Giulio Cesare - Handel (DVD)

...the story begins just as Giulio Cesare has triumphed over his rival, Pompey, in Egypt. Pompey’s widow and son, Cornelia and Sesto, are taken under Cesare’s protection, while Cesare offers to forgive Pompey if he surrenders. However, Egypt’s King Tolomeo (Ptolemy, Cleopatra’s ambitious brother), Pompey’s ally, wants to rule Egypt alone, without his sister Cleopatra. He sends to Cesare through his general, Achilla, a gift of the bloody head of Pompey ...
...Performer (voice)

Giulio Cesare --- Sarah Connolly (mezzo-soprano)
Cleopatra --- Danielle de Niese (soprano)
Cornelia --- Patricia Bardon (mezzo-soprano)
Sesto --- Angelika Kirchschlager (mezzo-soprano)
Tolomeo --- Christophe Dumaux (counter-tenor)
Achilla --- Christopher Maltman (baritone)
Nireno --- Rachid Ben Abdeslam (counter-tenor)
Curio --- Alexander Ashworth (baritone)
... more

Scotsman David McVicar has blazed a spectacular trail in his fabulous staging of this Baroque opera seria for the 2005 Glyndebourne Festival. His starting material is Georg Frideric Handel’s formidable, four-hour-long ‘Giulio Cesare in Egitto’ (‘Julius Caesar in Egypt’; also known simply as ‘Giulio Cesare’), with libretto by Nicola Francesco Haym, after Giacomo Grancesco Bussani’s work of the same name. The sheer length of the piece, with its typically Baroque musical da capo repeats of many verses can easily render this work into a completely boring and tedious affair. However, as you will see for yourself, ‘boring’ and ‘tedious’ will hardly apply to this particular staging as conceived by David McVicar and friends. Mr McVicar had the rare privilege of hand-picking his entire cast, and the wisdom of his choices shows clearly in the stunning final results.

SYNOPSIS

Transposed from its original setting of Egypt in 48 BC to British colonial Egypt in the late nineteenth-early twentieth century, the story begins just as Giulio Cesare has triumphed over his rival, Pompey, in Egypt. Pompey’s widow and son, Cornelia and Sesto, are taken under Cesare’s protection, while Cesare offers to forgive Pompey if he surrenders. However, Egypt’s King Tolomeo (Ptolemy, Cleopatra’s ambitious brother), Pompey’s ally, wants to rule Egypt alone, without his sister Cleopatra. He sends to Cesare through his general, Achilla, a gift of the bloody head of Pompey in an attempt to curry favour with Cesare. It is an act advised by Achilla to Tolomeo to influence Cesare. But Cesare is appalled by the deed and promises to punish Tolomeo.

Achilla then offers to kill Cesare to allow Tolomeo to take over Egypt, and in exchange asks for Cornelia, with whom he has fallen in love, for his wife. Tolomeo agrees. Meanwhile Cleopatra also eyes a solo queenship of Egypt and wants Cesare’s help in getting it. Pompey’s widow, Cornelia, and son, Sesto, have vowed to avenge Pompey’s death by killing Tolomeo, and Cleopatra, overhearing them, decides to help them enter the palace. For her own purposes, Cleopatra woos the Roman emperor-general, who promptly succumbs to her charms.

However, having now defeated her armies, Tolomeo promptly locks up Cleopatra. Upon entering the palace, Sesto is taken prisoner by Tolomeo and Cornelia is thrown into the garden of the seraglio. Tolomeo decides to have Cornelia for himself, breaking his promise to Achilla. Cornelia, of course will have nothing to do with either of the men. Then Achilla announces Cesare’s death at sea and warns Tolomeo of Cleopatra’s plans to kill him, and once more demands Cornelia in exchange for all his services, which now includes his foiling of an attempt on Tolomeo’s life by Sesto. But Tolomeo spitefully refuses to follow through on his pledge.

Fed up, Achilla turns on his King for this breach of promise and decides to help Cleopatra. However, he is wounded in battle, but before expiring from his wounds, Achilla confesses to Sesto about his hand in killing Pompey and gives Sesto a ring with a seal that will give him authority over his men. Cesare, thought drowned at a sea battle, has actually survived and appears from the sidelines, takes the ring from Sesto and vows to rescue Cornelia and Cleopatra with these soldiers. Cesare arrives at the palace in time to stop Cleopatra’s suicide attempt. Cornelia is once more being assaulted by Tolomeo, who is shot dead by Sesto. The story ends with Cornelia and Sesto in a bittersweet satisfaction of their revenge, and Cleopatra finally becoming Cesare’s Queen of Egypt.

