If we were to draw a timeline of history of opera in performance, the premiere of Handel’s Alcina at the Opéra de Paris in 1999 in Robert Carsen’s production could arguably figure as the moment important opera houses claimed baroque titles back to their repertoires. Of course we could mention that way before that Joan Sutherland appeared as Alcina at La Fenice etc. However, I would insist that the Carsen Alcina was more than as a vehicle for a prima donna but rather as a serious entry in the season, cast from the A-team in defiance of any idea of “specialist” singers. Since then, we’ve seen titles like Giulio Cesare and Rodelinda everywhere, at the Met, at the Vienna State Opera, in Salzburg.
That is why I was curious to see the revival of a staging I only knew from a curious pirate tape on YouTube. It still holds it own quite well in its efficient Personenregie, timeless sets and costumes and intelligent lighting, but it looks a tad conservative these days after we’ve seen, say, Kate Mitchell in Aix (here Ruggero is horrified when he discovers that Alcina, Heaven forbids!, has sex with other guys).
I remember my disappointment when I read that Renée Fleming was the soprano featured in the original run of performances back in 1999 . When I first listened to the CDs, my first impression was “actually, that’s not bad” and, probably with Bychkov’s Daphne, this remains my favorite complete opera recording with the American diva. This evening, our Alcina too comes from the other side of the Atlantic, more specifically from Trinidad and Tobago. Jeanine De Bique is a singer I’ve seen only once in Salzburg as Annio in Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito, a part normally cast with a mezzo soprano. Then she was all over the internet singing stuff ranging from Mozart’s Susanna to Handel’s Rodelinda (the latter released on video). Ms. De Bique has a complex voice, rather dark in color yet kept in a rather tight focus. Differently from Fleming, who made Handel her way, the Trinidadian soprano is ready to sacrifice anything to Handel – and I wonder if that is the reason why she sounds so proper and well-behaved in a role that requires something overwhelming and a bit crazy. If I had not heard her broadcast from Berlin as Agathe in Weber’s Freischütz I would have said she is indeed a mezzo in soprano repertoire, for she fared really, I mean REALLY carefully in her high register. She either took refuge in mezza voce (which she does well) or would produce bottled up sounds à la Barbara Hendricks – and I was dying to see her throw protocol to the air and really show us what she’s got, at least when things get out of control for Alcina. But no. She seemed determined to produce a “baroque” voice. Whatever that might be, it does not come naturally to her – and, as much as she deserves praise for trying so hard, nothing works better than being oneself. The tightrope she walked on the whole night meant a little bit less projection than she needed and also a little bit less legato than she needed. A more idiomatic Italian would have also helped her to put across an all-round theatrical performance. As it was, she just never did anything wrong. Even her stage presence seemed a sequence of poses – and somehow we know that there is an Alcina there ready to bloom. In any case, hers was a stylish, elegant performance, clear divisions, long breath, pianissimi all there, check.
In the original production, Natalie Dessay almost (some would say “totally) stole the show as Morgana, and I must say Sabine Devieilhe is brave to appear in that role in this production. The comparison is inevitable, and it still is advantageous to Dessay, whose voice was a bit richer in the middle register and a bit more crystalline in its in alts. That said, Ms. Devieilhe is very much at ease in the role and is more than technically adept for it. She seemed determined to everything a bit differently from Dessay, both in terms of acting and singing (especially in terms of decoration, an item in which Dessay tended to be overadventurous). Devieilhe has one trump card, though – her diction is clearer than Dessay’s and she is less mannered too.
Ruggero is different from all other primo uomo roles in Handel operas, and I won’t be truly capable of explaining why. It just requires a more Mozartian approach – and baroque specialists always sound a bit pale in it. Gaēlle Arquez is exactly the kind of singer for the part. Hers is a juicy, velvety, round, trouble-free voice that makes everything sound cantabile and spontaneous. I believe her voice is gaining in strength and Handel won’t probably be too long in her repertoire. As it was, she took some time to warm. Di te mi rido came at moments dangerously close to imprecision and items like Verdi prati sounded a tad low for her voice. She delivered a truly classy, sensitive Mi lusinga il dolce affetto and sang Stà nell’Ircana in the grand manner. As Bradamante, Roxana Constantinescu did not have a chance. A mezzo in a contralto part, she sounded lost around her passaggio, grey and grainy of tone.
If I had not seen Michael Spyres sing Theodora last week, I would have said Rupert Charlesworrh was the best Oronte one could get. We’re talking about one of the less well cast parts in the whole repertoire, even in studio recordings. Mr Charlesworth, for a change, doesn’t sound as if he were going to die out of singing this music. He has the notes, the flexibility and a long breath, but the tonal quality – as usual – is the opposite of appealing. Nicolas Courjal’s bass is on the woolly side, and yet he managed his aria well.
