Idomeneo - The Met Style

2017 Met Production of Mozart's Idomeneo

I feel as though I am in home school but with all of the bonuses of never being tested, and having no other thing like a job or caring for a family on my plate.

So there is a fabulous feeling of learning, taking notes, going back to them, and it never mattering. I didn’t think I would make it all the way through Idoemneo, given it is a little known work and 3 ½ hours of Mozart is a lot of his style.

Still, so that I don’t give up on opera, as I did a few weeks ago, and just not turn it on at all, I have given myself permission to just do the first 15 or 20 minutes of it.

Alright, really. It is not like my friends are seeing me walk out in the middle of a performance.

Or that I have paid $400 for that front seat ticket, which I should have, and am now walking out on it.

A little pre-reading about the opera always traps me with some phrase or other. This time it was Michael Polenzani in the title role and supporting players Alice Coote, Nadiene Sierra and Eliza van den Heever as Elettra. Whenever I hear the name Micael Polenzani there is a small hush that follows his name, so I was looking forward to hearing a few notes from him.

... going mad while singing Mozart -- the role of a century ...

And the part of Elettra? This is the role anyone with a black heart, willing to dig into treachery and revenge would relish. kEliza van den Heever’s last scene where there are (imaginary) scorpions biting her and she is going mad was such a great performance, I heard myself laughing and laughing. The final flinching of her body a number of times after she hit the ground was magical. And how many times had she practised bringing that great flatten-though-the-hips costume with her to the ground. I have only seen dresses like that in London museums.

What else really worked for me was the entr’acte interviews, one of them with two violinist in the orchestra and then we went up to The Dome (the door decorated with dominos was quite the visual effect) where the technicians demonstrated how to use the cameras and how they are told when to come in for a close-up, etc. That is all bonus that a person wouldn’t be getting if they were at the Met in person.

I don’t know who else saw the show. I am just starting to be interested in the names of the producers and directors, in this case Jean Pierre-Ponnelle’s who executed a blend of the grandeur of ancient Greek myth with metaphysical ideas. Both Alice Foote and Nadine Sierra said that Mozart captured this in the music and they can’t help but sing it with emotion because the emotion leaps out at them from the notes on the page.

When Eric Owens began to announce the show, I gave myself one homework task: learn to pronounce Idomeneo. I was reminded of how my children used to use big words that they had only read, and they would get the pronunciation wrong. Now I am in the same boat and trying hard to get it right.

Tonight is Wagner’s Lohengren. I am not going to miss the fun of that.

Arta