CAST

Character --- Performer (voice)

Giulio Cesare --- Sarah Connolly (mezzo-soprano)
Cleopatra --- Danielle de Niese (soprano)
Cornelia --- Patricia Bardon (mezzo-soprano)
Sesto --- Angelika Kirchschlager (mezzo-soprano)
Tolomeo --- Christophe Dumaux (counter-tenor)
Achilla --- Christopher Maltman (baritone)
Nireno --- Rachid Ben Abdeslam (counter-tenor)
Curio --- Alexander Ashworth (baritone)
On-stage violinist --- Nadja Zwiener

Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Leader: Alison Bury
Conductor: William Christie
Stage Director: David McVicar
The Glyndebourne Chorus
Chorus Master: Bernard McDonald

THE PRODUCTION

This version, presented at Glyndebourne in July 2005, boasts an attractive and appealing cast of world-class singers. Stage director David McVicar guides them through their paces, while movement director Andrew George gives them sensible, sensual, and sometimes silly but funny choreography that goes so well with Handel’s alternately soothing and jaunty Baroque rhythms. The swashbuckling bits are coached by fight director Nicholas Hall, and soldierly encounters are represented by a regally choreographed, march-like dance with measured stomping of boots by Cesare’s and Tolomeo’s men and their leaders. All in a day’s work, but the singers might fall to their knees, crawl and roll, do back-flips, leap from the stage furniture, grapple intimately with one another, and might even be thrown to the floor with a thud, and accomplish other, similarly demanding actions rarely witnessed on the operatic stage. By Act Three, one feels a bit fatigued for the cast, who are sporting enough to go all out with this exhaustingly physical staging of the opera. They’re costumed by Brigitte Reiffenstuel in colourful garb that are variously of colonial British army, civilian or Orientalist styles, with Cesare’s crimson-coated soldiers and Cornelia’s Edwardian garb contrasting with the billowy pantaloons and red fezzes of the Egyptians. The simple and elegant sets are brilliantly designed by Robert Jones, and effective lighting is provided by Paule Constable. Indeed, this wonderful Glyndebourne presentation is a perfect example of the compleat magical, theatrical and musical experience that can be had with a staged opera when all the artistic and technical elements fall perfectly into place.

The theatrical nature of opera comes through here with freshness and vitality, and with an abiding respect for the original material. Mercifully, there’s none of the so-called Eurotrash concept staging here. However, Mr McVicar doesn’t go totally soft or coy, either; he merely presents the sensuality and the violence with more finesse and taste, and simply digs deeper into his bag of dramatic and theatrical tricks to present Handel’s work more meaningfully to modern audiences. Unlike the travesties so commonly committed on the stages in German-speaking cities (ahem, do you hear me, Salzburg?), there’s no attempt to provoke for provocation’s sake (unless fanatical purists choose to take offence at the charming Bollywood bits in the world of Cleopatra and the Egyptians).

There’s the shocking scene in Act One in which the Egyptian army commander Achilla presents to Cesare as a token of friendship from Tolomeo (Ptolemy, King of Egypt and Cleopatra’s brother) the severed head of Cesare’s rival, Pompey. The bloodied, dummy head on the silver platter is cringe-worthy, but showing the barbarism of the deed is needed for understanding the vengeful bloodlust that will obsess and possess Pompey’s widow, Cornelia, and his son, Sesto. (The visual is also a very timely reminder of grisly current events that continue to unfold in the Middle East today. Equally topical is the tale’s undercurrent of imperialist Britain being culturally at odds with its exotically foreign conquest.)

The stage has magnificent pairs of tan-coloured square columns that create proscenium-like arches that recede towards the back, on which are draped yards upon yards of silken cloths in dazzling navy blues, emerald greens, hot pinks and glittery golds. A giant antique map decorates the two walls that meet in the middle to close off the scene at mid-stage. In Cleopatra’s seductive aria for the instantly charmed Cesare, ‘V'adoro pupille’, the stage is cast in blue shadows, and little white lights on the floor meld seamlessly with the glowing, moonlit, night-sky in the distance. Egypt’s port of Alexandria is represented in the distance by perpetually rotating wave machines that take on the colours of sky above it, which can be of ominous grey clouds of storm or battle, or summery cerulean blue. Seacraft from various historical periods and of assorted makes -- from fully masted wooden ships to World War II destroyers -- sail gently upon the waves, and by the end of the Act Three, transatlantic ocean liners and blimps now dominate the scene.

CHARACTERS AND CAST

Although the opera’s structure tends to be episodic, given the fixed recitative-aria form that makes up every scene (and affords many gaps for the audience to applaud the previous aria), tedium is banished totally from this staging. Mr McVicar’s version of ‘Giulio Cesare’ actually feels closer to a riveting Shakespeare play that just so happens to be set to some of the most sublimely written and most beautifully sung music. It goes straight for the gut and the heart, as well as the funny bone, for amusing and witty touches are added to wonderful effect.

