 Serse I (Xerxes I), Love & the Plane Tree
Review of Serse - Handel (aka Xerxes) by
zerbine28
Advantages: Händel's music; Rasmussen, Hallenberg, Piau, Bayrakdarian; Rousset and Les Talens Lyrique.
Disadvantages: Cold production design; occasionally slow staging.
...the rival loves of King Serse and his brother, Arsamene, for the beautiful Romilda. On the distaff side, there’s the competing love of Romilda and her sister, Atalanta, for Serse’s brother, Arsamene. Of this confused quartet, only Romilda and Arsamene actually love one another.
The titular Serse refers to the real-life Persian ruler, Xerxes I (Serse I), described by the Greek historian Herodotus in his Histories, Book VII. The libretto to ‘Serse’ ...
...gently mocking song (‘... un Serse mirate, che d’un ruvido tronco acceso sta;’ – ‘ ... behold Xerxes, all afire with passion for a coarse tree trunk’). In fact, Romilda and Arsamene have previously agreed to meet at the summerhouse, but the intrusion of Serse ruins their plans. Serse blithely orders Arsamene to arrange the marriage, unaware of Arsamene’s romantic liaison with Romilda. (Serse has already forgotten his previous betrothal to Amastre, ...
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30.06.2007
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FELICITY HAS LOTTS TO SAY ABOUT APPLES AND PEARS
Review of La Belle Helene (Wide Screen) by
Newfloridian
Advantages: A rich score, articulate singers and athletic dancers. As close to a 'live' experience without being there
Disadvantages: Makes you long to be 'live'
...Orpheus in the Underworld (1858), La Belle Hélène (1864), La Vie Parisienne (1866), La Grande-Duchesse de Gerolstein (1867), La Perichole (1868) and The Tales of Hoffmann. Offenbach was still working on this latter piece at the time of his death (October 5th 1880) and it was subsequently completed by others for performance purposes.
It was to provide a curtain raiser for a performance of La Perichole in London that Arthur Sullivan and W.S. Gilbert ...
...Greek mythology before he started La Belle Hélène. This new operetta was to be his take on the story of the capture of Helene, Queen of Sparta and the onset of the Trojan Wars but mixed within this was a send up of the Third Republic and France of the day. The moral attitudes of French society were lax, financial and religious scandals abounded and tourism and sea bathing were becoming popular. The librettists were Henri Meilhec and Ludovic Halévy. ...
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05.08.2006
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