« Of Cigarette Butts & Plastic Bags | Main | Two Down, One Up »
April 05, 2007
Flavio
Last night, we saw the New York City Opera’s production of Flavio. Written by Handel in 1723, this is an opera we have never seen, and one that has not been presented in New York since the early 1800s. It is a baroque opera, which means that the music is littered with imitative counterpoint, where different voices and instruments echo each other but at different pitches, sometimes inverting the echo, and even reversing thematic material. The plot is complicated, full of twists, and frankly, a little difficult to follow. There is King Flavio, who reigns over the make-believe kingdom of Lombardy (by the costumes, I would guess it is loosely French), as well as Britain. Flavio has two loyal counsellors, whose offspring are manipulating their way into falling in love with each other, or the king, or whomever happens to be on the stage at the time. Which means that the characters bend genders. The costumes are bright and fun (although the sequins were a bit too “Broadway” for me). The music is stunning. The singing was really spectacular. Baroque opera is very difficult to sing because of the repeating scales and short, quickly changing notes. In the final scene, they have all sorted out their love interests and they celebrate with a double wedding. Big, bright, gaudy white lights lower above the stage, to which I groaned. An unnecessary bit of schmaltz. I would see this opera again, for sure.
Next opera: "Luisa Miller" in Toronto Friday, April 13th.
Posted by dave at April 5, 2007 09:29 AM