October 2006
Newsletter No. 6
Box Office now open! The Idomeneo box office is now open. Please encourage everyone you know to buy tickets. Just a reminder of the performance dates : Wednesday 6 December 7.30 pm A Reserve $95 Tickets are on sale at the box office at the City Recital Hall, Angel Place, ph. (02) 8256 2222 or online at www.cityrecitalhall.com |
Dear Friends,
Things are really hotting up now and we’ve lots of interesting things to tell you.
Design Presentation
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For us, one of the most exciting events in the creation of a new production is the design presentation. A few weeks ago Lindy Hume and designers Dan Potra and Hamish Peters showed us how they will mount Idomeneo and what the sets and costumes will be like. We should say that we believe in giving our artistic people almost complete freedom. We could theoretically veto an idea but otherwise we do not interfere or fiddle with what they are proposing. We choose people with talent and let them express their ideas. At the presentation, one of Lindy’s opening remarks was that a small budget does not preclude big ideas. And there will be big ideas in the show. |
The design will take advantage of the City Recital Hall’s structure to bring the audience into Idomeneo’s world, as seen by Mozart. All of us were excited by what we saw. The set and costumes are being worked on now and we are sure that you will share our excitement on opening night or whenever you see Idomeneo.
Pinchgut at Government House |
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The Historic Houses trust presents a wonderful series of concerts in the ballroom of Government House. Last month it was our turn to perform some pieces from Idomeneo. Fiona Campbell, Penelope Mills, Nicole Thomson and Paul McMahon sang, and Neal Peres Da Costa accompanied them on the fortepiano. Arias and ensemble pieces were interspersed with telling the story of the opera, and Neal talked about the fortepiano and played a solo on this very interesting instrument (see article further down). Our performers did wonderfully, and the audience really enjoyed it and are looking forward to coming and seeing the whole thing. |
House Music concerts always sell out quickly. Info is at http://www.hht.net.au/whats_on/events/music/house_music. Next year’s program has not been announced but you can register through the website to receive information.
What’s Next?
We usually announce the following year’s production in the program. There has however been a leak. In the current Limelight magazine it is reported that Pinchgut’s 2007 production will be a work from an 18th Century Italian composer. We thought of hiring a firm of detectives to see where this leak came from but decided against it. We can confirm that the report is correct. We can also tell you that Antony Walker will not be conducting our 2007 production as he will be conducting Handel’s Alcina in Opera Australia’s Melbourne season. In fact, there will not be a conductor at all. More hints will follow…
Would you like us to send the newsletter to a friend? If so drop us a line or give us a call.
New York City Opera’s Semele
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You might remember from the last newsletter that Antony Walker has been working on Handel’s Semele for New York City Opera. They chose to set it in a similiar period to our production (the 60s) - but in their case specifically Marilyn Monroe and JFK. Their season has just finished and a number of Pinchgut supporters went to see the show, and loved it. Antony enjoyed working on Semele again very much and reported that Sanford Sylvan (Cadmus & Somnus) loved our CD of the work. The Financial Times said “Conducted with sensitive propulsion by Antony Walker, the production united an ensemble of virtuosic singing-actors.” Our instrumental parts went over to New York to assist the players too. Antony is having a bit of a Handel time at the moment - his next production before coming out here for Idomeneo is Handel’s Orlando which he is doing at Washington Concert Opera, and a wonderful cast including countertenor Bejun Mehta and soprano Nathalie Paulin. And Deborah Fox - whom you will remember from The Fairy Queen and Orfeo - is playing theorbo in the continuo section! |
A Chat with Martene
Martene Grimson will sing Ilia, the Trojan princess who loves the son of one of her country’s conquerors. Liz Nielsen recently talked to Martene on the phone from her home in London. Martene mentioned that her teacher at the Sydney Conservatorium once asked her about her dream role. She immediately answered ‘Ilia’ and is now very happy that she will be returning to sing it in her first professional role back in Australia. Martene grew up in Sydney and, after graduating from the Con, she went to the UK to study at the Royal College of Music in London. After that she went to the National Opera Studio with support from Royal Opera House and two other scholarships. She is now an Associate Artist with Classical Opera Company, a very interesting group set up in 1997 by Ian Page to perform the works of Mozart and his contemporaries in authentic classical style. |
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When we established Pinchgut, one of our aims was to bring overseas based artists back and give audiences a chance to see and hear them. So many musicians need to go to Europe or North America to get regular work. We are proud of them but it is a pity that we are not able to see their progress. So Martene’s return will be all the more important and exciting to Australian music lovers.
Berlin Drama
You probably read of the cancellation of a production of Idomeneo by Berlin’s Deutsche Oper because of security fears. The production included a scene in which the severed heads of Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha and Poseidon were displayed. This image does not come from Mozart or the libretto but as Shirley Apthorp points out it is not entirely irrelevant.
“Idomeneo is a product of the Age of Enlightenment, a piece which shows the triumph of humanism over rigid religious order. The decapitation scene at the end of the Neuenfel’s production is nothing more than a radical image to illustrate this point.” She goes on “the excitement generated by a hypothetical extremist threat to the Berlin staging has lead to a collective loss of perspective. The Neuenfels Idomeneo is just one of many recent attempts to make something clever and beautiful of Mozart's under-appreciated masterpiece. Neuenfels comes closer than most to the core of the piece. His production should be seen and discussed not banned or lionized.”
