May 26-June 1, 2005

opera

Suds and Sopranos

by Peter Burwasser

Tempesta di Mare has promoted their performance of Handel's Clori, Tirsi and Fileno as a soap opera, apparently as a way to make the work seem more accessible to modern audiences. There are certainly some strange aspects to this baroque musical theater. The pit orchestra is made up of period instruments, including the large, exotic-looking lute that music director Richard Stone uses as a continuo. Two of the characters, young men vying for the attention of Clori, are sung by a soprano and a man singing in the range of a woman. And the structure of the music has a formality that may strike those who associate opera with the verismo style of the Italian repertoire as stiff and distant.

As soon as the wonderfully textured, dramatically inflected overture began, any such fears were swept aside.

The musicians of Tempesta di Mare brought the nearly 300-year-old score to life with a zest and virtuosity that transcended issues of style and instrumentation. As for the "soap opera," which is probably better described as a cantata, the 22-year-old Handel expresses the complexities of human relationships and sexual tension with a timeless vividness that would probably have been recognizable to cavemen, let alone a 21st-century audience.

As with Mozart and Strauss, Handel appreciated the subtly titillating effect of cross-gender roles. The effect is not lurid, but does add an erotic aura that wafts through the story. Handel is not terribly interested in the plot itself, a flimsy tale of a love triangle, but in the interaction of his characters, which is constantly illuminated by the melodic line and the rich orchestration.

Tempesta di Mare artistic directors Gwyn Roberts and Richard Stone considered updating the action to a modern Philadelphia apartment, but instead had Drew Minter direct the work as a pure period piece. The perfunctory stage set and stylized, almost balletic movement of the singers drew attention to the music. Minter, one of the best known countertenors in the world, took the part of Fileno, demonstrating his surprisingly full-bodied alto, which was never overwhelmed by the more chesty sounds of the sopranos, Margaret Bragle and Marguerite Krull. This trio was beautifully matched, both tonally and temperamentally.

Handel went on to write a total of 45 operas, but this early work contains all of the hallmarks of his theatrical genius. At the close of this performance of Clori, Tirsi and Fileno, there was that sublime sensation of the suspension of time that great theater can convey. If this production by Tempesta di Mare was a way of testing the baroque operatic waters, then one can only hope that they dive all the way in for future seasons.

CLORI, TIRSI AND FILENO May 21, Tempesta di Mare at the Gershman Y