The Last Premiere

This Saturday marked the fourth and final opera premiere of the Glimmerglass 2007 season, Monteverdi's L'Orfeo. The opera is a co-production between Glimmerglass and Opera North (Leeds, England). In 2008, Opera Norway will also produce the opera.

L'Orfeo is one of the most historically significant operas ever written. Although composers had experimented with combinations of music and drama before, the opera is generally considered the "first" opera and is certainly the earliest performed with any real regularity.

During a production seminar last Wednesday, conductor Antony Walker explained the evolution of opera before Monteverdi. "Fifty years before this was written, there were many documented, large-scale celebratory pieces that sometimes had a narrative going through them. A little analogy might be the musical theatre of today, which had a lot of spoken dialogue and then some songs as well. Then we had people asking, 'What did the Greeks used to do? What did they do with their dramas and how can we possibly hearken back to the Hellenic times and recreate what they might have done?' So, they came up with this sung recitation, which was accompanied by continuo-- it wasn't so much a song, but a narration."

As historically notable as the music is, director Christopher Alden strives to bring modernity to the production. "This version of the opera is very much about Orpheus as an artist. We're talking about art and what it means to be an artist. To me what's fascinating about this piece is Eurydice is like Orfeo's art, his muse, his creativity. It was so long before she gave in to him. That's when he created all this amazing music, out of his longing for her. And then, as soon as he gets it, she dies--it's taken away from him. When you want it, when you are really hungry for it, that's when you are creative, but as soon as you get that thing and are paid for it and are successful on some level, it's gone."

The opera is the centerpiece of the season, the one that General and Artistic Director Michael MacLeod built the season around to celebrate the 400th anniversary of its premiere. "I think it's extraordinarily lucky that in 2007, the 400th anniversary of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, that we have the chance to present it at Glimmerglass for the first time. In fact, that was the germ of the idea of having an entire season based on the Orpheus myth," MacLeod said.

Opera Extras in CCAL seminars

While the staff at Glimmerglass Opera is hard at work preparing each opera production, they are also whetting the appetites of operaphiles and neophytes alike with a variety of related events. The company holds seminars during the year about the operas, but for those who enroll in Cooperstown's Center for Continuing Adult Learning (CCAL) Opera at Glimmerglass course, the company offers a seminar on each of the four operas of the season. Participants hear talks about producing the operas and excerpts from the operas sung by members of the Young American Artists Program.

Last week, the group met John Conklin, set designer of the Gluck, and Kelley Rourke, titles guru and lyricist of the Offenbach. Conklin took them on an in-depth journey through the process of building a set for an opera, showing set models, costume designs, and his own sketches used to plan the set.

He discussed the initial conception of the show's design. "Always the question is 'is the Gluck an 18th-century opera?' Yes, it was written in the 18th century, but it's being seen with modern sensibilities, so in that sense one doesn't want to make it a historical, archeological object. We want to make it vivid and human, but still reflecting some of the ideas of the 18th-century world."

Rourke treated the audience to her take on translating and writing English lyrics for operas. The Offenbach, originally written in French, has undergone many translations, but Rourke created an original one for Glimmerglass to use this season.

"I'm careful about the word 'translate.' It is step one—the translation is one part, but it's not a direct translation of what is going on in the libretto." Rourke tries to stay as true to the libretto as possible, but sometimes the language is convoluted and wouldn't make sense in English. As an example, Rourke cited a line in the Gluck where Amour literally asks Orpheus in French, 'What do we owe you?' "I don't think it's actually true to the intent of the librettist," Rourke said.

After hearing excerpts from the opera, participants go to a production seminar, which is also attended by the staff and guild of the company. Here, the creative team for each of the operas meet and discuss their choices in producing the opera. Friday's rather lively discussion about Offenbach featured Kelley Rourke, Director Eric Einhorn, Set Designer Allen Moyer, Costume Designer Gabriel Berry, Lighting Designer Shawn K. Kaufman, and surprise guest Production Manager Matthew Kirby-Smith. Discussion topics ranged from Offenbach's off-the-wall plot, to the concept behind each set location (Olympus, Earth, and the Underworld), to creating crazy hell costumes.

Berry explained, "Luckily, I got the 'Orpheus goes to France.’ I mean, going in your underwear is fun, going to the underworld is better, going to France in your underwear to the underworld—that's best of all. I had a few mandates from the company and from [director] Eric, and one of them is that we're in the 19th century. I'm like 'great', because that's corsets and hoop skirts." Berry's designs are definitely not strait-laced Victorian, though, warned her audience to be prepared for "cleavage and the occasional studded leather garment."