If I have to single out one element in this performance, this would be Thomas Hengelbrock’s vital, alert conducting. Both in terms of tempo and accent, we’ve always heard the ideal compromise between musical and dramatic demands, without any neglect for his singers. His orchestra, the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble, played with richness of sound and fullness of tone, the continuo extravagantly shared between harpsichord, organ, harp and theorbos.
As expected, there were cuts – no Oberto, Oronte’s Semplicetto reduced to the A section, some trimming in recitatives and no final chorus (I guess the idea was to make a dark ending for the opera).
I HEAR VOICES 
The met and ROH had done some Handel by 1999 though, and SFO was doing him not infrequently. This production is iconic and the Paris opera went all out, no question. I guess it depends on how you define important house.
I loved this production, I saw a revival with Luba O and Ciofi. I think I’ve said this before but the live in house clips on YouTube really capture Fleming and Dessay to a much better advantage than the commercial. Dessay sounds thin there and Fleming sounds boxed in. The videos give you a better sense of how their voices traveled at that time and of course you get to see the production. It’s a clinical production, but very smart and effective and Alcina has a real arch. I think it only seems conservative compared to what’s come after, Ruggerio’s shock is not that she’s having sex with other men (IMO) but because he thinks she loves him. I think the relationship between the two of them is the best part of the production, at the end you can tell he’s been forever affected by her.
Glad Arquez is doing well. I’ve never heard of the alcina.
Yep, you’re right, the Met had at least the Giulio Cesare with Battle and Troyanos and that… Rinaldo?… with Horne (?) and Ramey, right? Yep, but I don’t know, those were also performances that really had more to do with Battle, Troyanos, Horne and Ramey than with Handel. The Christie Alcina in Paris was a performance you had to take seriously, wherever you were coming from. It was not a curiosity – it was there to stay. In any case, the ROH, the Met and even the SFO are important houses haha
I have a pirate recording of your revival, Vivica Genaux was the Bradamante, right? I know everybody likes to be unenthusiastic about Orgonasová and, while I won’t say I was enthusiastic about her there either, I thought she sang beautifully. It’s a bit cold and unsexy, but still. It’s funny that Augér – in the video from Geneva – has it so rightly. The staging is ugly and she never seemed much of an actress to me, but vocally it’s all there.
You’re right about the recorded sound in the Erato recording. I never understood why it is so boxy and unflattering for singers. I do prefer the video, even if it’s far from perfect either.
Well, Ruggero’s shock in the scene could have been better handled. You say “he thought she loved him”. But, well, she does. She even dies of a broken heart in that production! So, if he saw that she didn’t love him, what he saw wasn’t exactly true. Now let’s play “if I were the director”: I would have done a scene on video mirroring the first scene with Ruggero and Alcina with different men playing Ruggero. Like “exhibit one – Ruggero 1, year 1, now Ruggero 2, year 2”. And then he would see that, although she BELIEVES she loves him, he is just the new Ruggero. That would have made more sense to me.
This is only the second time I’ve Arquez live – the other time was the Cherubino at the Met. I thought she sang very well both times. She is a clever singer with a beautiful voice and stage presence. And she knows how to do things her way. The Armide from Vienna, for instance. It’s a bit dangerless compared to Antonacci, for instance, but she sells the “tame” version. It fits her voice and personality. I think we’ll still hear a lot from her.
You are right. Those early met Handel performances would not have happened without those big stars attached, and of course they were heavily cut and re-arranged and not totally successful already (the Cesare was particularly disappointing, Troyanos struggled and Battle was IMO already in her operatic prime).
I loved Organosova, maybe not one of the greats and completely dull onstage, but she had her technical ducks in a row a real way. I thought her Alcina was in the main very successful but cool like you say and she was similar to Fleming in that you got the sense she was holding back too much. Yes it was Genaux, I honestly don’t remember her haha. Ciofi sort of stole it, it seems like that production is designed for the Morgana.
We disagree about Auger. She wasn’t a stage animal and maybe what she does isn’t what one thinks of when thinking of “acting”. But to me she nails every aspect of that character dramatically in a way I don’t think I’ve seen a soprano match. The power of the character is there in her manner and gait from her entrance. She nails the first aria without having to grope Ruggerio or get on the floor. She barely moves but with a few glances and gestures, more impactful for the stillness that precedes it, the whole arch of the character is clear but never studied or mannered. And she does it without any “business” (no disrespect meant to Fleming and Harteros but they get a lot of things to do and lots of props to handle in their solos), she just has a concentration and depth of feeling that IMO basically puts her in a different category in this role. There’s nothing tricked up about it at all. And she was beautiful. Organosova started cool and then pretty much stayed that way, aside from looking “pained” in the latter half. And she was nowhere near as verbally or musically expressive.
