And that was something that came across: the sheer fun being had by all. For the last year they’ve been kept kicking their heels while their leader, Jason, diverts himself with a mysterious woman. Meanwhile, on the banks of the river Iberus, Hypsipyle (Francesca Aspromonte) pauses with her band of excitable maids and her loyal servant Oreste (Alejandro Meerapfel). Cavalli was born in 1602, not long after the earliest operas were written. He has a very good voice, but the style just seemed completely inappropriate. At the end of the interval, however, a spokesman announced that the changing temperature was making his voice unstable and he begged our indulgence. Apollo (Francesca Aspromonte) and Cupid (Mary Feminear) have already had a spat in the prologue about whom Jason should marry: Apollo champions Medea, who is his descendant; Cupid has already made plans for Hypsipyle. Thursday April 9, 2020: New England Conservatory Opera presents La Calisto, Francesco Cavalli's early Baroque opera. The performances are taking place in an outdoor courtyard of an old box factory, now home to an art gallery in what is billed as “Brooklyn’s Venice,” by the Gowanus Canal, and is produced by Vertical Player Repertory. The opera "Ercole Amante" composed in 1662 by Francesco Cavalli relates Hercules' love life. And Cavalli was a central figure in the evolution of opera, easily the best known and most popular composer of such works in his age. Her recordings include Cavalli (La Calisto - extracts), Handel (Messiah; Water Music suites 1-3), Haydn (Symphonies 80, 87, 89, 101, 102, 103, 104; 'Harmoniemesse' and 'Schöpfungsmesse', Mozart (Symphonies 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41; Divertimenti K. 136-K. 138 & Serenade K. 525, "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik"; Serenade for 13 Wind Instruments K361; Requiem K.626), Mendelssohn (Violin Concerto Op. The Yankees signed Cervelli as an international free agent in 2003. Performances are July 8, 10, 14 and 16, all at 8PM. Sick with love of Jason, she sends Oreste off to find out the latest news, while her maids – led by the spirited Alinda (Mariana Flores) try to jolly her along. In smaller roles, Günes Gürie (Besso) and Taras Berezhansky (Ercole) were both impressive, but didn’t really have enough chance to shine. Her brother, Richard Glover, served as Master Haberdasher (2015–16). In addition to my wife Amy Dubinsky, many dear friends and collegues helped me proofreading my writing: Diana Russo, Mary Ella Savarino, Kathryne Fenton, Heather Foote, Stevie Gaza, Katheryn Lawson, et al. Cavalli - The Requiem is the composer's last sacred work, … Glover was the Music Director of the London Mozart Players from 1984 to 1991. When this recording was made in 2006, recordings and even performances of the operas of Francesco Cavalli were rare. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. It was so very nearly four stars, but I just felt there were too many issues for me to give it that rating with a clear conscience. After having killed his first wife, he had to perform twelve tasks. Jason, astonished, accepts her offer of magical assistance in his quest for the fleece – for Medea is, of course, a sorceress – and then the two lovers plan to scarper, leaving behind Medea’s elderly husband Aegeus, King of Athens (the father of Theseus, for those whom enjoy keeping their myth-cycles straight). A 3.75 if you like…, A splendid message to end on: ‘Make Love Not War’ proclaims the tableau at the final curtain, I know I was taking the piss out of the Three Countertenors CD, but upon listening to it seriously again today, I have to admit Dominique Visse is passable when he’s (a) not a nurse, (b) singing in French, and (c) actually singing, and not speak-singing or lapsing in and out of his CT voice. Giasone is no exception. Glover first conducted at Oxford as a student, in a production of Athalia, and went on to conduct the first performance in modern times of Cavalli's Rosinda for the Oxford University Opera Club in October 1973. Was it Cavalli? (Identical to the VE52 text, except for ‘empier’) Christine Jeanneret, in her essay ‘Maria Cavalli: In the Shadow of Francesco’4 identifies the handwriting of this addition as that of Maria Cavalli, Francesco’s wife. The male singers weren’t quite as strong as the women. Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Here and There Classical Music News: Opera appointments, Anthony Tommasini,"A Rollicking Treat Infused With Grace and Gravitas,", Music of the Baroque – biography on Jane Glover, Music Director, Glyndebourne Touring Opera, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jane_Glover&oldid=999401256, People educated at Haberdashers' Monmouth School for Girls, Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Pages containing London Gazette template with parameter supp set to y, Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz identifiers, Wikipedia articles with PLWABN identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 10 January 2021, at 00:14. sorry to hear that. I do my best to locate the creators of all artwork used on this site, but sometimes the images have become divorced from their artist information by the time I find them. Russell exemplifies the “can do” spirit of Haymarket Opera Company. To make matters worse, his fiancee Hypsipyle, Queen of Lemnos, has grown tired of waiting for him and is coming to fetch him home. Her hand is also 4Readying Cavalli's Operas for the Stage: Manuscript, Edition, Production. And Cavalli was a central figure in the evolution of opera, easily the best known and most popular composer of such works in his age. She did not return to Italy until her husband's death in 1689. Here he made a very good job of making a hero unsympathetic, of stripping away the glamour of Jason of Thessaly and letting us see the silly little man beneath. Career The things we do for art. Ludovico Einaudi was born on 23 November 1955, in Turin, Italy. Forgot to say: are either of you coming to Rinaldo tomorrow? For her part, she scolds him for womanising his way around her kingdom, teasingly claims that her elderly maid Delpha (Dominique Visse) is his beloved, and then finally outs herself. The dauntless Argonauts came to the shores of Colchis in search of the Golden Fleece, but their heroism has been put on hold. Her father, Robert Finlay Glover, MA (TCD), was headmaster of Monmouth School and it was through this connection that she was able to meet Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears aged only 16. In December 2013, she became the third woman ever to conduct at the Metropolitan Opera of New York, leading Mozart's The Magic Flute in the production of Julie Taymor; the New York Times wrote, "...Ms. Glover's appearance, and the magisterial performance and nuance she drew from the orchestra, were the news here. Amidst the glitz and glitter of Versailles’s Opéra Royal, everything was about to hit the fan in a very, very Baroque fashion. Hammarström had the best role, as Medea, and she brought power and intensity to her singing. It’s always great to have an excuse to go to Versailles and spend a few hours in this jewel of an opera house, and it was also wonderful to tick off one more Cavalli opera. Approximate Run Time: Cavalli's La Calisto plays in 2 hours and 15 minutes with one intermission. The most lavish and vast villa of the ancient Rome, the Domus Aurea. Change ). But if you also remembered a 340-year-old opera by Francesco Cavalli, called Hercules in Love, go to the head of the class. I’ve never been a great fan, I admit, and his strength here was very definitely comedy rather than singing, as his voice wavered wildly between (creditable) falsetto and broken chest voice. But Francesco Cavalli (1602-1676) was right there with the Master in time and place. ( Log Out /  As ever, Cavalli’s women are particularly strong: I feel compelled to note that both Medea and Hypsipyle are queens in their own right. After reading Music as an undergraduate at St Hugh's College, Oxford, she went on to complete a DPhil on 17th-century Venetian Opera. After the birth of their third son, relations between Colonna and his wife deteriorated for multiple reasons, including his infidelities and her fears of further childbirth. (Remarkably, one of the tamer interpretations.) Of course, Oreste returns with the unfortunate news that Jason has impregnated another woman and scarpered with her. Sit back and marvel. It was unfortunate that Giménez sang the whole thing as though it were Puccini, with a pronounced bel canto delivery that feels completely foreign in the context of Cavalli’s more austere music. