A recent trip to ENO - managed to do quite well by booking Secret Seats a few days before - perhaps a better deal than turning up a few hours before on this occasion. I went with a friend, who for some strange reason has taken an interest in events such as this, and seems to like Handel and now Purcell. Earlier he did convince me that Beethoven's Fidelio was a really good experience, but I'm not so sure about all the works of these earlier composers.
As a historical drama the Indian Queen at ENO is interesting, and reminds us that nasty things can happen - and possibly will still, both now, and into the future. The singing by the countertenors was at times lovely, and overall the cast was very strong. Noah Stewart occasionally had opportunities to demonstrate his fine voice, but I did feel that mostly the solo singers did not have very strong material to work with. I did not even realise until afterwards that Lucy Crowe was one of the main performers - I'm sure she did well, but really the music, to me IMO, did not seem to me to offer singers of her stature real opportunities to shine.
Looking at the programme, and other sources, it does appear that some of the events in America (Mexico and Peru) were known by Purcell's time, though what public opinion would have been about these is uncertain. The original play, from 1664, was by John Dryden and his brother in law, Sir Robert Howard, and Purcell's music dates from around 1694, when Thomas Betterton was commissioned to turn it into an opera, and asked Purcell to provide the music.
It seems that Peter Sellars has completely restructured this drama, though whether it contains the essence of the originals I can't really say.
As a drama, to remind us of history, this was interesting, but I found it rather lacking as a musical/operatic experience.
As a historical drama the Indian Queen at ENO is interesting, and reminds us that nasty things can happen - and possibly will still, both now, and into the future. The singing by the countertenors was at times lovely, and overall the cast was very strong. Noah Stewart occasionally had opportunities to demonstrate his fine voice, but I did feel that mostly the solo singers did not have very strong material to work with. I did not even realise until afterwards that Lucy Crowe was one of the main performers - I'm sure she did well, but really the music, to me IMO, did not seem to me to offer singers of her stature real opportunities to shine.
Looking at the programme, and other sources, it does appear that some of the events in America (Mexico and Peru) were known by Purcell's time, though what public opinion would have been about these is uncertain. The original play, from 1664, was by John Dryden and his brother in law, Sir Robert Howard, and Purcell's music dates from around 1694, when Thomas Betterton was commissioned to turn it into an opera, and asked Purcell to provide the music.
It seems that Peter Sellars has completely restructured this drama, though whether it contains the essence of the originals I can't really say.
As a drama, to remind us of history, this was interesting, but I found it rather lacking as a musical/operatic experience.