The decadence of Ancient Rome has not been forgotten. We are in present day New York on Cupid’s day, and we’re celebrating with a fine dinner before tonight’s opera.
Agrippina is up there with my favorites from this season.
She, is a satire that encourages us to laugh at the wealth, privilege, and power of the 1% (The Met audience shines tonight and I wonder if they internalize this irony). 300 years old, this opera feels sadly just as relevant today where the wealthy are caught bribing their unqualified children into elite universities and a wealthy president places his family members into critical political positions. Agrippina and the other characters mirror the worse inequities of our modern society.
There is a truism that people mistakingly believe their own success is earned, but the success of others is somehow just a matter of lucky circumstance. Agrippina believes strongly in her entitlement. She sings, “Anything destiny can do I can do for myself,” but then goes on to lie, bribe, and steal her son into political power. For her ‘the ends justify the means,’ and she observes astutely, “The law only obeys power.”
Take away: The 1% sure know how to take care of their own.
The men in this opera also obey power, especially when wielded by a beautiful woman. Their own ambitions will wrap around Agrippina’s wise wiling finger and introduce a wonderful subplot where Agrappina is jealous towards the young Poppea’s luring naïveté. Conflict and tension, along with a lot of fun will get caught between these two.
There are so many awesome moments in this smart production. Kate Lindsey in a cloud of cocaine particularly impresses:
She lands a full side-plank yoga pose, then continues to sing. Brava! Her voice endures clean all the way through Come nube che fugge dal vento with more lilt than trill. Like a hormonal teenager she commands the stage as Nerone with full-hilt cocky confidence indulged by his ambitious mother, Agrippina.
The heroic Ottone sings my favorite aria of the evening. The curtain falls in the middle of the 2nd act and casts him a spotlight (Big aria coming everyone). Once promised the throne by the king, he believes he has now lost hope for the throne, but worse in his mind also Poppea’s love. He sings Voi ch’udite! The remorse still licks my ears. To single out any one aria in this opera is impossible as the hits, like doo-wop, just keep coming, but single out I do. Tissues please.
Tight all around, Agrippina opens with the characters sitting on their ancient tombs and will return just before the curtain closes. A great red painting of a she-wolf transforms between acts: first suckled by Romulus and Remus, then melting, and then finally is dead on her back. A harpsichord dance off punctuates the wonderful choices in this production. These older operas can be a challenge during recitative, when the players talk/sing with very minimum music (usually accompanied by harpsichord). The dance-off keeps the audience’s interest and the quick pace of the opera.
bravo!
So what is Agrippina all about? the title character is married to the emperor Claudius who is rumored to be dead from a shipwreck. She begins a propaganda mission to have her son Neronne, from another marriage, put onto the throne. Will she succeed? The Opera is based on actual figures from Roman history and a wikipedia search is as shocking as the Opera.
Speaking of the 1%, the rush ticket program is a gift from the Agnes Varis Trust, and tonight I have a ridiculously amazing seat close to the stage in the orchestra all thanks to her and that program.
What to listen for:
Ottone sing – Voi che udite
Poppea sing se gigue un despetto
Notes on the production
_________________________________________
Composer………………………… George Frideric Handel
Agrippina……………….…………. Joyce DiDonato
Nerone………………………………. Kate Lindsey
Poppea……………………………… Brenda Rae
Claudio……………………………… Matthew Rose
Ottone………………………………. Listen Davies
Pallante…………………………….. Duncan Rock
Conductor……………..………….. Harry Bicket
Metropolitan Opera
2/13/20