The Collins Guide To Opera And Operetta - Michael White

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The evidence against Essex begins to accumulate and the councillors, led by Cecil, try to persuade the queen to sign his death warrant. Frances comes to appeal for his life and elicits a sympathetic response from the queen, but when her companion, Lady Rich, arrogantly tells Elizabeth that she should pardon Essex because she needs him, Elizabeth promptly calls for the death warrant and signs it.

       Music and Background

      A ceremonial piece, written for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, Gloriana proceeds in a sequence of tableaux with much spectacle – in sound as well as vision – and cleverly contemporised allusions to the music of the Tudor court. But the writing balances these grand public statements against intimate scenes in which Elizabeth gives voice to her private feelings with touching poignancy. Everything hangs on the central role which is accordingly long, taxing and in every sense a tour de force.

       Highlights

      The Earl of Essex’s hauntingly beautiful second lute song, ‘Happy were he’ in Act I; the sequence of ceremonial dances and choral numbers that comprise the masque in Act II; the courtly dances of the Act II Ball Scene; the queen’s final monologue as a dream-sequence of episodes from her life and reign pass before her.

      Did You Know?

      

Gloriana drew muted applause at its premiere, partly because the glittering audience of diplomats, royalty and other coronation guests didn’t know what to make of it but largely because they were wearing full court dress, including white gloves.

      Recommended Recording

      Josephine Barstow, Philip Langridge, Della Jones, Welsh National Opera/Charles Mackerras. Decca 440213-2. The only full recording, produced in 1993, with a superb roster of latterday British voices that features in Barstow the finest modern exponent of the central role.

       FORM: Opera in three acts; in English

       COMPOSER: Benjamin Britten (1913–76)

       LIBRETTO: Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears, after Shakespeare’s play

       FIRST PERFORMANCE: Aldeburgh, 11 June 1960

       Principal Characters

      Oberon, King of the Fairies

Countertenor

      Titania, Queen of the Fairies

Coloratura soprano

      Puck

Spoken role

      Hermia, in love with Lysander

Mezzo-soprano

      Helena, in love with Demetrius

Soprano

      Demetrius, in love with Hermia

Baritone

      Lysander, in love with Hermia

Tenor

      Theseus, Duke of Athens

Bass

      Hippolyta, betrothed to Theseus

Contralto

      Bottom, a weaver

Bass-baritone

      Peter Quince, a carpenter

Bass

      Flute, a bellows mender

Tenor

      Snug, a joiner

Bass

      Snout, a tinker

Tenor

      Starveling, a tailor

Baritone

       Synopsis of the Plot

      Setting: A wood near Athens and Theseus’ palace

      ACT I Oberon and Titania have quarrelled over the possession of an Indian boy stolen by the fairies. Oberon plots revenge and instructs Puck to fetch the magic herb which, squeezed into the eyes, will make the recipient fall instantly in love with the next person they see. Oberon also plans to use the magic herb to help Helena, in love with Demetrius, who has eyes only for Hermia. Puck, however, confuses Demetrius with the sleeping Lysander, so that when he wakes and sees Helena, Lysander falls instantly in love with her (and out of love with Hermia), and chases after her, leaving a bewildered Hermia alone and frightened.

      ACT II The Athenian craftsmen are rehearsing a play, their contribution to the duke’s forthcoming wedding celebrations. Titania, asleep nearby, awakes to see Bottom, whom Puck has disguised with an ass’ head on his shoulders, and falls immediately in love with him. Oberon is delighted with Puck’s mischief-making – until he sees that Puck has squeezed the juice into Lysander’s eyes by mistake. He makes amends by administering the juice himself to Demetrius, but now both men are in love with Helena; Helena and Hermia quarrel and the men decide to fight a duel. Exasperated, Oberon orders Puck to ensure that the men come to no harm and that the four lovers are appropriately reconciled.

      ACT III Oberon now possesses the Indian boy, the cause of his quarrel with Titania, so he releases both Titania and Bottom from the spell. The four lovers, asleep in the wood, have been suitably positioned so that, on waking, they see the ‘correct’ partner. They make their way, somewhat bemused, to Athens, where the duke gives them his blessing and arranges a joint wedding, alongside his own. The craftsmen perform their tragic play with intense seriousness – but their incompetence and confusion turn it into high farce. At midnight the celebrations stop and the humans retire, leaving the fairies once more to their own world.

       Music and Background

      Britten’s favoured themes of sleep and dreams inspired a score of pure enchantment that creates three distinctive sound-worlds for the three categories of character at large in the wood: lovers, rustics and fairies. The supernatural comes with high voice-types (Oberon is a countertenor, the fairies’ chorus a group of boy trebles) and the delicate accompaniment of harps, keyboards and percussion, while the rustic play-within-a-play of Pyramus and Thisbe is a wicked parody of 19th-century bel canto opera – and especially of the way Joan Sutherland used

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