Monteverdi: L'Orfeo . . . the First Opera was a Little Slow

The first opera! as it was definitely not first performed. I am no great stickler for authenticity in performance, but the first thing that struck me about this production was how absolutely huge it was. The director's commentary talks about his attempt to maintain an intimate atmosphere. He did a good job, but you just could not mask how huge the space was.

On the music: I will not begin to dispute the importance of this work, but it is slow . . . very, very slow. There is enough drama in this work for all of about 20 minutes in a modern movie, but the opera is well over two hours. There is some fast-paced music for a dance at the beginning and then again at the end, but sandwiched between that is two hours of beautiful, calm, slow music - all solos until the end - lots and lots of declamatory recitative. This is definately an opera you might want to see on DVD rather than in the theater. I found it was something I could enjoy in the background while doing something else and still catch everything plot and motion wise.

On the production and the singing: Beautifully staged and casted. The most exciting thing technically was the descent of Apollo's chariot in the closing scene - beautifully rendered piece of moving scenery.

Overall. This is an opera for people interested in the history of opera. Beautiful, but truly something that requires a little patience.

Another production: Nikolaus Harnoncourt: Monteverdi: L'Orfeo (1978)

The orchestra in this 1978 production under the direction of Nicholas Harnoncourt was actually much tighter than the more recent production. The singers were, however, on the whole, not as tight a crop of talent, especially in the case of the title role. On the other hand, Euridice and Apollo were wonderful.

I liked many of the bits of staging that this production incorporated into the slow moments. For instance, when Orfeo is singing to Caronte (Charon), Caronte continues to ferry the dead across the river Styx into Hades.