The Civic Ballet of San Luis Obispo joined forces with the Opera San Luis Obispo Orchestra and the Morro High School Chorus, directed by Colleen Wall, to perform Tchaikovsky's beloved ballet The Nutcracker on Saturday, December 8, and Sunday, December 9. The house was very nearly sold out on Saturday and completely sold out for Sunday afternoon. It was by all measures a highly successful venture.
Dr. Brian Asher Alhadeff, director of OperaSLO and conductor of its orchestra, and Drew Silvaggio, Artistic Director of Civic Ballet of San Luis Obispo, dreamed of such a collaboration more than a year ago. Maestro Alhadeff called the project the "work of two dreamers inspired by a community of dreamers on the central coast." Both took a risk to depart from the status quo, to believe in the potential this collaboration promised, said Alhadeff.
The effects of the collaboration are multiple. Especially important is the inspiration it provides for children and parents. Young people certainly enjoy seeing their peers on the stage, and may be interested in pursuing dance. Parents model appreciation of the arts for their children. Maestro Alhadeff notes that the combination of audience support, support for the arts, and the availability of a first class venue such as the Performing Arts Center, set a high standard not just for ballet, but also opera, theater, and symphony.
The Nutcracker will also be performed at the Granada Theater in Santa Barbara by the State Street Ballet and the OperaSLO orchestra on December 22 at 2pm and 7pm, and December 23 at 2pm. If you missed the performances in San Luis Obispo, you have opportunities to see Nutcracker in Santa Barbara.
Despite his busy schedule, Maestro Alhadeff will speak on Berlioz's Les Troyens (see following discussion of Les Troyens) for Opera Lovers Meet. Save the date and time, January 2 at 10am, to hear a two-hour interactive presentation on Berlioz's grandest opera. Opera Lovers Meet convenes at the Odd Fellows Hall on Dana Street. The public is invited and there is no admission charge. (Click here to see an interview with Dr. Alhadeff)
Three HD Operas in January
The Metropolitan Opera will broadcast three of its performances in high definition during January 2013. Here in San Luis Obispo we'll see Berlioz's Les Troyens on Saturday, January 5 beginning at 8:55am; Donizetti's Maria Stuarda on Saturday, January 19, beginning at 9:55am; and Mozart's late opera La Clemenza di Tito in an encore performance on Sunday, January 27, starting at 2:00pm.
Berlioz composed more than the Symphonie fantastique, and in his major works seemed to be searching for a grand synthesis of the arts, a quest on which many of the most important 19th century European composers embarked. His Romeo and Juliet, Dramatic Symphony is a case in point. It is in many respects a symphony, but is made up of large parts rather than the usual four movements, and employs chorus as well as a large orchestra. Rather than abstract music, it tells the story of Romeo and Juliet in music.
Of course the ultimate synthesis of the arts is achieved in opera, where story, vocal and instrumental music, acting, scenery, costumes, ballet, lighting, etc. all join to create a total musical and dramatic experience. Though he had written an earlier opera, Benvenuto Cellini, Berlioz aspired for years to compose an opera on the subject of the Trojan War. A real devotee of ancient classical literature, he was drawn to Virgil's monumental epic about the founding of Rome, with its powerful drama, vivid scenes and its strong, complex characters.
The original version of the opera was cast in five acts, but Berlioz never saw it performed in its entirety at one time. Considered too long for a single performance, opera producers in France gave only cut versions. The Met's production restores the original five acts, the story of Troy's fall in Acts I and II and the story of Dido and Aeneas in Acts III-V. Yes, it's a long opera, but no longer than one of Wagner's Ring music dramas.
Two powerful women take center stage in Les Troyens. Cassandra, the prophetess who foresees the fall of Troy and tries unsuccessfully to warn her countrymen, dominates Acts I and II. She is tormented by the fact that no one will heed her warnings, especially about the large wooden horse the Greeks have left behind, and in which their army is hidden. She is a complex and noble woman, who is prepared to die by her own hand rather than be captured by the Greeks, and persuades the other Trojan women to do so as well.
