Achilles in Skyros ACT III - Orchestra of New Spain

Описание: 0:00 ACT III
20. Del terreno
21. Ah, perfido! Ah, spergiuro
22. Tornate sereni begli astri d'amore
23. Numi clementi, se puri
24. Chi può dir re son
25. Con tromba d'or la fama spieghi
26. Or che mio figlio sei
27. Finale. Col vago

ACTS I & II:    • Achilles in Skyros ACTS I & II - Orchestra...  

According to the Homeric poem, Achilles was the greatest warrior of the Trojan war, notorious fro his bad temper. His father was Peleus, king of the Myrmidons, his mother Thetis, an immortal nymph , and his teacher Chiron the centaur. Achilles killed the Trojan hero Hector, and Paris killed Achilles by shooting him in the heel, his only vulnerable part.

The plot of this opera is based on post-Homeric tales, updated by the famous Italian dramatist Metastasio, in elegant eighteenth-century verse and high rhetoric. We now find the long florid speeches unrealistic and silted. We are unlikely to identify with the aristocratic and royal characters, who if male are destined for way, of it female, for unwanted, loveless marriages. Since, however, there are hundreds of these operas from the 17th to the early 19th centuries, we are forced to conclude that they fully satisfied the expectations of their sophisticated audiences, who considered poetry of the libretti the highest form of literature and the ancient characters as models of. morality, patriotism, and self-sacrifice.

On top of these apparent obstacles to our enjoyment is the delivery, not by speech but by song and recitative. Clearly, the whole purpose of telling a tale in sung, artificially rhythmical language, is to raise it to the highest level of abstraction from normal experience, to an ideal world of eternal ideas and beauty. Therefore, we much renounce our 21st century expectations of realistic behavior and surrender to the flow of the music and subconscious effects of the great myths.

There may be some way to connect the people in this particular opera to something in our culture, like West Side Story, and to out apparently insatiable craving for love-at-first-sight soaps. Achilles is a rash, athletic prodigy from an important family. Deidamia is a spoiled rich girl, always carefully chaperoned and just reaching the age for arranged marriage. Think of Achilles as young enough to pass. with he proper disguise, as a tall, slightly boyish girl. Tis provides the only way that he can stay near Deidamia. There have been so many comic transvestite movies and TV shows that this should not be too much of a stretch. The characters who stand in their way are stereotypes. First, there is the stolid father who thinks that the girlish crush between his daughter and her friend is funny. Then comes the puzzled bridegroom who has no personal interest in marrying Deidamia and is turned on by the brush-off from the sexy Pyrrha (Achilles in drag). The worst threat to the love birds is Ulysses, famous from his devious brilliance and ruthlessness, who is going to expose the lovers' scheme in order to further his own military ambitions. So how will the gods solve this dilemma? Achilles is duty-bound to join the army sent to attack Tray, Deidamia is duty-bound to accept her fathers choice of husband and we, the audience, already know that the trojan war is going to end badly. We must now wait and see how Metastasio surprises us with his star-crossed pair and how Courelle engages our emotions with his ravishing music.

CAST
Achilles - Carla López-Speziale
Deidamia, Princess of Skyros - Jocelyn Hansen
Licomede, Kind of Skyros - Joshua Hughes
Ulisse, General - Kayla Nanto
Nearco, Achilles' Teacher - Leslie Hochman
Teagene, Prince of Chalcis - Chabely Rendon
Arcade, Confidant of Ulisse - Anna Fredericka Popova
Narrators - Nicole Berastequi, Steven Young
Dancers - Fernando Hernandez, Jaime Puente, Hailey Von Schlehenried
Chorus - Heidi Klein, Katrina Kledas, Sarah, Daniels, Brianna Clancey, Alex Bumpas, Tim Johnson, William Derusha, Charlie Moore

ORCHESTRA
VIOLIN 1 & 2
James Andrewes
Thane Issac
Jeffrey Smith

Rhea Edelman
Yuko Tatsumi

VIOLA
Miguel Cantu

CELLO
Eric Smith

FLUTE
Janelle West
Lee Lattimore

OBOE
Matthew Hudgens
Maryanna Bryant

HORN
Nancy Jarrett
Stuart Womble

CONTRABASS
Andrew Williams

TIMPANI
Jacob Adam Garcia

HARPSICHORD
Brad Bennight