Link: https://youtu.be/OpXtqZR_xm0
Today's villain is probably less well known than others on this list, but no less awful. Polinesso is one of the slimiest villains in opera, at the same time deceptive and violent. In his quest for the throne and the hand of Genevra he puts into action a sinister plot that involves seducing and raping Dalinda, holding her hostage, then treacherously acting as the champion of Genevra after apparently driving her lover to suicide. He has four arias, each one boiling over with pure malice. Christophe Dumax's bearded, leather-clad, whip-swinging Polinesso is a delight to watch, and his voice has the perfect villainous edge for the character.
Link: https://www.operaonvideo.com/semele-paris-2004-minkowski-massis-croft-connolly/
Although it is technically an oratorio and part of Handel's English oratorio period, Handel's Semele is often staged and performed as an opera, and it works very well in that context. Here is a truly excellent staged performance with Sarah Conelly.
Link: https://youtu.be/fcVvH5NFJ_8
Okay, I know, by now you guys are extremely tired of my Handel obsession. But I wanted to feature this performance, which I didn't wind up using in my Baroque week, because it includes not one but two stellar mezzo performances. They are very different, demonstrating again the versatility of the mezzo voice.
Nerone, originally written for a male castrato, is sung here by Kate Lindsey in a trouser role. I have seen the role sung quite well by countertenors, but personally I think it's a better fit for a mezzo both because of the music and because of the nature of the character. Lindsey's amazing acting as a punk, coked-up (yes there's cocaine and lots of it), attitude-y teenage boy really makes the entire performance what it is. She doesn't hold anything back, and that goes for her singing too. Rich, sometimes nasal but intentionally so, and agile, her singing commands the stage. And we have to mention the moment when she does a full side plank and then sings an entire verse of an aria in that position.
Agrippina, on the other hand, was a role intentionally written for a mezzo, and very much befitting the mezzo stereotype. She is both a femme fatale and a powerful woman, and she uses her power and her sexuality to manipulate the entire court of Claudius into giving her what she wants. Her music is rich, flowing, and always malevolent-sounding. Similar to later mezzo roles, it includes a lot of leaps from top to bottom of the singer's range. Joyce DiDonato, previously featured this week as Rosina, now shows us another side of her abilities. As wonderful as she is in Bel Canto, I personally prefer her in these kinds of darker Baroque roles. I think her voice and her acting only truly come up to their full potential as Agrippina, Dejanira, Bradamente, and other similar roles.
If you've never seen a Baroque opera before, I would definitely recommend this performance for a first. The plot is compelling, and the engaging and modernized production makes it very accessible.
This delightful 1968 film of Weber's Der Freischutz combines amazing singing with Weber's delightfully spooky music with English subtitles in the actual video (yay). It is probably the only place one can find the great Hans Sotin and Gottlob Frick singing in the same production. Enjoy!
Edit: oops, date is wrong. Friday, September 24
Link: https://youtu.be/JtWFAo3eX8E
Der Freschuitz is, in my opinion, an underrated opera. Besides the glorious overture, which is what we are focusing on today, it includes a couple of great arias ( my favorite is Max's Durch die Wälder, durch die Auen) and the rousing 'Hunter's Chorus' with its catchy galloping "tra-la-la" motif.
The overture is almost Wagner-esque with its combining of motifs and its huge dynamic range. It starts out with low, menacing, heavy-textured music (The theme from the aforementioned aria), then suddenly breaks out into a loud triumphal theme, with a gorgeous love theme making a brief appearance in between. The first two phrases are ultra-important: The strings suddenly swell up from nothing to a bold forte, the winds sliding in to meet them just at the moment their sound becomes fully present. That creates a mysterious, vaguely terrifying effect that instantly sets the mood for the whole opera right from the first note. The piece is pretty easy to play, but rewarding.
