Insufficiently Jovial Jove at Glyndebourne – Semele assessment

Despite being full of wonderful music by Handel, Semele has not been seen at Glyndebourne earlier than. With some 45 Handel operas to select from, some are certain to be uncared for, however Semele has all the time had issues of its personal to account for its rarity.

When first produced within the 1740s, it was introduced as an Oratorio, for choir and soloists, fairly than a totally staged opera.

Part of the rationale for this was the plot which didn’t comply with Handel’s normal observe of taking a Biblical or historic story however was primarily based on a fairly raunchy Greek fable concerning the loves of Jove.

The story concerning the King of the Gods having an affair with a human was thought by many to be too profane for the theatre however Handel knew he may get away with it in a live performance corridor.

Presenting Semele as a totally staged opera, nevertheless, brings issues that Adele Thomas, the director of the brand new Glyndebourne manufacturing, doesn’t fully clear up. Perhaps the obvious of those was in the usage of the refrain which at instances regarded too inflexible. 

Their music, in fact, was written to a choir, to be sung sitting or standing inflexibly behind the stage, however for an opera they must be given one thing to do.

This was typically managed, however too usually the director’s creativeness appeared to fail in that respect, including to a normal lack of vitality accentuated by a slowish tempo for the music and unexciting set designs.

The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, below Czech conductor Vaclav Luks, gave a typically glorious account of the music, however a rise within the velocity of a number of the arias would have introduced out the important jolliness and nice humour of Handel’s creation.

The excellence of the forged, nevertheless, virtually overcame these issues. American soprano Joelle Harvey was terrific within the title position, effortlessly dealing with all of the vocal gymnastics Handel’s music demanded of her. The English tenor Stuart Jackson additionally impressed because the god Jove.

I knew from the programme notes, by the way, that the affair between Jove and Semele led to the beginning of Bacchus, god of wine and festivity, however I believed it odd that the director portrayed Semele as clearly pregnant from the start of the opera. Surely that will have created some doubts within the thoughts of Athamas, who passionately wished to marry Semele at the beginning.

The different two fundamental roles have been Jove’s spouse Juno, performed by American mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson, and messenger God Iris, performed by the Venezuelan Samuel Marino who’s a uncommon instance of a male soprano whose pure voice was a deal with to take heed to although his gestures and dancing across the stage appeared to me to be fairly too apparent a approach of accentuating his uncommon abilities.

On the entire, due to this fact, a welcome alternative to see a uncommon opera, with all the required parts to make an excellent present, however fairly let down by an uninspired manufacturing.

Semele is on the Glyndebourne Festival. Box Office: glyndebourne.com or 01273 815000 (numerous dates till 26 August)