There’d been a degree of excitement beforehand at such a rarely performed piece being staged at all. Still, going in pretty much unprepared, I wasn’t expecting much in the way of visuals when I finally had the chance to go, last Wednesday – Amsterdam has tended to stick with the sparse and dignified (Bondy, Audi) in recent years. Suffice to say the creepy giant baby dolls, not to mention the sheer quantity of rubber and leather involved, came as a bit of a shock. Accordingly, I couldn’t recall much of the music after that first encounter, so I went again on Friday for the final performance. It had sold out before I got there, but I managed to wheedle someone out of their spare at half price. This is the Netherlands, after all, haggling’s a national sport.

Glad to hear that a DVD release is in the works. I need to inflict this on unsuspecting friends.

Why, yes, VdD that’s exactly what she meant. Sadly, though, these days MKL thinks and types through an ominpresent haze of Stoli and Purina ProPlan.

‘Yes, I’d love to see it. Bitchy, if you didn’t like Ritorno di Ulisse, you have no ears or testiculi. Okay, maybe it was a bad production.’

Well, Hans dear, I was up for a ‘Ritorno’ – and even got to the point of learning the music for this production. Even though I just LOVE singing recit, I thank Cruise this project got 86′d.

Having sung a fair amount of Monteverdi and love listening to the madrigals etc. and also having invested a lot of money and money on cds etc of that time (’Giasone’, ‘Serse’, Rossi’s ‘Orfeo’ and Landi’s ‘Sant’ Alessio’ etc) to give it a fair chance … I still find that style of music INCREDIBLY boring. Loads of recit with mostly VERY short arias. Although production like this ‘Ercole’ would make me stay for the whole show – and I’d probably go back for a second or third viewing.

‘Poppeae’ is in a class of its own. And regardless who composed what, it is a masterpiece by any time’s standard.

Back to ‘Ritorno’, for what it is worth, my opinion is shared by colleagues of mine who are critically acclaimed for their Monteverdi. Go figure.

Well, if 17th century 10 minute recits gets your juices flowing, good for you. Each to his own I say.

Oh, I’m quite sure I do.

Actually, I thought this production would end up in the Regie quizz….

Cheers!
Leonardo from Holland

Yes, I’d love to see it. Bitchy, if you didn’t like Ritorno di Ulisse, you have no ears or testiculi. Okay, maybe it was a bad production.

Louis’s wife was a dimwit. The girls at the French court asked her if she’d ever been in love before she came to France (and at once fell in love with Louis). She was astonished at the question. “There were no kings in Spain except my father!” she cried. The idea that one could fall in love out of one’s class (and hers was Habsburg) never crossed her mind or her heart. Louis’s affairs were a great trial to her. (It was also she, not Marie Antoinette, who wondered why the poor did not eat cake when they ran out of bread.)

Cavalli speaks for himself quite eloquently without the need to tart him up by some misquided director whose ego must at least be as Ercole was ‘long’.