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Glover was a BBC governor from 1990 to 1995. The music almost always feels to me like second rate Monteverdi. Jason is a figure of mockery: a man ‘effeminate’ in the Baroque sense of the word, whose manly qualities have been diluted through excessive sex with women. at the Academy. Good use was made of the stage, too, although I tired rather quickly of watching lustful old Delpha despoiling yet more young soldiers. A search of the immigration and passenger lists has shown a number of people bearing the name Cavallo: Bartolomeo Cavallero, who arrived in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1778 with his wife Maria and his six children; Diego, Antonio, Bartolomeo, Maria, Augustina, Andrea, and Louis Cavalli, who were all naturalized in Detroit in 1833. ( Log Out /  Based on a libretto by Giacinto Andrea Cicognini, Cavalli’s opera was first performed on 5 January 1649 in Venice. If one of your images appears uncredited in one of my posts, please get in touch with me and I will gladly add your credit. Just when things look as if they can’t get any more complicated, the gods get involved. He came from a prestigious family; his grandfather, Luigi Einaudi, was President of Italy between 1948 and 1955 and his father, Giulio Einaudi, was a publisher who worked with some renowned authors, such as Italo Calvino and Primo Levi. She was music director of Glyndebourne Touring Opera from 1981 to 1985. Album Description. Naturally, this translated at Versailles into Valer Sabadus lying blindfolded on a rock with his shirt open and his trousers undone. . During the 1980s, Glover regularly broadcast on BBC Television including hosting the television series Orchestra with Jane Glover in 1983 and Mozart – His Life with Music in 1985. I’ll be eagerly keeping my eye on Versailles’s programming in the seasons to come, hoping we might have some more Baroque to look forward to. She later described the meeting: "I was beside myself with the prospect of hearing them perform. Yes, my dear CTs, you certainly are doing it your way and my jaw is aching from the silly smile I have on my face. Did I mention that Jason has also given each woman twin sons? Eliogabalo was the last surviving work of Cavalli, “the pre-eminent theatre musician of the mid-century” (Carter), the scores of whose almost 30 Venetian operas “shift flexibly between recitative and aria styles, sometimes within only a few bars”.. facsimile of Francesco Cavalli’s manuscript scores belonging to the Contarini Collection. This research greatly increased his interest in Gregorian chant. He and his wife Paula have two wonderful children and one glorious granddaughter. Raum Klang CD RK 3601. He was the son of Giovanni Battista Caletti, organist and maestro di capellaat the cathedral at Crema.As a boy Francesco apparently excelled as a singer in the local choir; Venetian nobleman and governor Federico Cavalli noticed the boy and in 1616 persuaded the elder Caletti to let Francesco accompany him to Venice, where he would see to his musical studies. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! In 1990, after a sizeable donation, the Glover Music School was opened at Monmouth School by Jane Glover, in memory of her father. Once Aegeus (Raúl Giménez) hears about his wife’s flight, he decides to follow her – because, despite everything, he actually loves Medea – accompanied by his long-suffering hunchbacked and stuttering servant Demo (Migran Agadzhanyan). (Oreste finds it hard to be entirely sad about this, as he has a long-cherished soft spot for his young mistress.) Faith, Hope and Charity (2015) is an epic play set in Malta at the start of the Second World War as part of the 2015 Malta Arts Festival. ... in La Calisto by Francesco Cavalli. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. Here is him singing Massanet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adqyQ9AEBms. I thought it was “the bassist”. Her brother, Richard Glover, served as Master Haberdasher (2015–16). Well, my appetite is well and truly whetted. [7], Glover was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2003 New Year Honours and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2021 New Year Honours for services to music. Francesco Cavalli's Baroque opera is staged with a cheeky sensibility in Highland Park. H has high expectations for Iestyn . A great treat. My latest adventure is as Giove, King of the Gods, in Francesco Cavalli’s La Calisto.. He might be thoroughly enjoying himself but, as