Ivo Šindelář
Handel's 'Agrippina'
at Prague's Estates Theatre
On 25 October 2004 Prague had a rare opportunity to hear Handel's opera 'Agrippina' for the first time - and we can say that really on a top European level. The guest orchestra, Combattimento Consort Amsterdam, with soloists almost exclusively from the Netherlands, came to Prague during their tour of Central Europe, during which they appeared with 'Agrippina' in Warsaw, Ljubljana, Zagreb, Bratislava and, on 25 October, finally in Prague. Great expectations and a sold-out auditorium of the Estates Theatre, filled up with both Czech and foreign audiences, signified that it was a special evening, and we can affirm with pleasure that it was undoubtedly the most important Handel event of 2004, as well as an unforgettable event in the whole context of Prague's music scene.
Handel's opera 'Agrippina', which is generally regarded as his first masterwork, came into being in the second half of 1709 and had its first night either at the end of this year or at the beginning of January of the following year, in the Venetian theatre San Giovanni Grisostomo. The success was immediate and was for Handel not only the culmination of his Italian sojourn, but also a significant promise for the future. From this time there also came the flattering title of 'Il caro Sassone', with which the whole-hearted audience rewarded Handel for his music. Later this honour passed over to Handel's compatriot Hasse.
Libretto of this opera, written by Cardinal Vincenzo Grimani, is completely footed in the Venetian tradition and represents exactly the type of musical theatre against which Apostolo Zeno and the authors of the Roman Accademia degli Arcadi stood out sharply with their reforming aspiration; their most famous representative was Pietro Metastasio, younger by one generation. The intention of these authors was to clear the action by eliminating the comic element and all spectacular and implausible 'ballast', so typical of the 17th-century Italian opera, making one of the basic elements of the Venetian opera. Grimani is a typical representative of this 'old-fashioned' style due to his mixing of genres (both high and low), hidden and open satire and an antiheroism of his protagonists. However, this type of musical theatre represents, for the spectators and listeners of the 21st century, an interesting counterpoint to the Metastasian opera. It would seem that the Venetian opera school suited also Handel who never used a clear comic genre of an opera buffa, but repeatedly tended towards libretti containing elements of hidden or evident irony. Most of Handel's operas are based on the heroic type of the opera seria, but we can find a certain dose of semiseriousness in many of his works (not only in the famous 'Serse'). Typical is especially the fact that none of the characters of 'Agrippina', except the courageous and loving Ottone, stands up to moral judgement. Even Poppea, a victim of Agrippina's intrigues and the object of Ottone's unselfish love, does not linger over using unfair instruments to attain her revenge. Agrippina's son, Nerone, a weakling longing for power, whom his mother tries to put on the throne, could never become an emperor in the sense of a classical opera seria with its strict and moral requirements and educational trends. Claudio is a sexually frustrated husband passing through the crisis of the middle age rather than a dignified emperor, and the courtiers Narciso and Pallante are, in spite of their love for Agrippina, only hangers-on sponging on the power. Agrippina herself is then a real puppet player, handling her figures with a cold exactitude of a surgeon. It gets out of her hands for a while, but she is not losing her presence of mind and follows everything through to a successful end. Apart from this society of powerful persons there is only a servant, Lesbo, who is not, unlike his colleague Elviro from 'Serse', a comic character, but rather a devoted and standoffish observer.