"What I wanted to talk about with this particular team is pushing the envelope, because I think that that is the quintessential point of this show, whether it is scenery or lighting or costumes,” said Kirby-Smith, who pointed out the sheer size of such a spectacular and grandiose production, especially "the automated moving instruments that we have, the sheer number of costumes, and the thousands and thousands of pounds of scenery that somehow goes up and down."

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Gluck Discussion Panel

What does it take to put on an opera? What sort of research is done? Over 150 people were asking themselves the same questions today at noon, when the first of 4 panel discussions were held in Alice Busch Opera Theater (ABOT). At the helm were seven members of the production team for Berlioz’ edition of Gluck's Orphée et Eurydice, all integral components of the planning, rehearsal, and performance stages of a performance. The panel included, from left to right, Kelley Rourke (Dramaturgy/Projected Titles), who moderated the discussion, Lillian Groag (Director), Nicola Bowie (Choreographer), Julian Wachner (Conductor), Robert Wierzel (Lighting), Constance Hoffman (Costumes), and John Conklin(Set).

In planning the production, Director Lillian Groag focused on not just the story of a man, but the story of how a community deals with death—in this case, a community in the 18th century. An understanding of Gluck’s cultural context helps explain the alterations he made from the original myth, mainly, that Eurydice is resurrected a second time. As a German Lutheran, Gluck's belief in redemption would have been a central tenet of his faith. Resurrection and rebirth is a central theme in Christian literature, from the raising of Lazarus to the resurrection of Jesus. Gluck was also living at the crux of the Enlightenment, a time when human invention and intelligence were held to the highest standard. “To send the audience home depressed would be a highly illogical decision,” quipped Groag; rationality had to prevail, as was the style of the time.

Conductor Julian Wachner said that cultural surroundings played a significant role in the music as well; Gluck was working right in between the Baroque and Classical periods. Wachner called the piece “a watershed event [in that] musical expression could be connected to everyday life”. This opera unfolds in real time, meaning a character does not have a six minute aria to portray one emotion. They only have as much time as we do—sometimes mere seconds—to show the world what they are feeling. Wachner also touched on which aspects of the show were altered by composer Hector Berlioz. Keeping the libretto in French, Berlioz reworked the piece less than one might presume. He did, however, create an orchestration that substituted modern instruments for those no long longer in existence, with careful attention to creating a more Baroque sound. He also transposed the role of Orpheus, which already existed in versions for castrato and haut-contre, to a mezzo-soprano. This, of course, required a few key changes. Wachner confessed that he, along with the whole production team, has been “swimming in the love of the music”.

Choreographer Nicola Bowie brings movement in all forms into both earth and the underworld. Although Bowie worked closely with all members of the cast, it was Trey Gillen and Katarzyna Skarpetowska who were a large part of her focus in the rehearsal process. Trained at The Julliard School, both dancers play the roles of instigators, guides, storytellers, as well as a constant reminder of death and its presence in our lives. Their transformation scene by scene, as well as that of the chorus, is overwhelmingly impressive and like a good lighting plot or set design, instantly pulls the audience into the moment.

Since this production just started rehearsing in the theatre this week (their rehearsal space up until now has been off campus), many elements of production including sets, costumes, and lighting were only recently added. This panel discussion allowed the designers to shed some light on their individual and collective inspiration. John Conklin, who designed the set, rooted his inspiration in the spirit of the 18th century, and, like Groag, wanted to connect the audience to the urgency and universality of the story. Conklin tapped into the work of two period artists, Francisco Goya (1746- 1828) and Giovanni Piranesi (1720-1778). In these artists’ depictions, Rome’s fall had left behind countless grandiose ruins and fallen architecture. The people of the time used what they could, by taking pieces and using them as building materials, or squatting in the rooms of crumbling palaces. Conklin used this theme of “melancholy in lost grandeur of a classical world” and allowed his set a pastoral element while still remaining aware of the outside world and its influences.

Costume designer Constance Hoffman was also drawn to Goya; her goal was to make sure the person wearing the costume was the focus and not the other way around. Simple, breathable clothes made from modest materials like linen and cotton allow the singers to portray different characters over the course of the opera.

Light designer Robert Wierzel focused on creating a singular mood for each scene. The lights give the audience an instant hint to the scene they are about to walk, writhe, or dance into. Wierzel also added that one of the advantages of working at the Glimmerglass Opera is having the time to experiment in the space through the whole summer. And considering that Gluck opens in two weeks, it is incredible to think that the performers and designers already have a chance to put the piece together on stage.