Dido and Aeneas: Opera Matinee 29 October

[doversoul1]

Penny Gore presents today's Thursday Opera Matinee; a performance of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas from the Utrecht Early Music Festival. Based on Virgil, the opera tells of the love between Dido and Aeneas which comes to a tragic end when a socrceress incites Aeneas to abandon Dido. Christina Pluhar directs L'Arpeggiata, and Mariana Flores and Marc Mauillon sing the doomed lovers

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06kc9k3

(I posted this on Utrecht Early Music Festival thread)
Pluhar reconstrueert de proloog aan de hand van werken van Purcell.
Pluhar recreates the prologue on the basis of works by Purcell (Wiki translation).
I’m afraid I skipped the first 30 minutes or so.

[jean]

I know it's short, but I diidn't care for the interpolations - it's got its own comic relief, which is at least related to its subject matter.

This year at Buxton it was padded out with readings from the Aeneid in translation...not a very good idea, either.

[Flosshilde]

Doversoul was very wise, & I agree with Jean - the interpolations added nothing (except irritation).

[Richard Tarleton]

I know it's short, but I diidn't care for the interpolations - it's got its own comic relief, which is at least related to its subject matter.

I listened to a couple of minutes of the interpolated Prologue, before thinking it would be a shame to spoil the memory of last week's wonderful Armonico Consort performance in Cardiff. To borrow an expression from the "Words and Phrases that set your teeth on edge" thread, it is what it is. It's exactly the right length.

This year at Buxton it was padded out with readings from the Aeneid in translatiobn...not a very good idea, either.

Sounds awful. An interesting article about Tate's libretto here.

[doversoul1]

I guess the organiser asked Pluhar, on the basis of that one-star review on The Guardian*, if she could ‘improvise’ and fill in the evening. It is a pity that R3 chose this out of all those excellent concerts listed on the Utrecht Early Music Festival thread.

http://www.for3.org/forums/showthread.php?14132-Utrecht-Early-Music-Festival-2015-on-youtube

*http://www.theguardian.com/music/201...-pluhar-review

[ardcarp]

I thought that 'Man is for a woman made' singularly inappropriate. Also found the trumpet a bit obtrusive at times, especially in the extended instrumental 'interlude'.

[jean]

Especially inappropriate when sung by a woman!

Tune not quite right, either.

[ardcarp]

Agree...the beginning was different from the version I know.