Musically, the opera is made magnificently and contains a lot of melodic ideas. As a whole it does not reach the level of the best operas from Handel's mature period, but it is an idiomatic work full of juvenile ebullience. As in the case of most baroque operas it is almost entirely a solistic piece: the only ensemble in this work of nearly four hours are a quartet and a trio (both in the first act), if we do not count parts which are marked in the score as a 'coro' ('chorus') and performed usually by soloists in accordance with the period practice. Originally the opera did not contain any duet; only in the supplements there is a duet of Poppea and Ottone, 'No, ch'io non apprezzo / Sì, ch'il mio diletto', accompanied by basso continuo. The Dutch artists used instead one of the most beautiful Handel duets - 'Per le porte del tormento' from the opera 'Sosarme', which rounds off the affair of two lovers in a very emotional and apt way. But more sensitive visitors and experts in Handel's works must have noticed that we are here in a fully different period of Handel's oeuvre when the original youthful simplicity and linearity is replaced by a more sophisticated expression and emphasized emotionality of the master's mature period. But that was not the only change, and hence it is questionable whether all modern changes are appropriate. In the case of 'Agrippina' the changes concerned occasional cuts and recasting of some characters. For instance, the part of General Ottone, one of the main characters, which was assumed by the alto Francesca Maria Vanini-Boschi at the première, was sung one octave lower and cast by a baritone. The same octave transposition was done for the role of Nerone, which was originally written for the castrato sopranist Valeriano Pellegrini, but was allotted to a tenor in this production. In the case of Ottone this solution is rather unusual because his role is regularly interpreted by a countertenor (wrongly, if we consider that although Handel had castratos at his disposal, he wrote this role as a 'trouser' one). In the case of Nerone the recasting is better-founded because male sopranos are very rare and their performance is quite unbalanced. In the case of female sopranos it depends on the character of the roles according to the disposition of their voices that very often miss a certain androgynous feature, which can be found with some mezzo-sopranos or altos.
As for occasional cuts, they were quite exculpable because of the length of the work ('Agrippina' is one of the longest Handel operas at all). The biggest intervention was the deletion of the whole character of Giunone, who appears as a 'deus ex machina' at the end of the opera to conclude it, with the aria 'V'accendano le tede', after the celebrating chorus 'Lieto il Tebro' and a short recitative. In modern productions this character is eliminated quite regularly because it basically stands out of the dramatic framework of the opera. But on the other hand, there was a very interesting idea of inserting a short instrumental interlude after Ottone's aria 'Voi che udite il mio lamento', which should have enlivened Ottone disappointed in his love. The orchestra had a significant role during the whole performance: its playing was both frisky and impetuous, following strictly the intentions of Handel's score. Although it consisted of only fifteen musicians, its enthusiasm was admirable, and starting with the overture, it was evident that the Combattimento Consort is not only able to interpret baroque music in a historically informed way, but also give it a new life without a touch of academic exclusivity. The conductor, Jan Willem de Vriend, controlled the whole performance from the post of the concertmaster, and a great engagement, eventually permeating the whole orchestra, was seen from his gesticulations. All musicians deserve praise for a great work, but I would like to bring out the work of both oboists and baroque trumpet players, whose names are not, regrettably, printed in the programme. In the case of so small an ensemble it would have been appropriate to introduce the names of all players. I am sure that their performance would have justified it. The names of all singers are, fortunately, known - it would be difficult to find a famous baroque-opera star among them, but all of them were very good and some excellent.
