EMS "Metastasio's Olimpiade" 14/7/2024

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  • AuntDaisy
    Host
    • Jun 2018
    • 1484

    EMS "Metastasio's Olimpiade" 14/7/2024

    The Early Music Show "Metastasio's Olimpiade" 14th July 2024.

    Metastasio's Olimpiade - The Early Music Show

    As excitement builds for the upcoming Olympic and Paralympics Games, Mark Seow explores sport in Baroque opera. L'Olimpiade is a dramma per musica by Metastasio, which was first set to music by Antonio Caldara in 1733. The plot is set at the competitions in ancient Greece, and the opera has virtuosic vocal acrobatics to match. Caldara’s premiere brought an onslaught of competition: Metastasio’s text was then set by many others composers throughout the 18th century – including Vivaldi, Pergolesi, Sarti and Galuppi. Join us for the operatic Olympics


    It'll be interesting to see how this Metastasio progamme compares with Catherine Bott's 2011 EMS on "Mozart and Metastasio" or Lucie Skeaping's 2015 EMS on "Metastasio's Artaserse".

    Mozart and Metastasio
    As part of the "Genius of Mozart" season, Catherine Bott presents a programme focusing on the Italian poet, librettist and moralist Pietro Trapassi, aka Metastasio, through Mozart's four settings of his texts. Two of these texts, 'Il sogno di Scipione' and 'Lucio Silla' (written by Giovanni de Gamerra and adapted by Metastasio), were written in 1771 when Mozart was still only 16, in between trips to Italy. Metastasio wrote his text 'Il re Pastore' in 1751, and it had been set 14 times before Mozart chose it. The fourth of Mozart's settings turned out to be one of his final works, 'La Clemenza di Tito', written in the summer of 1791; twelve weeks after the first performance Mozart was dead. Catherine Bott reflects on the settings of these texts and plays music from each of the four works.
    Metastasio's Artaserse
    Lucie Skeaping explores Artaserse, one of the most popular opera libretti by Metastasio, the great 18th century dramatist, featuring Artaxerxes I, King of Persia.
    The libretto was originally written for and first set to music by Leonardo Vinci in 1730 for Rome, and it was subsequently set by dozens of later composers. In England, Thomas Arne's 1762 Artaxerxes is set to an English libretto that is based on Metastasio's. Lucie Skeaping introduces extracts from a few of the 90 known settings of Metastasio's text.
  • LHC
    Full Member
    • Jan 2011
    • 1540

    #2
    Irish National Opera has just recently performed Vivaldi's setting of L'Olimpiade to considerable acclaim in Ireland, London (at the ROH) and in Switzerland.

    I saw it in the Linbury theatre at the Royal Opera House and enjoyed both the opera and Irish National Opera's staging.
    "I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square."
    Lady Bracknell The importance of Being Earnest

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    • vinteuil
      Full Member
      • Nov 2010
      • 12687

      #4
      .

      the Vivaldi also available here :





      (some of us got it quite a bit cheaper, fourteen years ago

      ... )

      Comment

      • MickyD
        Full Member
        • Nov 2010
        • 4734

        #5
        It's tragic that the older discs in the Naive Vivaldi series are no longer available yet Naive continues with new issues. How were we supposed to buy every single disc or box immediately? I've written to them but answer comes there none.

        Comment

        • AuntDaisy
          Host
          • Jun 2018
          • 1484

          #6
          Originally posted by vinteuil View Post
          .the Vivaldi also available here :

          (some of us got it quite a bit cheaper, fourteen years ago
          ... )
          £1,131.04 It's the 4p that does it... Embarrassed to admit that I don't know the Vivaldi.

          I wonder if it will be the main focus? The blurb also mentions Pergolesi, Sarti & Galuppi - are there others of note? (Answers, on a postcard please, to The Early Music Seow.)
          Last edited by AuntDaisy; 22-06-24, 07:39.

          Comment

          • oddoneout
            Full Member
            • Nov 2015
            • 8989

            #7
            Two things potentially take the shine off this EMS for me - it's a Seow presentation, and this
            Join us for the operatic Olympics
            . The extent to which either or both of those are problematic remains to be seen. I don't like Seow's voice, and I don't want a jokey EMS, so that's not a good start. We shall see.

            Comment

            • MickyD
              Full Member
              • Nov 2010
              • 4734

              #8
              Originally posted by oddoneout View Post
              Two things potentially take the shine off this EMS for me - it's a Seow presentation, and this . The extent to which either or both of those are problematic remains to be seen. I don't like Seow's voice, and I don't want a jokey EMS, so that's not a good start. We shall see.
              I couldn't agree more - I really don't think I can stomach it. Thanks for the warning.

              Comment

              • oddoneout
                Full Member
                • Nov 2015
                • 8989

                #9
                Originally posted by MickyD View Post

                I couldn't agree more - I really don't think I can stomach it. Thanks for the warning.
                You might be OK. A lot of music and not a lot of talk. A certain amount of compare and contrast, but generally not that well hung together to my way of thinking. Never mind, I've encountered something new, I've enjoyed the music, and not been too irritated by Mr Seow's input. I'm just wondering if we'll get the "news".

                Comment

                • AuntDaisy
                  Host
                  • Jun 2018
                  • 1484

                  #10
                  Originally posted by oddoneout View Post
                  You might be OK. A lot of music and not a lot of talk. A certain amount of compare and contrast, but generally not that well hung together to my way of thinking. Never mind, I've encountered something new, I've enjoyed the music, and not been too irritated by Mr Seow's input. I'm just wondering if we'll get the "news".
                  A good summary ooo. Still one of Mr Seow's better programmes - compared to, say, the abysmal "Bach after the beep"!
                  No news

                  Comment

                  • oddoneout
                    Full Member
                    • Nov 2015
                    • 8989

                    #11
                    Originally posted by AuntDaisy View Post
                    A good summary ooo. Still one of Mr Seow's better programmes - compared to, say, the abysmal "Bach after the beep"!
                    No news
                    When the bar is low doing better isn't that hard... What I find rather sad is that Mr S is apparently knowledgeable, but for whatever reason doesn't seem able to make the most of that. Whether the formats and gimmicks are his idea or foisted on him, either way it seems a waste.

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