Opera Profiles [The Early Music Show]

Episode

Title

First
Broadcast

Repeated

Comments

Opera Profile: Cavalli's Giasone

20100530

As part of the 'Opera on the BBC' season, the Early Music Show begins a monthly series celebrating baroque opera, with Catherine Bott looking at Francesco Cavalli's 'Giasone'. The work was the only collaboration between playwright and librettist Giacinto Andrea Cicognini and Cavalli - one of the great musical pioneers of the genre. Giasone became the most frequently performed opera of the 17th century and took its plot from the Greek myth of Jason and his search for the Golden Fleece. Catherine Bott introduces the background and musical highlights to the work and talks to the conductor, Ren退 Jacobs and the counter-tenor Michael Chance, who sang the eponymous role of Giasone, in the recording of the opera from the 1980s, about the merits of Cavalli as an operatic composer.

Catherine Bott explores Francesco Cavalli's groundbreaking opera Giasone.

Performance and news from the world of early music.

Alessandro Scarlatti's Griselda

20100619

Griselda is the last surviving and 114th Opera by Alessandro Scarlatti, maybe the greatest composer of his generation. Written a full 42 years after his first Opera, it was curiously neglected for a long time and after the premiere of the work in 1721, it was not to receive another performance until late in the 20th Century. Catherine Bott explores Griselda and the reasons for its neglect, joined by the eminent early music expert and advocate of Scarlatti, Nicholas McGegan.

This programme forms part of the Early Music Show's monthly reflections on great Baroque operas, presented as part of the 'Opera on the BBC' festivities.

Catherine Bott explores Griselda, the last surviving opera by Alessandro Scarlatti.

Performance and news from the world of early music.

Opera Profile: Lully's Armide

20100717

20110206 (R3)

Lucie Skeaping presents a profile of Lully's 17th Century operatic masterpiece 'Armide' with French conductor Hugo Reyne highlighting some of its qualities and innovations.

Jean-Baptiste Lully almost single-handedly created French opera, and his Tragedie-Lyrique (tragic opera) 'Armide' about a sorceress and her love for the valiant hero Renaud, was the culmination of a long and fruitful collaboration with librettist Philippe Quinault. 'Armide' was instantly recognised as a masterpiece, remarkable not only for its attractive music, and affective dramatic architecture, as for its genius in setting the French language to music, and the psychological depths portrayed by its characters.

As part of the BBC year long celebration of opera, and the Early Music Show's monthly profile of important Baroque masterworks, Lucie Skeaping examines 'Armide' with contributions from Lully champion and conductor Hugo Reyne. Key moments from the opera are performed from CD by Philippe Herreweghe and Collegium Vocale.

Lucie Skeaping presents a profile of Lully's 17th-century operatic masterpiece Armide.

Performance and news from the world of early music.

Hasse's Piramo E Tisbe

20100801

As part of the Opera on the BBC season, Lucie Skeaping discusses Hasse's opera Piramo e Tisbe with the conductor Michael Schneider. Johann Adolf Hasse was the most celebrated composer of opera seria for several decades of the 18th century in Italy and Germany-speaking countries. Piramo e Tisbe, Hasse's penultimate opera, was very different from any of his others and was considered quite modern for its day. The work was commissioned while he was in Vienna by an unnamed French lady, who sang the role of Tisbe in the performance in a private theatre. Lucie Skeaping and Michael Schneider talk about the striking qualities of this work, illustrated with extracts from his recording, with the title roles sung by Barbara Schlick and Ann Monoyios, and the ensemble La Stagione.

Lucie Skeaping discusses Hasse's baroque opera Piramo e Tisbe, with Michael Schneider.

Performance and news from the world of early music.

The Beggar's Opera

20100911

In this month's Early Music Show 'opera profile', Lucie Skeaping looks at the inspiration, background and impact of John Gay's celebrated Beggar's Opera which appeared in London in 1728 as a reaction to the excesses and pretensions of fashionable Italian opera. Far from the exulted realms of the ancient heroes and the classical gods, the opera celebrates the worst of 18th century London street life, featuring beggars, cut-throats, thieves and prostitutes singing the popular ballad tunes of the day. Lucie considers the London lust for ballads and ballad-singing during this time, and is joined by Jeremy Barlow of the Broadside Band, at Lincoln's Inn Fields, the home to the first performances of The Beggar's Opera, to consider Gay's radical operatic satire the ballads inspired.