The characters mostly possess a rare psychological depth. The pathos of Cornelia, who grieves over the murder of her husband, Pompey in Act One’s ‘Priva son d'ogni conforto’, is rendered movingly by Irish mezzo-soprano Patricia Bardon, whose smooth and creamy vocal one could listen to for hours. Her suffering continues in subsequent acts, when she is captured, led around with a rope bound to her wrists, humiliated and sexually assaulted by Tolomeo and his army general, Achilla. When Tolomeo is finally struck down with a pistol by Sesto’s hand, Cornelia’s cold-blooded reaction to it contrasts chillingly with Sesto’s dazed befuddlement in that later scene.

Equally touching is the anguish of her young son, Sesto, a trouser part acted and sung by the Austrian mezzo-soprano, Angelika Kirchschlager -- she of the angelic, light vocal who looks appropriately adolescent here -- who feels an overwhelming need to avenge the death of his father. He expresses this in the touching aria, ‘Svegliatevi nel core’. (In this scene, that giant, fractured sculpted stone facsimile of Pompey’s head seen on the DVD cover art dominates the stage, set just in front of the wave machines, and the fingers of a giant hand seen coming from the top corner of the proscenium arch reach out to Sesto, who kneels with arm extended towards the hand.) Sesto finally gets his grim wish granted in Act Three, but it is far from a joyful triumph for him when it actually happens. He has, however, grown suddenly into a man for the act of violence and vengeance he has just accomplished.

Playing the eponymous trouser role is the fine English mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly, singing a part originally written for a castrato contralto. What’s so striking about Ms Connolly here is how she plays Giuilio Cesare so convincingly as a man, so that I’d even forgotten that Cesare was being portrayed by a woman when he first makes his stage appearance. I have to agree with soprano Danielle de Niese when she says (in the Extras interview) that onstage, she didn’t think of Ms Connolly as a woman at all. Wearing a shiny bronze breastplate beneath a long, crimson woolen coat with medals pinned to its extra-wide lapels and gold, fringed shoulder epaulets, this Cesare strides confidently across the floorboards in tall, dark, leather boots, radiating the dignity and authority befitting the imperial Roman leader and warrior. Heck, if I were Cleopatra, I’d be very much swept away by this Cesare, too!

Handel’s richly ornamented music proves no difficulty for Ms Connolly, who is blessed with an attractive and agile mezzo sound and warm, rounded tones that come forth through a flawless technique. Every aria and recitative is a complete aural delight, and Cesare’s ‘Dall’ondoso periglio -- Aure, deh, per pietà’, in which he mourns his soldiers and the victory lost at sea, becomes an emotionally stirring piece. One should also pay special attention to the sequence showcasing Ms Connolly’s improvised coloratura singing in the conversational exchange with onstage violinist Nadja Zwiener, ‘Se infiorito ameno prato’, that makes for a pleasurable detour from the main narrative. (In the Extras interview, Ms Connolly credits the inspiration for portions of these passages to some thrushes warbling noisily outside her cottage window!)

Meanwhile, on the slinkier, Egyptian side of things, Cleopatra freely exudes a vixenish sensuality -- and the young soprano Danielle de Niese (an American born in Australia of Sri Lankan and Dutch parentage) impresses greatly with her stage presence, and her highly accomplished combination of singing, dancing and acting. Her chuckle-filled comic moments come in the Egyptian-flavoured, Bollywood/West End/Broadway-style song-and-dance numbers she clearly revels in, sharing the stage at different times with Rachid Ben Abdeslam’s Nireno, and her two faithful handmaidens. Surprisingly, the choreography doesn’t clash with Handel’s music at all, and actually feels wholly suited to the work. I’ve never seen or heard anything like this before in opera, and Mr McVicar’s artistic creativity works marvellously in these scenes. (He explains his obsession with Bollywood videos and this haunting connexion with Handel’s work in the Extras interview.)

After she wins Cesare’s heart through a trick of deception, Cleopatra finds herself growing fond of the Roman general. She turns serious as she ponders the possibility of losing Cesare to the ravages of the war with her brother, Tolomeo,. With a clear, supple and powerful soprano, Ms de Niese expresses her internal tumult affectingly in the aria, ‘Se pietà di me non senti’. When Tolomeo defeats her forces, Cleopatra becomes her brother’s captive and she again mourns her dark future in ‘Piangerò la sorte mia’, and will soon contemplate suicide.

