The Olympics: the operas - Two productions of "L'Olimpiade" in Paris

  • by Tim Pfaff
  • Monday July 15, 2024
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The Olympics: the operas - Two productions of "L'Olimpiade" in Paris

Olympic Games come with sideshows. Most of them, soon eclipsed by the athletic events, fall into the category of flash and dash. But we'll always have Paris.

While details about the opening and closing ceremonies of the forthcoming, centennial Paris Olympics (last held in the French capital in 1924) remain closely guarded secrets for now, the "Hippies" —practitioners of HIP, historically informed performance— spotted an unmissable opportunity and, to use Olympic language, ran for it.

On May 16, Christophe Rousset led his ensemble Les Talens Lyriques in a concert performance of Domenico Cimarosa's opera, "L'Olimpiade" (1784), at the Royal Opera-Versailles and on tour, having recorded the piece in Paris from December 18 to 22 for the Chateau Versailles house label. In the spirit of Baroque competition, the Theatre des Champs-Elysees, not to be outdone, mounted a sexy, stylish, and well-received fully staged production of Antonio Vivaldi's opera, "L'Olimpiade" (1734), from June 20 to 29.

It can only be hoped that the Games themselves, which begin in Paris with opening ceremonies on July 26, come off as well.

Conductor Christophe Rousset (photo: Eric Larrayadieu)  

Playing doubles and more
The Vivaldi opera first hit the boards in Vienna a full 40 years before the Cimarosa, but while that's an impressive run for an opera story, "L'Olimpiade" operas span a significantly longer time.

Vivaldi's was second, after a setting by Antonio Caldara opera the previous year, but over the years some 60 Baroque and early-classical composers set the libretto by Pietro Metastasio, who was to the opera-seria libretto what Greg Louganis has been to diving, a game-changer and model. Metastasio's claim that his drama was performed all over Europe was not an idle boast.


Today we tend to denigrate "occasional" music, that is, music composed to mark a particular occasion, as transitory at best. But while composers such as Handel did write operas for production in theaters, as many were composed to mark an event, and sometimes there was no expectation of a subsequent performance.

Metastasio's libretto for "L'Olimpiade" was written for a 1733 opera to celebrate the birthday of an empress. Vivaldi's setting was for performance at a Venetian theater, and Cimarosa's to celebrate the opening of a new theater in Vicenza. Notably, neither of these operas has been forgotten, and these new productions are likely to seal the Metastasio libretto's bid for the future.


Games on
Metastasio's characters attend the classical Olympics as participants as well as observers. As you would expect from a Baroque opera, the stakes are both political and, for the characters, deeply personal, with love intrigues central.

Licia, the possible son of the king of Sicione, goes to the Olympics after hearing that the king has offered his daughter Aristea in marriage to the victor. No athlete, or not a good one, he hires his friend Megacle to compete in his name —although the libretto gives his shadow name as Lycidas— unaware that Megacle also loves Aristea. Magacle prevails, but confesses the ruse to Aristea and drowns himself in sorrow. Licida goes mad.

There's more, of course, but you know it's an opera seria libretto from the intrigues. Before he dumps her for Aristea, Licia loves Argene, a noblewoman but not the equal of a princeling. After the king forbids their wedding. Argene retreats to the forest disguised as a shepherdess. Licia sets out for the Olympics out of grief over his loss of Argene, but cracks under pressure.


Viva Vivaldi
So far, the only visual record of the Theatre des Champs-Elysees (TCE) "L'Olimpiade" is the theater's teaser. But if the complete Emmanuel Daumas production, led by Jean-Christophe Sinposi, is not released on video, a singular opportunity will be lost.

Scintillating and spectacle-heavy, the staging, largely in primary colors, captures the vigor and excitement of Vivaldi's score, which until now has been by far the most famous of the opera's versions. There are enough bare chests and snug tights on stage to rile opera censors of the day.

Rightly, the onstage drama revolves (sometimes literally) around the deep friendship of Licia and Megacle. The singers are Jakub Jozef Orlinski, the Polish countertenor as renowned for his break-dancing (used in this production) as for his singing and acting and not shy with either here, and Marina Viotti, a mezzo-soprano at the top of her game. Two companionable voice types, they come as close to the historical voice assignments as workable today, maintaining the practice of genderfuck in the theater.


Rousset on record
In the Cimarosa setting 40 years on, Aristea was sung by a soprano and Megacle by a castrato soprano (yes, that). In Christophe Rousset's version —the keeper for now at least— the roles of both Licia and Megacle are taken by women singers.

Right off the starting blocks, the out director draws a vivid, propulsive performance from his forces, instrumental and vocal alike. His tireless discovery of lesser-known operas that he then reveals as masterful is at the fore here, as is his command of form.

The recording's authoritative booklet —one reason among several to get the CDs— addresses the matter of vocal virtuosity in Baroque opera as a distinctive means of expressing contrasting emotions. The Baroque A-B-A aria form, in which the first part is repeated with embellishments in the "rondo," does exactly that.

The singing Rousset elicits overall is jaw-dropping in its speed, accuracy, and invention, the vocal virtuosity underwriting it simply dizzying. Unexpectedly for this director, the recitatives are tentative, clumsy, and under-realized, but in aria after aria (often deliciously accompanied) the vocalism is record-setting.


Among Rousset's goals is to indicate why Cimarosa was one of the most influential —and performed— composers of his day and, implicitly, his direct links to Mozart. As sung by Maite Beaumont, Megacle's first aria, "Superbo di me spesso," sets off the vocal fireworks. By the time the first act ends, with a melting duet for Licia (Mathilde Ortscheidt) and Aristea (the brilliant soprano Rocio Perez, the "star" of this ensemble effort), prime Handel is in the rearview mirror mature Mozart is in the sights.

Thereafter there's stand-out singing with drop-the-needle regularity, but it warrants saying that not all of it is extroverted. Rousset is a master of tracing the arc of a drama, and a considerable amount of the music is intimate and interior.The friendship of Licia and Megacle is sensitively traced. The singers are terrific, but Cimarosa, none too soon, comes out the champion.

Domenico Cimarosa, 'L'Olimpiade,' Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset conductor, Chateau de Versailles, CD ($29.90) and streaming
www.opera-royalversailles.com


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