Lucie Skeaping looks at the inspiration, background and impact of The Beggar's Opera.

Performance and news from the world of early music.

Blow: Venus And Adonis

20101003

Catherine Bott introduces a performance of John Blow's Masque 'Venus and Adonis' presented at the 2010 York Early Music Festival by Theatre of the Ayre directed by Elizabeth Kenny.

This broadcast is given as part of the Early Music Show's monthly celebration of baroque opera, and the BBC's year long Focus on Opera.

Venus and Adonis was the last masque ever composed for the Stuart Court, and while it is in effect a miniature opera, it was intended as a vehicle for the members of the royal court to take part in. John Blow crafted an exquisite allegory on contemporary court issues around the classical myth of the goddess Venus and her thwarted love for the mortal Adonis. It became the model for Purcell's celebrated Dido and Aeneas.

Catherine Bott talks to several of the participants in this production about the work, and introduces the performance which was given as the climax to this year's York festival.

Catherine Bott introduces a performance of John Blow's Masque 'Venus and Adonis'.

Performance and news from the world of early music.

Vivaldi, Orlando Furioso

20101031

Catherine Bott continues the Early Music Show's series of opera profiles by delving into the music and history surrounding Vivaldi's 'Orlando Furioso'. Based on the epic poem by Ariosto, the libretto by Grazio Braccioli provided Vivaldi with some very intense dramatic opportunities, including star-crossed lovers, dark magic and ultimate madness.

Nowadays, Vivaldi is not remembered for his contributions to the stage, but he once claimed to have written 94 operas! Evidence has only been found of 20 of those, and much of the music was recycled endlessly from one production to another, but Orlando Furioso was arguably his most popular opera, and has been revived a number of times in recent years. The most celebrated recording, arguably, is the one made in 1978 by I Solisti Veneti with Marilyn Horne in the title role and Victoria de los Angeles as the sorceress Alcina. Today's programme focuses mainly on a more recent recording by Jean-Christophe Spinosi's Ensemble Matheus, which featured Philippe Jaroussky as Ruggiero. Jaroussky is preparing to play that role on stage in Paris in 2011, and speaks very enthusiastically about the opera, and about Vivaldi's much-neglected music for the stage.

Catherine Bott delves into the music and history surrounding Vivaldi's Orlando Furioso.

Performance and news from the world of early music.

Opera Profile: Handel's Alcina

20101127

20170226 (R3)

Lucie Skeaping continues the Early Music Show's series of opera profiles by delving into the music and history surrounding Handel's 'Alcina'. Based on the epic poem by Ariosto, the libretto by Antonio Marchi provided Handel with some very intense dramatic opportunities, including star-crossed lovers, dark magic and madness.

Alcina was composed for Handel's first season at London's Covent Garden Theatre and it premiered on April 16 1735. Like many of the composer's other serious stage works, it fell into general obscurity; after a revival in Brunswick in 1738 it was not performed again until a production in Leipzig nearly two centuries later, in 1928. It has now become one of Handel's most popular operas.

Lucie Skeaping talks to the American harpsichordist and musical director Alan Curtis at his home in Florence. Curtis recorded Alcina in 2007 with his ensemble Il Complesso Barocco. That recording also starred Joyce DiDonato in the title role and Karina Gauvin as her sister Morgana (the role that was originally written for Thomas Arne's wife, Cecila Young).

Lucie Skeaping delves into Handel's opera Alcina, with musical director Alan Curtis.

Performance and news from the world of early music.

Rameau, Platee

20101218

20140316 (R3)

Lucie Skeaping looks at Jean Philippe Rameau's comic masterpiece, the baroque opera Plat退e.

Rameau wrote the opera when he was in his sixties, for an entertainment at a court wedding at Versailles. The story tells of a foolish and ugly nymph who believes she is loved by Jupiter. The sense of the absurd permeates Rameau's score, with the composer and his librettist managing to create a wonderfully imaginative and colourful piece which turn many of the operatic conventions of the time on their head.

Rameau's contemporary, Melchior Grimm, considered the piece 'sublime' while for Jean Jacques Rousseau it was a 'divine' work. Even today it succeeds in firing the imaginations of opera producers and conductors, not least the French conductor Marc Minkowski, who explains why in the programme.

Lucie Skeaping delves into Rameau's comic masterpiece Platee.

