We’re off to Denmark for an opera “double bill” on this week’s Sunday Opera (9/21 3:00 p.m.) with two rather diverse works: Henry Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas” and Kurt Weill’s “The Seven Deadly Sins.”
Purcell’s Dido (Danielle De Niese) vowed never to remarry after the death of her husband, but the Trojan Aeneas (Johann Kristinsson) has arrived in Carthage, and she lost her heart.Dido’s sister, Belinda (Julie Roset), encourages the match because she realizes that uniting the two kingdoms would benefit both.
However, an evil Sorceress (Jasmin White) and her two hench-witches (Katherine Koestar & Sara Swietlick) plot Dido’s downfall and send an elf (Lasse Flaaten Husmer), who pretends to be Mercury, to remind Aeneas that he is duty bound to the gods to continue his voyage to Italy.
Dido is inconsolable, and after Aeneas’ departure, she throws herself on the burning pyre of Aeneas’ belongings and stabs herself with his sword.
Geoffrey Patterson conducts the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and the Malmo Opera Chorus.
Kurt Weill’s “The Seven Deadly Sins” couldn’t be more different and is considered a “ballet chante” and a cast of six.The main character is Anna (Danielle De Niese), well actually, there’s Anna 1 and Anna 2, and they may be two conflicting parts of Anna: the saint and the sinner.Librettist Bertolt Brecht has also divided the singing as Anna 1 sings and Anna 2 dances.
The story here features the Annas leaving their home near the banks of the Mississippi in Louisiana to find their fortune and earn enough money to build a new house for their family.“The Family” is a group of four men who act as a Greek chorus of sorts, commenting on the Annas travels and experiences while asking the musical question: “Will our Anna pull herself together?”
Seven years pass, and each year brings with it a new sin to live through in a new local.Year one is Sloth in an unnamed locale.This is followed by Pride in Memphis, Wrath is Los Angeles, Gluttony in Philadelphia, Lust in Boston, Greed in Tennessee (later in Baltimore), and finally, Envy in San Francisco.
In the end, Anna does raise enough money to build her family the house and does return home, but she is still conflicted, and the piece ends on a somber note.
The Family includes Kristoffer Appel, Benjamin Nellemose, Mads Skovgaard Anderson, and Per Hoyer.Geoffrey Paterson conducts once again.
After the operas we have two more works of Purcell and Weill.
We’ll begin with a reconstruction of Purcell’s “King Arthur” which somewhat ignores the Arthurian legend in favor of a magical spectacle that includes some of the Saxon gods, ritual sacrifices, and Merlin flying in his chariot (which, of course, will be missing from the radio program).With connections to Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” it’s an interesting amalgam of ideas and includes various orchestral works between the acts.This is the final product toured by Paul McCreesh and the Gabrielli Consort to great acclaim.
We’ll close our time together with Kurt Weill’s Symphony No. 2 from 1934.We’ll hear the work titled Fantasie symphonique performed from the Critical Edition which was edited by James Holmes.HK Gruber leads the Swedish Chamber Orchestra in this recording.
