And so to the opera. The number of views this blog gets have decreased even faster than the number of posts that I have made, but if anything should whack them right back up again it's reviews of two rarely performed operas.
Rossini's 'Il viaggio a Reims' was written to celebrate the coronation of a King Charles, meaning that ETO's current production is perhaps more timely than one of those they performed last year. On the other hand the king in question was Charles X of France, who was crowned in 1825 and deposed in the July revolution of 1830; will the Windsors go the way of the Bourbons? Reviews have been mixed, but I'm with those who say that it's an enjoyable romp. I'm also with those who say 'lose the third act'.
Musically stronger - Rossini wrote his piece to be performed just the once, and recycled the best bits into other operas - was Donizetti's 'Lucrezia Borgia'. I'm not sure it was dramatically stronger because, well, it made no sense at all. Nor does it appear to have much to do with history. It was however beautifully sung and blackly comic. Lucrezia is much given to reminding the Duke of Ferrara that he is her fourth husband, with the implication as to what happened to the first three being fairly clear. The work also contains what must be the worst advice in all of opera when Orsini (on the left above) tells the not terribly bright Gennaro (that's him on the right) that they should go that night's feast given by notorious poisoner Lucrezia Borgia, as there will be plenty of time to leave town tomorrow. It doesn't end well for either of them, or for pretty much everyone else in the cast come to that.
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