Although Flavio, premiered in 1723, deals with motives of love, honour, and duty, the tone is domestic, with less emphasisthan in many other operas on political or military changes of fortune. Though hardly a comedy, it does seem to move to amore detached view of human interactions. The action is set in Lombardy during the dark ages: the stratagem of sendingunwanted individuals away to govern Britain – striking overtones of honour and punishment – would no doubt have beentaken humorously by the London audiences.The music embraces a wide variety of emotions, with duets, one for each pair of lovers, framing the beginning and end ofthe opera. In Act III, as one lover pleads the case of his rival, the ambiguity of the situation causes a splendid ironicalfrisson in the plot, reflected in the music. Handel revived Flavio once, in 1732, its modest success in its day reflecting thetastes of contemporary audiences rather than its musical or dramatic quality. It is far better appreciated today as one of the composer’s most inventive operas, full of the varied imagination, superb arias, and excellent melody we expect fromHandel’s best operas.Founded in 1994 by its music director, Christian Curnyn, the Early Opera Company is now firmly established as one ofBritain’s leading early music ensembles. The Company’s debut production of Handel’s Serse led to an invitation toperform at the BOC Covent Garden Festival, and this was followed by three performances of Ariodante. In 1998 theCompany made its debut at St John’s, Smith Square with a concert performance of Charpentier’s Actéon and Purcell’sDido and Aeneas and was invited to stage Handel’s Orlando at the Queen Elizabeth Hall as part of the South Bank EarlyMusic Festival.Since then the Company has performed at many leading festivals. Highlights have included productions of Dido andAeneas at the Vic Early Music Festival in Spain, Handel’s Agrippina at St John’s, and Handel’s Partenope at the BuxtonFestival and the Snape Proms at Aldeburgh.Future plans include performances of Così fan tutte at New York City Opera and Medée at Chicago Opera Theater.For Chandos, Christian Curnyn and the Early Opera Company have recorded Handel’s Partenope and Semele (winner ofthe 2009 Stanley Sadie Handel Recording Prize) and Eccles’s The Judgment of Paris.
- Wykonawca Early Opera Company
- Data premiery 2010-08-01
- Nośnik CD