his fellow Argonaut Hercules tells him, it’s time to move on. There on the step, looking for all the world as they did on one of my record sleeves, distinguished, elegant and with the kindliest of eyes, were Peter Pears and Benjamin Britten my hero.". (English Touring Opera at the Hackney Empire, 14 October 2016) On Friday night it was time for the second opera in ETO’s autumn Baroque trilogy (the first was their Battle of Britain Xerxes).This time we were going back to the mid-17th century for Cavalli’s Calisto, which on the surface is an exuberant pantomime in song about gods behaving badly in the forests of Arcadia. She has been both principal conductor and principal guest conductor of the Huddersfield Choral Society and continues to work with the choir on a semi-regular basis. He believes that … On 29 May 1672, fearing that her husband would kill her, Mancini left Rome accompanied by her sister Hortense Mancini. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. I’m fine, thank you – just tired and in need of a few evenings cuddled up at home with a good book! Dr Glover has published a 1978 biography of Francesco Cavalli, and included material derived from her doctoral thesis. The setting was vaguely 1930s with modern commando uniforms for the Argonauts, while the gods were resplendent in proper Baroque costumes to differentiate their reality from the mess of adultery and cowardice all around them. I was also pleasantly surprised by Meerapfel’s Oreste, who was heartsick without losing his dignity, and who provided a sober rallying point amid Hypsipyle’s fluttering handmaidens. Huge applause must go to the enterprising Feminear, who as Cupid spent the entire opera in an oversized baby-shaped fat-suit. But Jason’s romantic adventures prove harder to shake off than he anticipates, when it transpires that his secret lover is none other than Medea, Queen of Colchis. As Medea’s rival, Aspromonte was a loyal innocent, the purity of her voice backing up her character. Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window), Songs for Nancy: A concert to celebrate Nancy Storace, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adqyQ9AEBms. One of the stars was Agadzhanyan as Demo, partly for his exuberant performance, but also for the sheer command he exercised over his lines: singing Baroque opera is difficult enough without having to ‘stutter’ your music, and he did a wonderful job of singing the clown-sidekick role. Buy CDs,DVDs online at hbdirect.com: Francisco Cavalli: Ercole Amante / Bolton/Concerto Koln, Netherlands Opera Chorus [2 DVD] Composers: Francesco Cavalli (1602 - 1676) Performers: Anna Bonitatibus Veronica Cangemi Marlin Miller Jeremy Ovenden Anna Panzarella Luca Pisaroni Label: BBC Opus Arte Conductors: Ivor Bolton Ensembles: Concerto Koln Netherlands Opera Chorus - BOA 1020 Sit back and marvel. ( Log Out /  (Opéra Royal de Versailles, 9 March 2018). They returned to Penang after marrying. ( Log Out /  [2] She made her professional debut at the Wexford Festival in 1975 with the first modern performance of Eritrea[3] and joined Glyndebourne in 1979. Take a look at the Cavalli clan as shot by Patrick Demarchelier. I’d spotted something odd in the first half, which I couldn’t identify exactly – my ear knew that it wasn’t perfect but I don’t have the music vocabulary to understand what I was hearing. He doesn’t seem to take himself anywhere near as seriously as many other countertenors do, and that’s refreshing, because he’s quite happy to play the buffoon if that’s what it takes. I believe H is; I’m not, as am just this minute arriving back in town from a family funeral and need some downtime after a couple of crazy weeks. Italian composer and singer. Ercole Amante was commissioned by Cardinal Mazarin for the wedding of Louis XIV and Maria Theresa of Spain in 1660. Elena is an opera by Francesco Cavalli, the star composer of 17th-century Venice. The third portion of the limelight went to Flores’s Alinda, the classic cheeky maid who sings about how wonderful it is to be able to pick up men and drop them as you please (this Alinda, in a comic touch, was heavily pregnant). Once Jason (Sabadus) has been recalled to his duty, he goes to solicit the help of Queen Medea (Kristina Hammarström), little realising that he knows her much better than he thinks. Vocally, however, Sabadus was very slightly off colour when we saw him. Well, if he did, he could’ve taken a page out of his own book and used it more in his signed work as well! [5] Since 2002, she has been Music Director of the Chicago ensemble Music of the Baroque. In 2018, her Handel in London: The Making of a Genius, was published, which charts the composer's work as "immigrant musical genius, composer, performer and impresario", placed in the social and political context of London of the time.