BaL 10.12.11 - Handel's Julius Caesar

[ardcarp]

Caliban.

Whilst I don't much like BALs in dialogue format (and often feel an extra 'L' might be called for) I have to admit that I really DID like Sarah Lenton's style today, and felt that AMcG just had to give her a touch on the tiller and off she went. I agree, she did make fun of the plot and the dialogue quite a lot...and I found myself chuckling. But this is actually quite an important point. As Draco suggests, the plots are often rambling and ridiculous, and it is for this reason that Handel opera was not staged AT ALL (as far as I know) until pioneers such as Anthony Lewis at The Barber Institute in Brum showed that it could be done in the 60s. They have to be understyood without the filter of Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, Puccini, the verismo school and all that. They WERE a concatenation of brilliant arias performed by brilliant performers (including world-famous castrati) with a tenuous (as we see it today) dramatic logic. That is what opera WAS. Lewis's genius was to find performers such as the nascent Janet Baker and already fully formed Maureen Lehane to menton just a couple. And as you, I think, suggested, one really does have to SEE a staged performance. Listening to a few choice arias is about as much as you can take from a CD... though I imagine DVDs are better...but being there is the dog's whatsits.

[Flosshilde]

The Mackerras version I mentioned is a CD. I suspect it will be the one they play at 11am Monday...

Thanks. I was wondering if this was also available on DVD, & I see from Amazon that it is, but rather poor quality.

[Flosshilde]

I agree, she did make fun of the plot and the dialogue quite a lot...and I found myself chuckling. But this is actually quite an important point. As Draco suggests, the plots are often rambling and ridiculous,

But this particular opera, I would suggest, isn't rambling or ridiculous, based, as it is, on historical characters & events.

with a tenuous (as we see it today) dramatic logic.

(my emphasis)

Some of Shakespeare's plays are dramatically no less tenuous - Romeo & Juliet, for example. Verdi could also be dramatically unconvincing - Il Trovatore, for example. As for today's audiences wanting realism & simple dramatic plots, most soap operas give the lie to that!

[ardcarp]

Ah Floshilde, we are getting into deep waters. Many historical events and characters portrayed by Shakespeare, Ken Russell, The Pythons for that matter, are seen as if through a fairground mirror. Actually, adherence to source material (which probably is tenuous anyway) really isn't the point. Surely Romeo and Juliet is one of the most poignant and heart-wrenching plots?
My pont about the staging of Handel's (and other Baroque..eg Rameau's) operas is that the historical or mythological subject matter was well-known to the cognoscenti anyway. Any elaborations to bring off a coup de theatre or a few extra arias for the megastars in town were fair game. Given that our disbelief is well-and-truly suspended anyway, it somehow works on stage if you dare to give it a go. Incidentally, it has been said of Il Trovatore that all that is needed for a successful performance is the four greatest singers in the world.

[Barbirollians]

I am afraid the egregious ROH Tamerlano from last year has put me off seeing a Handel opera again - for life !

[Alf-Prufrock]

I am afraid the egregious ROH Tamerlano from last year has put me off seeing a Handel opera again - for life !

Because of the production or because of the music, Barbirollians? In what way did it stand out for you?

[Biffo]

Tastes change, 'realism' wasn't necessarily a priority in 18th century drama. In France and Italy (and elsewhere), for example, the 'classical unities' had to be obeyed, not a recipe for 'realism'. As for Verdi, Il Trovatore and the even more mocked La forza del destino were both based on successful stage plays.

Regarding the Amazon reviews, I notice that the ones criticising the picture quality are all taken from Amazon US and are reviewing the NTSC version. The version available in the UK is PAL and I have no problems with it at all. The picture is not of the quality of the latest movies but it certainly isn't grainy. The cuts don't trouble me greatly either, completists can always go for another version. Nor do I find Janet Baker 'matronly', far from it she is as convincing as a female singer can be in this role.

[aeolium]

I thought the Danish version chosen sounded pretty good (as did the ENO Mackerras one in English) but it was a bit disappointing as a BaL as so few versions seemed to be taken into consideration - it seemed to largely revolve around those two versions, with a few extracts from others such as the Glyndebourne DVD and the Jacobs recording. Did any of Cornelia's arias feature, or Sesto's? It seemed to be the Caesar/Cleopatra show with a bit of Ptolemy and Achillas thrown in.

I think this should have been done by a single reviewer with a script, as it would have forced a more structured approach, and a more considered one. Still, I look forward to hearing the extract from the recommended version tomorrow, hopefully the Danish one.

[ardcarp]

Tastes change, 'realism' wasn't necessarily a priority in 18th century drama. In France and Italy (and elsewhere), for example, the 'classical unities' had to be obeyed, not a recipe for 'realism'.

Exactly. I wish I had your talent for putting it so succinctly.

[Barbirollians]

Because of the production or because of the music, Barbirollians? In what way did it stand out for you?

The production was atrocious as was the direction - but it is such a static piece it was very very boring.

[Alf-Prufrock]

The production was atrocious as was the direction - but it is such a static piece it was very very boring.

I agree that many modern opera productions - and not just of Handel - are extremely wrong-headed, to put it mildly. So often the composer's intentions are entirely disregarded or even contradicted, as if the director is the creator of the piece and the composer and librettist mere servants. One feels sure that Handel himself would have hung some modern directors out of the window by their heels to bring them to their senses!

[Nick Armstrong]

I agree that many modern opera productions - and not just of Handel - are extremely wrong-headed, to put it mildly. So often the composer's intentions are entirely disregarded or even contradicted, as if the director is the creator of the piece and the composer and librettist mere servants. One feels sure that Handel himself would have hung some modern directors out of the window by their heels to bring them to their senses!

Agreed. It's saved me no end of money, I gave up going to opera years ago, the strike rate of great productions vs. mediocre or downright absurd ones was way too low, I came out of all but a very few thinking

[vinteuil]

Agreed. It's saved me no end of money, I gave up going to opera years ago, the strike rate of great productions vs. mediocre or downright absurd ones was way too low, I came out of all but a very few thinking

... which, mutatis mutandis, is why I no longer go to the theatre.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

The bits of the Mackerras I have heard so far fill me with reassurance that the extremists do not yet have there way entirely. What a thoroughly "musical" performance this is.

[Biffo]

The bits of the Mackerras I have heard so far fill me with reassurance that the extremists do not yet have there way entirely. What a thoroughly "musical" performance this is.

Sorry to disillusion you but the Mackerras performance dates from 1984. I suppose there is a crumb of comfort in that the reviewer made it his second choice ie. it is still worthy of consideration after all these years. I suspect the sort of production Barbirollians was complaining about is more typical.