William Christie and Les Arts Florissants have not missed their rendezvous with the Festival de Lanaudière 2023, exporting from Europe an enchanting concerto production of Händel’s comic opera Partenope.
Presenting the show to the public, Renaud Loranger, artistic director of the Festival, spoke of the “first complete performance” of an opera by Händel (or a baroque opera) at the Festival de Lanaudière.
It is necessary to agree on this terminology, and it is not a criticism in itself, because it was indeed there one of the assets of the show. Partenope is an opera whose full performance lasts 3 hours 30 minutes. However, William Christie presented us with a version reduced to about 2 hours 10 minutes without depriving us of much.
Clever editing
Let us first recall that Partenope is an opera in which the unmarried Princess Partenope is coveted by three princes: the handsome Arsace who reaps her favors, the soft-knee Armindo, who dares not declare himself, and the warrior Emilio who has come with his army, which would allow him to take territory and wife at the same time. Added to this is the so-called Eurimene who is in fact, disguised, Rosmira, princess abandoned by Arsace.
During a battle, Emilio will be defeated by the three others, but “Eurimene” and Arsace claim the capture of Emilio. In fact Rosmina-Eurimene wants to test the infidel Arsace, who still tells her he loves her and has sworn not to reveal his identity. Everything will end happily and morally: the lovers will meet again, Partenope will marry the slack-knee (who saved his life in the battle anyway) and Emilio, who clowns around all the time, is pardoned.
This William Christie cut out a few tunes, trimmed in Act II the multi-character interactions and subplots around Emilio. Tightening the dialogues, it makes us lose nothing of the major interactions between the “dipoles”, that is to say the alliances and the confrontations between the characters.
What Christie absolutely does not touch is the very structure of the “Händel system”, that is to say the ” aria ca capo », which leads the protagonists to repeat the same thing three times for 6 minutes on the same tune. It is true that the conductor’s musicality inhabits these moments, as in the aria “Comme un Papillon” by Partenope.
Voice revelations
The pragmatism with which William Christie treats this opera in front of a silent, dazzled and breathless audience, brings us back to the conclusion on the “modernization of the customer experience” after the 3 h 15 of theAlcina presented in March by Les Violons du Roy, with perfect singers, their eyes glued to their scores, in front of a room less than half folded. There were no more people on Saturday. But with shows of this type, we at least put the odds on the good side. We should still warn that we are going to present Händel, but in a “digestible” version…
Sophie Daneman’s staging, full of wit and practicality, clearly stands out from the lot of this kind of exercise and in no way makes us regret the absence of staging. Big dice and chess serve as battles and conflict resolutions; the boxing gloves appear during the duel.
Musically, the presentation boils down to a triumph and a sum of revelations. Credit where credit is due, the orchestral work is sometimes incredibly subtle, increasing, especially in Act III. Even if all the young singers of the “Jardin des voix” of the “Arts Flo” are admirable, Hugh Cutting (Arsace) is a countertenor who we will hear about very quickly. It has everything: power, color, virtuosity, emotion. Moments of the caliber of his Ch’io Parta ? (“Thus I’m leaving,” he said to Rosmira) of Act III, we haven’t had one often in Lanaudière since Prelude and Death of Isolde by Alain Altinoglu.
Almost on the same level as Cutting, the brass, the aplomb and the vocal presence of Helen Charlston in Rosmira and the scenic slaughter of Jacob Lawrence in Emilio. Impeccable baritone, Matthieu Walendzik will be judged in roles more substantial than that of the chief of the armies. Alberto Miguélez Rouco is a lighter countertenor than Cutting, which perfectly differentiates Armindo d’Arsace. He will have to continue to choose his jobs wisely. Ana Vieira Leite was an excellent Partenope, a sensitive musician, but without characteristic or memorable aura in the same way as Cutting or Charlston.
Obviously, this show had its place at the Festival, even if it proves that the Baroque remains a niche, an artistic proposition that will have difficulty imposing itself in such an amphitheater. Invalidation of the thing, we hope, with the Orfeo and Leonardo García Alarcón, next Saturday.