1/ 1st of 2 Oresteia-related operas, tonight's by mid-18thc Gluck, tmrw night's by early 20thc R. Strauss. Tauris=Crimea. Scythians were steppe ppl, of interest to Greeks primarily as warnings, but Euripides narrated them into the Greek cultural & religious world, so here we are.
https://twitter.com/MetOpera/status/1374843222191702027
2/ Gluck had earlier written IPHIGENIE EN AULIDE, i.e. in Aulis, where she was sacrificed, but later followed "Rip" in having her whisked away at the last second and transferred to Tauris, where it's nice being alive, but the downside is, she has to do priestessing for.
3/ the Scythians. She also really misses her brother Orestes. Suddenly the Scythian king orders up sacrifices of non-Scythians in Tauris for curbside pick-up, and, then, who but Orestes (w his bestie Pylades) shd then show up in Tauris. Fidge can't bring herself to do it, and
4/ we get an Orestes-&-sister Recognition Scene that imo isn't quite the equal of the one in tmrw night's ELEKTRA, but it's a down payment. Anyway, dea ex machina =>Orestes and Fidge get sent home to Mycenae, where, Klytemnestra and Aegisthus being deader'n'Elvis, things will be
5/ much better. (You may pick up on my not much liking Klytemnestra and Aegisthus. Just wait til tmrw night: Hofmannstahl and Strauss don't either!)
FIDGE IN TAURIS carries forward "the Gluck revolution": material between arias is thru-composed and thru-sung, breaking with the
FIDGE IN TAURIS carries forward "the Gluck revolution": material between arias is thru-composed and thru-sung, breaking with the
6/ Handelian tradition of "dry" recitative (Mozart revived this, but what can I say, he did it rly rly well). Also, in TAURIS, Gluck suppressed the ballet-as-filler device that he himself had used in ORFEO.
The "Gluck revolution" is a subject somewhat dear to my heart bc Dad was
The "Gluck revolution" is a subject somewhat dear to my heart bc Dad was
7/ working on a @MetOperaGuild lecture on it, keyed to this revival of TAURIDE, when he died. I gave him what help I could on it, living in VB at that time; my sister Susan was really his amaneunsis on it, and she delivered the lecture in his place. I'd be fibbing if I claimed
8/ that 18thc "opera seria" was my favorite sub-genre, even including Mozart's IDOMENEO, coming up later this week. But I think it's cool that a composer who today sound very old-fashioned was actually an envelope-pusher, and that the core 19th rep, against which Gluck's
9/ old-fashionedness can be measure, would have been difficult without him.
Susan Graham is Fidge, @PlacidoDomingo is Orestes. Gluck made Pylades a tenor too, and the part is taken by Paul Grove. Bonus: Black baritone Gordon Hawkins, who excelled @SFOpera both in core Italian
Susan Graham is Fidge, @PlacidoDomingo is Orestes. Gluck made Pylades a tenor too, and the part is taken by Paul Grove. Bonus: Black baritone Gordon Hawkins, who excelled @SFOpera both in core Italian
10/ roles and as Alberich in THE RING, is Thoas, King of the Scythians.
11/ Yes, Glick’s Iphigenia operas were background to PDQ Bach’s IPHIGENIA IN HACKENSACK. The rumored IPHIGENIA AUF TSURIS is either fictional, or a portmanteau for the others.
12/ A friend reminds me that PDQ wrote the cantata “Iphigenia in Brooklyn.” Correct - also the Christmas carol “O Little Town of Hackensack.”
Pylades=> “Iphigenia in PIlates”?
“iPhoneGenYa in a Taurus?”
Pylades=> “Iphigenia in PIlates”?
“iPhoneGenYa in a Taurus?”
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