In February, I posted an enthusiastic review of The English Concert's performance of the oratorio Theodora. Yesterday afternoon, the orchestra returned to Carnegie Hall with a presentation of yet another Handel classic - the 1735 opera Alcina. Harpsichordist Harry Bicket once again conducted and the lead this time was sung by Joyce DiDonato, the mezzo-soprano who received such acclaim at the Met this past season for her appearance in the title role of Rossini's La Cenerentola.
If Alcina is not very often performed today it is primarily because it was written, as were Handel's other operatic works, in the form of an opera seria. Though this genre was dominant in the Baroque era - and Handel was in fact one of its leading practitioners - it was doomed to become an anachronism as popular tastes changed. As the name would imply, the works composed in this mode were deadly serious and usually placed in mythological or historical settings. To say the plots were unrealistic would be an understatement. Sung by castrati, these operas were intended purely as aristocratic entertainments and were as far removed from the real world as possible. As social change swept through Europe in the late eighteenth century and the threat of the French Revolution grew ever more palpable, this outmoded style at last gave way to that of opera buffa which placed new emphasis on the plight of the common man and which used contemporary surroundings rather than the distant past for its settings. The final nail in the coffin for opera seria was Da Ponte's brilliant libretto for Le nozze di Figaro. Having studied the libretti of his countryman Bertati, Da Ponte found new possibilities in opera buffa beyond the merely comic and with them the means to give greater depth to characterization than had previously been deemed appropriate. It is with Figaro that the standard repertoire is usually considered to begin.
Even in Handel's day, the limits of opera seria had already grown apparent. In England, though, the challenge to its supremacy came from an unexpected source - the ballad opera. Only seven years before Alcina's premiere, The Beggar's Opera by John Gay had taken the London musical scene by storm. Here again, as in opera buffa, the story centered on ordinary people rather than on the aristocracy and their elitist pastimes. Handel certainly saw the writing on the wall. For one thing, Alcina was his last opera to use magic as a plot device. Shortly afterwards, he gave up writing Italian opera altogether and instead concentrated on composing oratorios for his British audiences.
With all that in mind, it's surprising how much fun this opera actually turned out to be. No matter its archaic structure and implausible plot, this was a highly enjoyable entertainment in every sense. The work contained some of Handel's finest and most original music. It was especially evocative, almost spooky, at the close of Act II when Alcina attempted to summon the evil spirits with her magic. The opera's four-hour length passed very swiftly as the wonderful cast and orchestra received one well deserved round of applause after another from a very appreciative audience. DiDonato was in perfect form and brought down the house with her Act II arias "Ah! mio cor" and "Ombre pallide." Everyone else onstage was equally as good. Special mention should be given to Christine Rice as Bradamante and Alice Coote as Ruggiero. This was an excellent example of a talented cast of artists working together as an ensemble.
This concert production premiered earlier in the month at the Barbican Center in London and then traveled to several other European cities before finally arriving in New York. It was a very polished production and not simply a curiosity offered to devotees of period instruments. It was all the more disappointing then that the performance at Carnegie Hall failed to sell out. The empty seats were a sad commentary on the state of the arts in America.
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