Got a little heat haha, but honestly I do think it’s a real character Auger portrays and she doesn’t have to “play” sexy or heartbreak or anger in that role. It’s just kind of there in how she stands and in her face. I guess I kind of like that production too haha. I don’t like the costumes, but I think it’s a lovey set with beautiful lighting and actually a kind of interesting take of Alcina’s defeat. And I like Christie better there actually.
I have an in-house tape of the Met Giulio Cesare. Indeed, the part seems simply too low for Troyanos. I find Battle there charming in a very generic way. She was born kind of 20 years earlier than the HIP movement, what is a pity, for she could have had a more baroque-centered career – and that would have been to her benefit, for she had the right instincts for it. I like her Semele, for instance. She is more fun than everyone else’ in that part.
You’re not the first person to tell me that Ciofi stole that run of performances. In the recording, she sounds curiously more substantial than Orgonasova.
I don’t think we disagree about Augér. I see all that you describe in her singing. Her “acting” for me is more like dignified unobtrusive stage presence. Given Handel himself was used to stock gestures, he would find that more than good enough. I personally believe that Alcina must act a bit desperate after Ombre pallide.
I think Luba was coming to the end of her career at that point basically. I’m pretty sure that was the last I saw or heard from her.
I get what your saying I just think every other Alcina I’ve seen has been so demonstratively “directed” and has always played up how horny she is or how pathetic she is. I think Augér does come across as pathetic.
That’s true – directors tend to overdo it with Alcina. The character is fascinating and I can see why they want to make really sure everything is there – and sometimes the whole thing comes across as overpointed.
One last good word for Auger as a performer. The one and only role she sang at the met was Marzelline in Fidelio (no broadcast and she never recorded it). I have literally never seen anyone before or since get as much out of that role as she did simply standing there. I think she put Behrens (who I thought was a decent Fidelio in her prime) to shame by comparison. And this was the huge met.
I adored Auger, it’s a shame her voice was just not substantial enough for a consistent career in the larger houses. She was really at her best as a recitalist, one of the best female recitalists I’ve ever seen.
More recently there have basically been a plethora of good Alcina’s. It actually is also one of the most consistently well recorded roles in the discography IMO. I’m not aware of a bad one and I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a genuinely bad one (I saw Auger in the production that the recording was based off of in London, several years before the video). It’s really a shame Gauvin has never commercially recorded the role. She’s been doing a tour of the role in concert right now.
What’s odd about the Carsen production is that, while Morgana surely is a major role with good music, that is the only production I’ve ever seen where the character basically is a co-lead who can steal the show. I wonder if it was just because Dessay was on board and was probably more famous than any other Morgana in history.
I’ve always heard that Augér was a great recitalist. Someone even told me that she was a very discreet person but that when on recital she seemed to shine in a way she wouldn’t in real life. I have never seen her live and I can’t say I adore her (I find the Donna Anna and the Countess for Östman boring, for instance), but when she was good she was really amazing. And she handled florid music with incomparable naturalness.
Alcina is one of Handel’s most appealing items – the arias are beautiful, the plot is interesting. I have a broadcast with Gauvin in very good sound and it serves as a consolation for the absence of a studio recording. It is strange, for IMO the part usually miscast is Ruggero. I’ve seen good people sound disappointing in it.
As for Morgana, I think that Carsen got wowed by what Dessay could do both in terms of singing and acting. It is really an outstanding performance. I’ve seen videoclips with Piau, for instance, and it seems she is just channeling Dessay there (rather well BTW). That is why I found it interesting that Devieilhe just decided to try something different (along the same lines, of course – it is the same production).
Auger had a somewhat disappointing private life and I think music was basically her outlet. She was very gifted lady but the impression I got was that, not unlike Fleming, she did actually want to be a more high profile operatic “star” and was frustrated that her voice only went so far.
IMO the only actually ideal Ruggerio is Hallenberg. It’s a low role and people like Grahame sound light in it and others sound like they really have to dig into the chest to make an impact. I’ve always thought Kuhlmenn, always a Bradamante, should have given Ruggerio a shot. It might have been a tad high but I would have loved her sound in the role and she had the coloratura down. Very underrated singer.