[9]. As in Ol’ Blue Eyes. He’s a weak, vacillating, dreamy creature who only lifts a weapon once in the entire opera, and that’s to threaten a woman. I’m also having trouble with Cavalli beyond the (very) amusing nature of his stories. Dr Glover has published a 1978 biography of Francesco Cavalli, and included material derived from her doctoral thesis. Cavalli is not the most musical composer, to my ears (I still think his operas are more like sung dramas than proper opera), but he’s one of the most deliciously silly, dramatic and irreverent. Which of these famous missions was *not* one of Hercules' twelve tasks? As a matter of fact, having so much space suddenly available in the city centre, gave Nero the opportunity to build right on the Colle Oppio the most lavish and vast villa of the ancient Rome, the Domus Aurea.. She has conducted opera at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, English National Opera, Glyndebourne, Berlin Staatsoper, Royal Danish Opera, Opéra National du Rhin, Opéra National de Bordeaux, Glimmerglass Opera, New York City Opera, and Teatro La Fenice. Hope you’re ok otherwise. Cavalli's La Calisto at NEC is presented as part of the Pratt Residency and Performance Series for Early Music, established through the generosity of Life Trustee Harold I. Pratt and his wife, Frances. No Youtube clip, sadly, but no doubt that will simply work to increase the anticipation until I can show it to you. It must have been rather like a reunion for them all. Review of Handel in London: The Making of a Genius. Here, Davide portraying the injured Italian pilot Francesco Cavalli who, after having an emergency landing in Malta, falls in love with the nurse who takes care of him. On the afternoon of the concert, the doorbell rang at the headmaster's house, and I went to answer it. David Lim met his Irish wife Joyce Davis, a nurse, while studying at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin in the 1950s and 60s. The early baroque period opera, La Calisto by Francesco Cavalli, was based on the myth of Callisto from Ovid's Metamorphoses.The opera premiered on Nov. 28, 1651, at the Teatro Sant 'Apollinare Public Opera House in Venice, Italy. But hope it’s good! II. Unless of course you subscribe to the theory that Cavalli wrote Pur ti miro, in which case the best of Monteverdi *is* Cavalli? Ercole amante (Hercules in Love, French: Hercule amoureux) is an opera in a prologue and five acts by Francesco Cavalli.Its Italian libretto is by Francesco Buti [], based on Sophocles' The Trachiniae and on the ninth book of Ovid's Metamorphoses.The first performance took place on 7 February 1662 in the Salle des Machines of the Tuileries in Paris. [8], In September 2005, Macmillan published Glover's book Mozart's Women: His Family, His Friends, His Music. It seems that Visse is now the pantomime dame of Baroque operas: if you need a comedy nurse, he’s your man. Still, if you have a comedy nurse in Cavalli, she’s always after the young men. The set itself was simple but very effective: a great boulder splits open in answer to Medea’s dark command, revealing the glint of the Golden Fleece within, and the final act took place among billboard trees and bushes, as the characters stumbled through the inevitable last-minute confusions. Jason (Valer Sabadus) and his mystery lady Medea (Kristina Hammarström). If any regular readers still think that Baroque opera is highbrow, serious stuff, I invite you to listen to Giasone’s first major aria. Perhaps I should mention Dominique Visse’s Delpha here, as an honorary woman. His Ercole in Amante shows Hercules as a swaggering, lustful idiot; in Elena, the future king Menelaus spends most of his time in a dress. Delpha (Dominique Visse, in fatsuit) approaches one of her victims. "[10] She has been a regular collaborator with choreographer Mark Morris. Vast villa of the Chicago ensemble music of the Baroque Maria Theresa of Spain in.! 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