Giulio Cesare

Handel Giulio Cesare opera to libretto by Nicola Francesco Haym. Directed 2006 by David McVicar at Glyndebourne. Stars singers Sarah Connolly, Alexander Ashworth, Patricia Bardon, Angelika Kirchschlager, Danielle de Niese, Rachid Ben Abdeslam, Christophe Dumaux, Christopher Maltman, and Nadja Zwiener.  Actors: Sirena Tocco, Irene Hardy, Hatim Kamel, Trevor Goldstein, Benjamin Timothy, and Ted Sikström. William Christie conducts the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (Leader Alison Bury) and the Glyndebourne Chorus (Chorus Master Bernard McDonald). Continuo: harpsichord, Laurence Cummings and Benoìt Hartoin; cello, Jonathan Cohen;  viola da gamba, Richard Tunnicliffe;  bass, Chi-chi Nwanoku; theorbo, Elizabeth Kenny. Set design by Robert Jones; costumes by Brigitte Reiffenstuel; lighting by Paule Constable; movement direction by Andrew George; fight direction by Nicholas Hall; directed for TV by Robin Lough. Extensive valuable extras. Released 2009, this is a massive 5 hour show on 2 discs with 5.0 PCM sound. Grade: A+

Someone defined opera as  a musical play about sex and violence. Giulio Cesare satisfies this definition. But how can you get a contemporary audience to relate to Handel with his seemingly monotonous music played on old instruments, 3 and 1/2 hour plodding libretto, and multiple parts written to be sung by castrated men? The answer is by jazzing it up with entertaining elements such as sexy singers, women singers acting as men, updated scenery and props, snazzy costumes, and dancing. If you do this with ideas that are logical, in proportion, and in good taste, you will be deemed "entertaining." Then opera lovers can be induced to focus on the wide variety of musical ideas Handel develops with his limited resources. (Do your jazzing up poorly, and you will labeled "Eurotrash.")

In this Glyndebourne show directed by David McVicar, all the entertaining features were done about as well as possible. The DVD version was almost universally praised to the point of suspecting payola. The only serious criticism of the production was by some (female) purists who deemed Danielle de Niese's voice to be less burnished than that of famous recording stars of the past. These critics ignore that those better voices belonged to women who looked like grandmothers standing in line to buy a pound of butter. Danielle is a different kind of singer. To look for comparisons you have to come up with examples like Jayne Mansfield and Marilyn Monroe in Gentlement Prefer Blondes --- and we are talking about a lady who debuted at the Met at age 19! So at this writing, there is probably no better way to be introduced to the opera music of Handel than to watch this disc!