Performance and news from the world of early music.

Episodes

Episode	Title	First Broadcast	Repeated	Comments
01	Opera Profile: Cavalli's Giasone	20100530		As part of the 'Opera on the BBC' season, the Early Music Show begins a monthly series celebrating baroque opera, with Catherine Bott looking at Francesco Cavalli's 'Giasone'. The work was the only collaboration between playwright and librettist Giacinto Andrea Cicognini and Cavalli - one of the great musical pioneers of the genre. Giasone became the most frequently performed opera of the 17th century and took its plot from the Greek myth of Jason and his search for the Golden Fleece. Catherine Bott introduces the background and musical highlights to the work and talks to the conductor, Ren退 Jacobs and the counter-tenor Michael Chance, who sang the eponymous role of Giasone, in the recording of the opera from the 1980s, about the merits of Cavalli as an operatic composer. Catherine Bott explores Francesco Cavalli's groundbreaking opera Giasone. Performance and news from the world of early music.
02	Alessandro Scarlatti's Griselda	20100619		Griselda is the last surviving and 114th Opera by Alessandro Scarlatti, maybe the greatest composer of his generation. Written a full 42 years after his first Opera, it was curiously neglected for a long time and after the premiere of the work in 1721, it was not to receive another performance until late in the 20th Century. Catherine Bott explores Griselda and the reasons for its neglect, joined by the eminent early music expert and advocate of Scarlatti, Nicholas McGegan. This programme forms part of the Early Music Show's monthly reflections on great Baroque operas, presented as part of the 'Opera on the BBC' festivities. Catherine Bott explores Griselda, the last surviving opera by Alessandro Scarlatti. Performance and news from the world of early music.
03	Opera Profile: Lully's Armide	20100717	20110206 (R3)	Lucie Skeaping presents a profile of Lully's 17th Century operatic masterpiece 'Armide' with French conductor Hugo Reyne highlighting some of its qualities and innovations. Jean-Baptiste Lully almost single-handedly created French opera, and his Tragedie-Lyrique (tragic opera) 'Armide' about a sorceress and her love for the valiant hero Renaud, was the culmination of a long and fruitful collaboration with librettist Philippe Quinault. 'Armide' was instantly recognised as a masterpiece, remarkable not only for its attractive music, and affective dramatic architecture, as for its genius in setting the French language to music, and the psychological depths portrayed by its characters. As part of the BBC year long celebration of opera, and the Early Music Show's monthly profile of important Baroque masterworks, Lucie Skeaping examines 'Armide' with contributions from Lully champion and conductor Hugo Reyne. Key moments from the opera are performed from CD by Philippe Herreweghe and Collegium Vocale. Lucie Skeaping presents a profile of Lully's 17th-century operatic masterpiece Armide. Performance and news from the world of early music.
04	Hasse's Piramo E Tisbe	20100801		As part of the Opera on the BBC season, Lucie Skeaping discusses Hasse's opera Piramo e Tisbe with the conductor Michael Schneider. Johann Adolf Hasse was the most celebrated composer of opera seria for several decades of the 18th century in Italy and Germany-speaking countries. Piramo e Tisbe, Hasse's penultimate opera, was very different from any of his others and was considered quite modern for its day. The work was commissioned while he was in Vienna by an unnamed French lady, who sang the role of Tisbe in the performance in a private theatre. Lucie Skeaping and Michael Schneider talk about the striking qualities of this work, illustrated with extracts from his recording, with the title roles sung by Barbara Schlick and Ann Monoyios, and the ensemble La Stagione. Lucie Skeaping discusses Hasse's baroque opera Piramo e Tisbe, with Michael Schneider. Performance and news from the world of early music.
05	The Beggar's Opera	20100911		In this month's Early Music Show 'opera profile', Lucie Skeaping looks at the inspiration, background and impact of John Gay's celebrated Beggar's Opera which appeared in London in 1728 as a reaction to the excesses and pretensions of fashionable Italian opera. Far from the exulted realms of the ancient heroes and the classical gods, the opera celebrates the worst of 18th century London street life, featuring beggars, cut-throats, thieves and prostitutes singing the popular ballad tunes of the day. Lucie considers the London lust for ballads and ballad-singing during this time, and is joined by Jeremy Barlow of the Broadside Band, at Lincoln's Inn Fields, the home to the first performances of The Beggar's Opera, to consider Gay's radical operatic satire the ballads inspired. Lucie Skeaping looks at the inspiration, background and impact of The Beggar's Opera. Performance and news from the world of early music.
