic human drama to overcome the characters’ tendency towards poised detachment.
The singing of the cast of five soloists could scarcely be faulted. In the title role, Louise Alder tackled the task of embodying a Christian martyr to match that of Handel’s other Gospel-derived oratorio with characteristic composure and vocal sweetness. She captured Theodora’s true nobility from her first Air, ‘Fond, flatt’ring world, adieu!’, accompanied by lovely smooth strings, and occasional flared with frissons of passion, as expressed by the decorative ornaments which adorned the da capo repeat of ‘Angels, ever bright and fair’, here expressing the ecstatic consolations of faith as she was led to prison. Theodora’s double-scene aria from her prison cell, which closed the first part of the performance, sank low in long mellifluous lines of unwavering devotion and glowed with colour at the top, injecting the sort of dramatic elevation that Handel often uses a closing choral number to provide. But, the very beauty of her singing seemed to carry Alder’s Theodora into heavenly realms and weaken our ability to feel and share her human dilemmas.
Alder’s two duets with Iestyn Davies’ Didymus - a role written by Handel for Guagagni - were a highlight. In his Airs, Davies projected into the large arena with apparent effortless, and never at the expense of grace of phrasing or purity of tone. ‘Kind Heav’n, if virtue be thy care’ in which the conflicted Roman calls upon God to fire him with courage to save the captive Theodora, was animated and agile, the wide range easily encompassed. But, at the final reckoning - while Didymus’s sombre piety (‘Or lull’d with grief’ as a treat) was not in doubt - I hadn’t quite been convinced of Didymus’s inner schism between soldierly duty and personal desire.
Handel gives Septimius some lovely music to sing, and the lovely tone of Benjamin Hulett made a strong impression, especially in his Part 1 Recitative and Air, ‘I know thy virtues … Descend, kind pity’. The high lines seemed to present no difficulty, although elsewhere Hulett’s tenor did not always carry with sufficient strength. Projection was also a problem, at least initially, for bass Tareq Nazmi, whose Valens rather lacked focus and presence in Part 1, though the characterisation of the later recitatives was more strongly shaped. Irene, Theodora’s friend and fellow Christian, can - as the late Lorraine Hunt-Lieberson showed in Sellars’ production - become the emotional core of the drama, but here Ann Hallenberg’s elegant singing was too charming and emotionally disengaged from the text and context to convince me of the sincerity and depth of her love for her friend. ‘As with rosy steps the morn’ was charmingly sung, but Hallenberg might have been singing about the coming of springtime, rather than stirring her fellow Christians to forbearance in the face of religious persecution.
On this occasion, Cohen and his musicians made a superb case for the musical magnificence of Handel’s Theodora but the oratorio’s dramatic energies and emotional relevance were sadly absent.
Claire Seymour
Prom 74: Handel - Theodora
Valens, President of Antioch - Tareq Nazmi (bass), Didymus, a Roman Officer - Iestyn Davies (counter-tenor), Septimius, a Roman Officer - Benjamin Hulett (tenor), Theodora, a Christian - Louise Alder (soprano), Irene, a Christian - Ann Hallenberg (mezzo-soprano); conductor - Jonathan Cohen, Arcangelo.
Royal Albert Hall, London; Friday 7th September 2018.