An axiom that proves particularly true in the performing arts is that no matter how hard we try, nothing can ever be as great as it was the first time around. There is just something about premieres—the anxiety, the atmosphere, the surprise—which is almost impossible to replicate.
But
the students, faculty and community members behind the Harvard Early
Music Society’s (HEMS) production of Claudio Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo,
going up November 18–22, are trying to do just that.
The
opera is being music directed by Morton B. Knafel Professor of Music
Thomas Kelly, whose popular core class “First Nights: Five Performance
Premieres” focuses heavily on Orfeo’s debut. It will be presented in
the somewhat unusual setting of the Horner Room in Agassiz Theatre, an
environment which producers hope will be similar to that of Orfeo’s
premiere in 1607.
“We know that the
piece was first given in a room in a palace for a very elite audience,”
Kelly says. “So we’ve decided to present it in a room, in a palace, for
a very elite audience. And the room is called the Horner Room. And the
palace is called Agassiz Theatre. And the very elite audience is this
entire community.”
Speech Through Music
L'Orfeo
is recognized by most as the first great opera, a genre so unknown at
its conception that Monteverdi originally chose to describe it as a
play where the actors sung their lines, a concept Kelly refers to as
“speech through music.”
The opera is
based on the ancient Greek legend of Orpheus, the greatest singer in
the world and a demigod deeply in love with his wife, Euridice.
Shortly
after the pair’s wedding, however, Euridice is bitten by a snake and
dies. Orpheus, convinced this is unfair, travels to the underworld and
uses his musical talents to persuade Hades to let him lead Euridice
back to the world of the living.
Hades
agrees on one condition: Orpheus must not look back at Euridice as they
leave. Though all goes well for a while, Orpheus eventually doubts that
Euridice is indeed behind him. He turns around to reassure himself and
loses her.
Kelly frames the opera as a
metaphor for many decisions humans are forced to make, especially when
choosing between logic and intuition. “The dilemma Orpheus faces is a
dilemma we all face every day—the brain says one thing, the heart says
another,” he says. “So do you trust your brain or do you trust your
heart? It’s central to the human condition.”
Monteverdi’s
emulation of the Greeks was not confined to the opera’s plot; indeed,
the inspiration for having actors sing their lines came from the
tradition of Greek drama. And though Kelly describes the theme of the
legend and the opera as “don’t look back,” Harvard’s production is, in
some sense, a revival of a revival, an attempt to replicate a
performance of 1607 which was itself duplicating a tradition of
thousands of years prior.
Sackbuts, Cornetti and Regals
In
choosing to make the production as historically accurate as possible,
the Early Music Society and others involved in the opera have faced
their share of difficulties. Finding the early instruments Monteverdi
used and musicians to play them has been one of the greatest.
“You’ll
see instruments you’ve never seen before,” says Michael V. Givey ’06,
who is one of the co-producers of the opera and the president of HEMS.
Indeed, the show will make use not only of traditional strings with a
slightly altered sound, but also the cornetto, a curved finger-hold
trumpet which sounds similar to the voice; the regal, an Italian organ;
and the sackbut, a precursor of the trombone.
HEMS
has borrowed many of these instruments from private collections or
other institutions, including Oberlin College and the New England
Conservatory of Music.
Producers and
directors have also had to face the challenges of working in a space
like the Horner Room and finding singers who could remain true to the
light, lyrical quality of the opera.
For
the latter, they chose to open auditions not only to Harvard students
and graduate students, but also to members of the Boston and Cambridge
community. Although many parts will be played by Harvard affiliates,
Orfeo, a role which Kelly describes as “stupendously beautiful,
stupendously difficult” will be portrayed by singer Aaron Sheehan.
The
decision to use a translation of the opera into English rather than
singing it in the original Italian also presented a quandary. In the
end, Givey says, Kelly and stage director Zoe VanderWolk ’05 decided
that communication between the cast and the audience was most
important, and therefore decided to perform it in English.
Funding
was also an issue, as the decision to present Orfeo in a much smaller
venue than usual means that producers cannot count on ticket sales for
the majority of their revenue. HEMS has managed to make this portion up
through donations from supporters, balances from previous shows and the
work of volunteers.
Despite
their challenges, participants remain optimistic and enthusiastic about
their production and the opera itself, eagerly looking forward to their
own first night.
“How do you describe
great art? It’s exciting. It’s envigorating,” says Givey when asked
about his favorite aspects of L’Orfeo. “There’s nothing better. I love
this opera.”
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