In Acts III-V we learn that Aeneas has escaped the Greeks with a band of his Trojan warriors, but they find themselves shipwrecked on the coast of Carthage, where Queen Dido rules. Dido and Aeneas fall in love, but the gods send messages to Aeneas that he must fulfill his destiny, which is to found Rome and die a hero in battle. At last persuaded to heed the gods, he leaves Dido and sets sail for Italy, abandoning Dido. She is enraged and broken-hearted. Not only has she lost her lover, but her pride as a queen has been deeply offended. Cursing Aeneas, she builds a funeral pyre, climbs atop it, and kills herself.
With its large scale, crowds, ballet, spectacle of scenery and costumes, Les Troyens is a grand opera. But it is also an intimate drama in which Cassandra and Dido are as much in the hands of fate as is the hero Aeneas.
Donizetti's Maria Stuarda is another opera about two powerful women, Queen Elizabeth I of England, and her cousin Queen Mary Stuart. Donizetti was fascinated by characters from English history and literature and composed a number of operas inspired by them, Anna Bolena and Lucia di Lammermoor, to name but two.
The story for this opera, however, was based on a play by the leading German author Friedrich Schiller, who in telling the story introduced several extraneous elements, such as the rivalry between the two queens for the affections of the hero Leicester. These elements, grafted onto the very real political and religious rivalries of the two, made for better theater, something which Donizetti realized in choosing the subject.
In the operatic version, Queen Elizabeth weighs the political and personal risks of keeping Mary imprisoned, releasing her or having her executed. She is counseled by Lord Cecil to dispatch Mary. Another adviser, Talbot, and Leicester argue for mercy. Elizabeth views Mary as a threat to her throne, but in the opera the decision to execute her stems more from jealousy over Leicester's love for Mary.
Both women are proud, especially Mary. She cannot contain herself, even when pleading with Elizabeth to spare her. Their great confrontation scene comes in Act II, and the royal fur really flies.
Donizetti's music is ruled by the artistic values of 19th century bel canto, so we hear arias and duets, alternately dramatic and tender, from the three principal singers. The Met's production will feature Joyce DiDonato as Mary, Elza van den Heever as Elizabeth and Francesco Meli as Leicester.
Mozart composed La Clemenza di Tito (The Clemency of Titus) in 1791. Technically it was his penultimate opera, having been first performed September 6, 1791. The Magic Flute was actually composed before Tito, but performed September 30, 1791. The two operas could scarcely be more different. The Magic Flute was a Singspiel, a popular form of the day, and sung in the vernacular of its original audience, German. La Clemenza di Tito was an opera seria, the most formal of operatic genres in Mozart's day, and sung in Italian.
Tito was written on commission for the coronation of Leopold II as King of Bohemia, and a formal opera seria about the mercy and generosity of a ruler was most appropriate. The text of the opera was from adapted from a libretto by the earlier 18th century master of the opera seria libretto, Pietro Metastasio.
Mozart and his adapter Caterino Mazzola shortened Metastasio's libretto and added texts for more modern aria types and especially for ensembles. Ensembles during Mozart's lifetime were mostly associated with comic opera, but Mozart had demonstrated in works such as Don Giovanni, a "drama giocoso" which has serious as well as comic elements, that ensembles could be used to potent dramatic effect.
High voices dominated the opera seria, and Mozart observed that convention by writing principal parts for four sopranos, both male and female, a tenor (Titus), and one bass, Publio, who is an advisor to Titus. Vitellia, the prima donna, is the daughter of the deposed emperor Vetellius. She is angry with Titus, whom she believes ought to have asked her to be his consort. He has, however, asked two different women, neither of whom proved satisfactory. Vitellia plots to kill him, and enlists her lover Sesto in the process.
Sesto, the opera's title notwithstanding, is arguably the most important character. He suffers the terrible conflict between his blind love for Vitallia, who wants him to assassinate Titus, and his loyalty to Titus, his close friend. He suffers the most agonizing conflict of the opera, and he has many important arias and duets. In the end the plot is exposed, but Titus grants clemency to Sesto and Vitellia, believing that rulers show strength when they grant mercy and forgiveness.
Mozart wrote this part for a soprano castrato, as would have been typical for an earlier 18th century opera seria. The castratos were the operatic heroes of their day and combined the vocal range of a female soprano or mezzo soprano with the power and brilliance of a male voice. Today such parts are taken by women in "trouser roles" or, more recently by counter tenors. In the Met's production the role of Sesto will be sung by the acclaimed Latvian soprano Elina Garanca.