06	Blow: Venus And Adonis	20101003		Catherine Bott introduces a performance of John Blow's Masque 'Venus and Adonis' presented at the 2010 York Early Music Festival by Theatre of the Ayre directed by Elizabeth Kenny. This broadcast is given as part of the Early Music Show's monthly celebration of baroque opera, and the BBC's year long Focus on Opera. Venus and Adonis was the last masque ever composed for the Stuart Court, and while it is in effect a miniature opera, it was intended as a vehicle for the members of the royal court to take part in. John Blow crafted an exquisite allegory on contemporary court issues around the classical myth of the goddess Venus and her thwarted love for the mortal Adonis. It became the model for Purcell's celebrated Dido and Aeneas. Catherine Bott talks to several of the participants in this production about the work, and introduces the performance which was given as the climax to this year's York festival. Catherine Bott introduces a performance of John Blow's Masque 'Venus and Adonis'. Performance and news from the world of early music.
07	Vivaldi, Orlando Furioso	20101031		Catherine Bott continues the Early Music Show's series of opera profiles by delving into the music and history surrounding Vivaldi's 'Orlando Furioso'. Based on the epic poem by Ariosto, the libretto by Grazio Braccioli provided Vivaldi with some very intense dramatic opportunities, including star-crossed lovers, dark magic and ultimate madness. Nowadays, Vivaldi is not remembered for his contributions to the stage, but he once claimed to have written 94 operas! Evidence has only been found of 20 of those, and much of the music was recycled endlessly from one production to another, but Orlando Furioso was arguably his most popular opera, and has been revived a number of times in recent years. The most celebrated recording, arguably, is the one made in 1978 by I Solisti Veneti with Marilyn Horne in the title role and Victoria de los Angeles as the sorceress Alcina. Today's programme focuses mainly on a more recent recording by Jean-Christophe Spinosi's Ensemble Matheus, which featured Philippe Jaroussky as Ruggiero. Jaroussky is preparing to play that role on stage in Paris in 2011, and speaks very enthusiastically about the opera, and about Vivaldi's much-neglected music for the stage. Catherine Bott delves into the music and history surrounding Vivaldi's Orlando Furioso. Performance and news from the world of early music.
08	Opera Profile: Handel's Alcina	20101127	20170226 (R3)	Lucie Skeaping continues the Early Music Show's series of opera profiles by delving into the music and history surrounding Handel's 'Alcina'. Based on the epic poem by Ariosto, the libretto by Antonio Marchi provided Handel with some very intense dramatic opportunities, including star-crossed lovers, dark magic and madness. Alcina was composed for Handel's first season at London's Covent Garden Theatre and it premiered on April 16 1735. Like many of the composer's other serious stage works, it fell into general obscurity; after a revival in Brunswick in 1738 it was not performed again until a production in Leipzig nearly two centuries later, in 1928. It has now become one of Handel's most popular operas. Lucie Skeaping talks to the American harpsichordist and musical director Alan Curtis at his home in Florence. Curtis recorded Alcina in 2007 with his ensemble Il Complesso Barocco. That recording also starred Joyce DiDonato in the title role and Karina Gauvin as her sister Morgana (the role that was originally written for Thomas Arne's wife, Cecila Young). Lucie Skeaping delves into Handel's opera Alcina, with musical director Alan Curtis. Performance and news from the world of early music.
09	Rameau, Platee	20101218	20140316 (R3)	Lucie Skeaping looks at Jean Philippe Rameau's comic masterpiece, the baroque opera Plat退e. Rameau wrote the opera when he was in his sixties, for an entertainment at a court wedding at Versailles. The story tells of a foolish and ugly nymph who believes she is loved by Jupiter. The sense of the absurd permeates Rameau's score, with the composer and his librettist managing to create a wonderfully imaginative and colourful piece which turn many of the operatic conventions of the time on their head. Rameau's contemporary, Melchior Grimm, considered the piece 'sublime' while for Jean Jacques Rousseau it was a 'divine' work. Even today it succeeds in firing the imaginations of opera producers and conductors, not least the French conductor Marc Minkowski, who explains why in the programme. Lucie Skeaping delves into Rameau's comic masterpiece Platee. Performance and news from the world of early music.