Glyndebourne Festival 2015

[Belgrove]

Summer is over with yesterday's last performance at the 2014 Glyndebourne Festival but the 2015 programme has already been announced:

http://glyndebourne.com/node/25297/view

with new productions of Donizetti's Poliuto, Handel's Saul and Mozart's Seraglio. Revivals of Carmen, The Rape of Lucretia (premiered to great acclaim last year on the Tour), and the Ravel double bill with the truly sublime production of L'enfant et les sortileges.

I do not know Poliuto or Saul, any good?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Thanks for the notice, Belg.

I do not know ... Saul, any good?

You might well know the Dead March therefrom:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22BdaFiInrc

The Oratorio is wonderful - but it's an Oratorio. Handel wrote over 49 Operas - has Glyndebourne done them all so often that they have to raid the Oratorios? What next? A staged version of Das Liebesmahl der Apostel?

[amateur51]

I wonder if/when Glyndebourne will decide to leap into the twenty-first century and admit film cameras for 'live' broadcasts for punters with their bums on cinema/their own seats?

[Flosshilde]

I thought that there had been a production of Saul conducted by William Christie at the Edinburgh Festival recently, but I've discovered that my memory is faulty (no surprise there); it was David Et Jonatha, by Marc-Antoine Charpentier (at the 2012 festival)

[doversoul1]

The Oratorio is wonderful - but it's an Oratorio. Handel wrote over 49 Operas - has Glyndebourne done them all so often that they have to raid the Oratorios? What next? A staged version of Das Liebesmahl der Apostel?

The Glyndebourne’s staged Theodora seems to have been a great hit, and Jephtha was staged by WNO not long ago which was broadcast on R3. Hercules was also staged. I wonder if the librettos (libretti?) being English is thought to be more attractive to British audience. Also, can it be that modern audience is deemed incapable of appreciating anything without visual effects / accompaniment? Or it may be a genuinely artistic creation…

Ivor Bolton conducts the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Christopher Purves in the title role, Iestyn Davies as David, Lucy Crowe as Merab. American tenor Paul Appleby makes his Glyndebourne debut as Jonathan

Wouldn’t it make an excellent concert / Oratorio performance?

[PhilipT]

The Glyndebourne’s staged Theodora seems to have been a great hit ...

I've seen it, and I was bored out of my mind. Some of the Handel operas at Glyndebourne have been wonderful (Rodelinda and Giulio Cesare certainly, not so sure about Rinaldo), but I don't think I'll bother with the oratorios in future.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

The Oratorio is wonderful - but it's an Oratorio. Handel wrote over 49 Operas - has Glyndebourne done them all so often that they have to raid the Oratorios? [/I]?

I had advance notice of the season and in a Twitter Q&A with David Pickard, Glyndebourne's General Director, just after the season announcement, asked him just that. Why stage a Handel oratorio when there are so many operas to choose from. His response? "Memories of Theodora!"

[David-G]

I had advance notice of the season and in a Twitter Q&A with David Pickard, Glyndebourne's General Director, just after the season announcement, asked him just that. Why stage a Handel oratorio when there are so many operas to choose from. His response? "Memories of Theodora!"

Exactly. The Glyndebourne Theodora was one of the most moving things I have seen in an opera house.

Handel wrote the oratorios because taste had changed, and Italian opera no longer appealed. But he was at heart an operatic composer. We no longer have scruples about showing religious dramas on the stage. So if a clever producer can stage one of the oratorios convincingly and dramatically, I am all in favour.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Fair enough, D-G - but would you prefer such a staging to a performance of one of the operas? When there are so many operas by Handel - one of the greatest opera composers there is - is not a little odd that this "clever producer" should ignore them and go for one of the oratorios, instead?

Oh, and many thanks to IGI for asking the question and reporting Mr Pickard's response.

[David-G]

Fair enough, D-G - but would you prefer such a staging to a performance of one of the operas? When there are so many operas by Handel - one of the greatest opera composers there is - is not a little odd that this "clever producer" should ignore them and go for one of the oratorios, instead?

Oh, and many thanks to IGI for asking the question and reporting Mr Pickard's response.

I do understand your point. And I certainly would not wish the oratorios to be staged in place of operas too often. But am I wrong in feeling that there is something very special in Handel's late masterpieces? This certainly seems to be the case with Theodora and Jephtha (I don't know Saul). The effect of Theodora in the theatre was quite sublime, and quite different from the Italian operas. If this can be repeated with Saul, I am all in favour. Performances of the Italian operas are not too uncommon these days, so I shall not feel too deprived.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

But am I wrong in feeling that there is something very special in Handel's late masterpieces?

Absolutely not! And if anyone were to offer me a ticket to see the Glyndebourne production of Saul in order to judge for myself, I'd leap at the opportunity - although, alas, I'd probably need some persuading: three or four visits might do it.

[aeolium]

I do understand your point. And I certainly would not wish the oratorios to be staged in place of operas too often. But am I wrong in feeling that there is something very special in Handel's late masterpieces? This certainly seems to be the case with Theodora and Jephtha (I don't know Saul). The effect of Theodora in the theatre was quite sublime, and quite different from the Italian operas. If this can be repeated with Saul, I am all in favour. Performances of the Italian operas are not too uncommon these days, so I shall not feel too deprived.

I think you're absolutely right in thinking there is something very special in Handel's late masterpieces, and also in your earlier suggestion that there was not necessarily a hard and fast distinction (other than how it was presented to the public) between opera and oratorio. Not all the later works that were presented as oratorios were based on Biblical themes: the music dramas Semele and Hercules were on classical themes, and even Theodora is not derived from a Biblical source. And there is plenty of dramatic writing in the oratorios. On the other hand I sympathise with ferney's view that there are still operas of Handel to be discovered and which may deserve to be staged rather than the oratorios. Personally I didn't greatly care for the staged oratorio productions I have seen (Jephtha at WNO and the Glyndebourne Theodora on DVD) but I'm not opposed to the idea of staging them, and I'd like to see productions of, e.g., Semele and Hercules which were not conceived for operatic performance.

[doversoul1]

and I'd like to see productions of, e.g., Semele and Hercules which were not conceived for operatic performance.

I think you said somewhere on the forum that you weren’t too keen on watching operas on computer but just in case. And if you do watch, I'll be interested in hearing your thoughts.

Hercules

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IHzJwFOtBI

Joyce DiDonato (Dejanira), William Shimell (Hercules), Toby Spence (Hyllus), Ingela Bohlin (Iole), Malena Ernman (Lichas), Simon Kirkbride (Priest of Jupiter)
Les Arts Florissants, William Christie
DVD (currently out of stock :Prestp Classical)

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Bel%2BAir%2BClassiques/BAC013

…and here is ENO’s Semele (in three videos)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKL0Rd7kYGE

Semele - Rosemary Joshua
Jupiter/Apollo - John Mark Ainsley
Juno - Susan Bickley
Ino - Sarah Connolly
Prince Athamas - Stephen Wallace
Cadmus - Graeme Danby
Iris - Janis Kelly

Chorus and Orchestra of ENO
Conductor - Harry Bickett

[aeolium]

Thanks, ds. It's true I'm not that keen on watching opera on computer (the sound isn't very good) but I will give those two a try. I'll start with the ENO Semele as the production of the Hercules sounds as though it might irritate ("all three characterisations grind against Handel's music" - why do directors do this?)

[jean]

Did anyone see Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail relayed this afternoon?