The title role of Agrippina was played by the soprano Annemarie Kremer. This part is sometimes cast by mezzo-sopranos because it requires a certainty in the lower and middle registers. Its first interpreter, soprano Margherita Durastanti, rendered some important characters in Handel's operas during the following decades, and in as late as 1733 Handel wrote a role for her, Tauride, in the opera 'Arianna in Creta'. Her voice changed from a soprano to a mezzo-soprano in the course of time. Annemarie Kremer sang magnificently during the whole evening, and although she tended to be a little 'wooden' every now and then, she managed to express even more complicated emotions persuasively, if she had an opportunity for it (for example in the atypical aria 'Pensieri, voi mi tormentate' from the second act, the middle part of which is only a secco recitative). The role of Agrippina's husband, the Emperor Claudio, was interpreted by the bass Piotr Micinski. Singing assurance and a considerable comic talent helped him to put fully to use the potential of this character, even if it is not one of the biggest ones in this opera. The main motif from Claudio's arietta 'Vieni, oh cara' from the first act was later elaborated by Handel in the wonderful aria 'Vieni, oh figlio' in his opera 'Ottone, Re di Germania'. The beautiful Poppea, Claudio's mistress, who tries to extricate herself, on behalf of Ottone, from her ties with the Emperor, was played by the soprano Renate Arends. Already in her first aria, 'Vaghe perle, eletti fiori', she showed that she is in possession of a beautiful lyric voice and that she is able to manage all technical requirements of a character with many difficult coloraturas; she acted a skittish and sexy beauty from the high society, as well as a loving young woman who is apprehensive about the destiny of her love. If any of the protagonists were to be applauded, it was Renate Arends. Yet the reserved Prague audience applauded, alas, only at the end of each act. Poppea's lover and a hot candidate for the throne of Rome was Quirijn de Lang. As mentioned before, the recasting of this role is very unusual, but it was surely more acceptable for an audience not familiar with hearing women or countertenors in leading male parts. The core of Ottone's character lies in the second act where, in direct contrast with his opening aria, 'Coronato il crin d'alloro' in festive F major, one of the most wonderful arias of the opera is introduced: 'Voi che udite il mio lamento' in tragic C minor, full of gloom and resignation; it is then superseded by a mellow arioso, 'Vaghe fonti', with return to F major. Although both scenes are divided by a set of secco recitatives and a celebrating choir, 'Di timpani e trombe', with oboes, trumpets and drums, they make one psychological complex. The voice of Quirijn de Lang is not, for certain, exceedingly perfect, but owing to his ardent and dramatic talent and pleasant appearance, he was very successful. The role of Agrippina's son, Nerone, was acted by the tenor Michael Hart-Davis. His top moment came in the third act in the virtuoso aria 'Come nube che fugge dal vento' with two oboes, the fanfare motif of which was later used by Handel for Bertarido's final aria, 'Vivi tiranno', in the opera 'Rodelinda'. In this typical 'aria di bravura', in which Nerone compares himself to a cloud running against wind, the singer could prove that even though his voice is not the right 'prototype' of baroque Italian bel canto, he is able to comply with the requirements of this difficult part. In the roles of not so much skilfully intriguing courtiers Narciso and Pallante we could hear the countertenor Clint van der Linde and the bass Robbert Muuse. Neither role allows enough space to verify singing abilities. Narciso, however, is presented by Handel with a charming aria, 'Volo pronto, e lieto il core', in the first act, in which the unhappy youth confesses his love to Agrippina and which has become one of the most famous numbers in the opera. Clint van der Linde showed that he is the owner of a pleasant voice, which does not, however, exceed the countertenor standard. Robbert Muuse could exercise, at least, his comic talent in the role of the conspirator Pallante. The remaining bass role, that of servant Lesbo, who is a sort of a guide during the whole opera, was played by Jan Alofs. He made from his character an experienced old man who knows a lot, but whose only job is to fulfil all wishes of his only master, Emperor Claudio.
The director of the performance, Eva Buchmann, who was also, together with Annètje de Jong, the co-author of the scene, took full advantage of all comic potential hidden in the libretto and created a lot of funny situations on the stage. But on no account it did mean a forcible shift in the sense of the work as happens quite often in the case of modern productions of baroque operas, for - as already said - nothing is completely serious in 'Agrippina'. A simple set, made by an 'arch of triumph' and two stopping places connected by a gallery, was sometimes supplemented by necessary furniture for the purpose of changing the scene, under circumstances, to a banqueting hall or ladies' 'boudoir'. In any case the set was unpretentious and simple enough, with regard to the technical requirements of a touring production. The costumes by Peter George d'Angelino Tap, connecting historical elements with the present age, also corresponded with the spirit of an old-new satirical comedy, featuring partly ancient Rome, partly Handel's time and, to no lesser extent, our own times as well. It is exactly this balancing on the edge between the serious and the comic, the high and the low, that makes 'Agrippina' a viable work of art, as witnessed by those who experienced this almost perfect production.