Hallenberg was for a while the single Ruggero I really cared for – she has the right voice for the role and she is always expressive and stylish. I think Graham had the right Mozartian touch for the part, but one could see that the voice was a bit short on the bottom for it. Again with “if she had been born a little bit later” – Kuhlmann was a terrific mezzo with one foot in contralto-land in an age when people only cared for high mezzos, unlike today.
Have you ever seen Augér as Zerbinetta? There is a concert recording from Munich, in which I find her really good and surprisingly bimbo-ish. I wonder if she ever sang it live. That’s probably the same recital when she sing a Bell Song from Lakmé that made me think I could actually like that aria (I don’t care if the last note is a bit breathy – the rest is just magical).
I didn’t see Auger as Zerbinetta, I wasn’t even aware that she had sung the whole role. I have heard her do the aria, but I think it’s taken from a concert where she also sang the Rosenkavalier trio. I did see her as one of the Andrew sisters in Vienna with Rysanek as Ariadne (late 1960s), can’t remember the name of whichever one goes the highest.
Outside of Constanza and QOTN I think I only ever saw her in small ensemble roles during her tenure in Vienna (forest birds, high priestesses etc…). I did see an excellent Servillia and a solid La Fille Du Regiment in smaller theaters in Wien. The latter had Seefried (!) and Welitsch (!!) as her female costars and the performance was most memorable for the two of them getting into a competition to see who could upstage the other more successfully. Auger got kind of lost in the shuffle in that one. After that, other than her met debut and Alcina, I only ever saw her in concerts and recitals where she was invariably stunning. I have reservations about some of her recording (namely the high lying stuff) and make no mistake it was genuinely small voice. Small isn’t a word I like to throw around because I think it’s often misused regarding voices, but hers really was. Even something like the Figaro Countess, which is lovely but kind of non-descript on recording, was apparently underwhelming live.
Kuhlmann was so underrated. She’s invariably the best thing in most of the stuff she turns up in. In the late Orlando Furioso SFO DVD with Horne, the audience kind of shrugs her off and goes wild for Horne. But Kuhlmann pretty much walks off with the whole thing.
I don’t know if Augér did sing a complete Zerbinetta at all. I just know the aria from that concert in Munich. She did sang the Najad for a while. There is also a CD with Pilar Lorengar in which she sings Zdenka in Aber der Richtige – and she sounds really lovely.
The Fille du Régiment was at the Volksoper, wasn’t it? This sounds like a memorable performance (for the wrong and right reasons haha)
Ah, then we are thinking of the same performance. She does a good job in the light zerbinetta mode. I would have loved to have heard her in the prologue. Yes that Arabella duet with Lorengar is divine. Weird that Lorengar never ventured into more than a couple of German role and no Strauss. I would have loved to have heard HER Ariadne and Arabella, those climaxes would have soared and she’d have had enough lower down for Ariadne (you can imagine some of the sounds Rysanek made trying to negotiate the arias). Auger in the seventies for me basically means the early Mozart recordings, a few of which she’s genuinely stunning in.
Yes that is correct. Auger shared that run with Grist and Patricia Wise I believe. Grist was lovely. Auger sang beautifully but this was around the time Sutherland owned the role internationally and Auger of course was not on the scale and she was not even remotely convincing as a tomboy. But in that house it worked. Seefried and Welitsch had no shame whatsoever. But that was the only role I ever saw Welitsch do, whereas I got to see Seefried in a few of signatures. Late in the day to be sure. But I was told she and Seefried basically detested each other going back to their Salzburg days in DG. I don’t think either was going to let the other take the spotlight.
It is sad indeed that Lorengar didn’t favor Strauss roles, especially Arabella, I agree. That disc is a bit frustrating; it’s like a teaser for something you won’t get it in the end 🙂
Arguez is a very impressive singer. I didn’t love her Armide, which I thought kind of needed more power and something more resembling an actual soprano. She seemed a bit stretched by the declamation and got progressively more tired the night I went. Operating that high at that volume also did some funky stuff to her diction. It’s a tricky role. But I LOVED her Idamante. And she’s one hell or a lovely lady.
Yes, it was not the best role for her, but I do believe she made the right decisions there considering her voice and personality. It was more about infatuation than hatred. But that was ok for a change.
Ugh I wish that opera was done more though. I definitely have said it before, but it is my number one “why isn’t this done more” opera. It’s not a “flawed” masterpiece IMO, it fully is an actual masterpiece. That and the Handel are the best version of the story AFAIC, although which one I prefer tends to be based on whichever one I’ve seen more recently. I do think the Gluck just sounds so evocative.
I haven’t given it a serious thought – but I guess it’s my favorite Gluck.