The tyrannical and sadistic nature of Tolomeo becomes very real here through the caustic presence of the young French counter-tenor Christophe Dumaux. Mr Dumaux succeeds in bringing a scathing malevolence to the role through his acting and high-pitched singing. His occasional tendency to lose power in the lower register is more than made up for by his blistering theatrical performance. Tolomeo’s relationship to his sister, Cleopatra, is marked by implied violence and sexual perversion, and you find yourself wincing almost every time he’s onstage, as you wonder with trepidation what new bit of cruelty he’s dreamed up this time.

As played by English baritone Christopher Maltman, Achilla, commander of the Egyptian army, embodies an awful creepiness that approaches Tolomeo’s in his perverse mix of brutality and tenderness towards Cornelia. Achilla redeems himself somewhat later on, when he turns against his mad King when Tolomeo refuses to grant the officer’s request.

Nireno is hugely amusing as Cleopatra’s gay confidant, and is sung fluidly by Moroccan counter-tenor Rachid Ben Abdeslam. He gets his own hilarious scene of Bollywood-style dancing, but later turns quite touching in pantomime in the final act, in which he gives Sesto moral support in his bid to kill Tolomeo.

The finale has the chorus singing the celebratory ‘Ritorni omai nel nostro core’ after a cheerful love duet between the handsomely dressed Cesare and Cleopatra, ‘Caro! -- Bella! Pi amabile beltà’, as Cleopatra formally becomes Queen of Egypt, and Cornelia and Sesto have their vengeful lust satisfied. After the rousing choral bit, the cast take their bows in a six-minute curtain call in which the audience’s appreciative applause and roars and whistles show no signs of abating. It’s a testament to their amazing vocal and physical stamina that all the singers sounded to mine ears as fresh and vibrant in Act Three as they did in Act One, considering the opera’s unusually taxing running time of four hours.

WILLIAM CHRISTIE AND THE ORCHESTRA OF THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT

Helping the singers along with admirable support from the pit, and playing with an obvious love for Handel’s music are American conductor William Christie (head of the ensemble, Les Arts Florissants) and the period instrumentalists who comprise the superb Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Their exuberant playing brings out the bouncy rhythms of this Baroque work that will perk you up and make you want to dance along with Cleopatra and Nireno. In the lyrical passages, the momentum never sags, and the emotional pull only grows stronger with the wonderful coordination and interplay between singers and orchestra.

FINAL WORDS

This production deservedly drew many wows from both critics and audiences, and oh, what I would have given to have been at a live performance! Well, this DVD is the next best thing to that.

This ‘Giulio Cesare’ is, in fact, a piece of grand entertainment in the best sense of the term, on a scale rarely seen in opera. And you know what? I fully concur with David McVicar’s assertion that ‘entertainment is *not* a dirty word’ -- which producer Ferenc van Damme used as the title of the documentary that’s included as part of the DVD Extras. This 50-minute film comprises enlightening interviews with Mr McVicar, conductor William Christie, singers Sarah Connolly, Danielle de Niese, and Angelika Kirchschlager (conducted here in German with English subtitles, even though I think Frau Kirchschlager is quite fluent in English), and movement director (‘choreographer’ in the old terminology) Andrew George. (The other docu has Danielle de Niese talking about her Glyndebourne experience in this, her debut appearance.) Very rightly so, the BBC Music Magazine gave this the Jury Award as DVD of the Year, and the disc was similarly honoured by Gramophone magazine last year. If there’s one operatic DVD you should really, really have in your library -- whether you’re an old opera aficionado or a neophyte to the genre -- you can’t go wrong with this one. If I could, I’d give this product twenty stars. A definite must-see and must-buy for all time.

~~~~~~~~~~

DVD NOTES:

Georg Frideric Handel)
GIULIO CESARE IN EGITTO
Opera in three acts
Libretto: Nicola Francesco Haym,
After Giacomo Francesco Bussani’s ‘Giulio Cesare in Egitto’
First performed at Glyndebourne, 3 July 2005
Recorded live at Glyndebourne, 14 and 17 August 2005

Total Runtime: 305 mins
No. of discs: 3
Available Subtitles: English, Spanish, German, French, Italian
Available Audio Tracks: Italian (DTS 5.1), Italian (PCM Stereo)
Sung in Italian with English, French, German, Spanish, and Italian subtitles

Extra Features:
Disc One -- Danielle de Niese and the Glyndebourne experience (and informal portrait of de Niese in her first Glyndebourne season) 22.07
Disc Three -- ‘Entertainment is not a dirty word’ (a documentary by Ferenc van Damme, including interviews with creative team and cast) 50.09
Production photo gallery
Rehearsals photo gallery

Illustrated synopsis in booklet

Release Date: 3 April 2006 (UK)
BBC / Opus Arte
List Price: £34.99 (£25.98 at amazon.co.uk)

[P.S. This review has been posted elsewhere by the author in modified form.] 

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