Who said that opera is an old fashioned art form, irrelevant to today’s problems? Read Shirley’s comments: www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=email_en&refer=muse&sid=aXxHFc11CD4U
If you would like a chance to see one of the stars of Idomeneo before our shows, Fiona Campbell is singing (with Pinchgut favourites Sara Macliver, Paul McMahon and David Greco) in Mozart’s C minor Mass for the Australian Chamber Orchestra in the coming week. Details at www.aco.com.au.
The Fortepiano
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When you come to the Idomeneo performances you will see an instrument that looks like a harpsichord as the continuo keyboard in the orchestra. This instrument is a fortepiano. The name fortepiano means literally loud soft, and was called this because it was capable of making these changes in volume.
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As well as inventing and developing the action Cristofori made substantial changes to the construction of the instrument as well. The fortepiano has a much more robust frame, which meant that the strings could be wound more tightly. This made a bigger sound, and the hammers struck two strings simultaneously, again increasing the strength of sound.
The hammers on the fortepiano were made of leather and are much lighter than a modern piano’s hammers, and the strings are thin like harpsichord strings. Initially the range of the fortepiano was about four octaves, which gradually increased. Mozart wrote most of his fortepiano music for an instrument with about five octaves, and by the end of Beethoven’s life the instrument had about six octaves (modern day pianos usually have a range of seven and a bit octaves).
Fortepianos also have pedals similar to modern pianos – a ‘soft’ pedal which moves the hammer so that it only strikes one string, thus producing a softer sound. They are always pedals though – sometimes they are hand stops (like an organ) or knee levers. Neal’s fortepiano (which we are using) has knee levers. Fortepianos can sound quite different depending on what part of the instrument you are playing. This led composers to write differently according to the register. Modern pianos, by comparison, sound very even from top to bottom. It has a more delicate sound than the modern piano as well.
The use of the fortepiano in Mozart’s time is the subject of another article in a later newsletter (Mozart was enamoured with the Viennese fortepiano from about 1770 onwards). By the end of the 1700s the instrument underwent extensive development evolving into the modern piano. The fortepiano ceased to be made, and was not revived until the 1970s or thereabouts (following the 20th century revival of the harpsichord). The reintroduction of the fortepiano has allowed us to hear 18th and 19th century music as it was written and as was intended by the composer.
Special Hotel package for subscribers Pinchgut Opera is delighted to have the support of Swissôtel. Not only will our out-of-town artists be staying at the hotel located in the heart of the city but Pinchgut Opera newsletter subscribers can enjoy the luxury of this beautiful hotel at a special rate. Swissôtel is located atop Myer on Market Street, boasting easy access to some of the best shopping, dining and entertainment Sydney has to offer. Pinchgut newsletter subscribers can take advantage of the special weekend accommodation package at Swissôtel throughout the year. The weekend package is just $219* per night in a Swiss Deluxe room with full buffet breakfast for two, plus complimentary parking. This package is also available from 5 December to the morning of 11 December for out of town subscribers attending Idomeneo. For reservations please call 1800 334 888 and mention “Opera Weekend Package” or email to res.sydney@swissotel.com.
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Following the last newsletter, in which we mentioned Bernard Shaw’s opera criticism, Ken Healey from NIDA has written to point out that Shaw almost certainly never saw Idomeneo. He died in 1950 and the first production in the UK was at Glyndebourne in 1951, though it was done in the US in 1947.
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Shaw was an advocate of spelling reform (as well as vegetarianism and Fabian socialism) and he wrote all his works using Pitman’s shorthand. He left a will directing the setting up of a trust to research and then promote spelling reform, based on a phonetic alphabet of about 40 letters. The estate was not of much value when Shaw died so no one took much interest in the will. But by 1956 royalties from My Fair Lady, based on Pygmalion, started to flow and the will became relevant. Shaw’s next of kin went to court to strike down the trust. The decision in Re Shaw, still one of the leading cases on charitable trusts, was that the will was too vague and the spelling reform trust was therefore not valid. If you are really interested, the case is reported at [1957] 1 All ER 745. |
What has all this got to do with Mozart and Idomeneo? Well, nothing really. But there is one connection: remember we said that Shaw wrote his plays in Pitman’s shorthand? The inventor was Sir Isaac Pitman and his great great grandson is a member of Cantillation and will sing in Idomeneo. We promise to try to avoid wandering off the subject in future.
More thoughts on Mozart from some of the very talented people who have worked and are working with us.
I’ve always felt a very special connection with Mozart - I was born on the date that Mozart died, and my sister was born on the date that he was born. Some of my most powerful and wonderful performances have been with the works of Mozart. I find the simplicity, the beauty and the truth in what Mozart does to be always astonishing, and the craft of his writing for voices and instruments to be awe inspiring.
Antony Walker
I always come back to the opening of the Mozart Requiem and my utter fascination at how simple the musical elements are and how profound the effect. A simple um-cha in the strings over which the sombre sounding basset horns play simple rising and falling scales. In the hands of another composer, the effect could be trivial but in the pen of Mozart, the effect is overwhelming and makes us aware of our mortality. If he had only written the first eight bars of the Requiem with the realisation of fate as the brass and drums enter, we would still play this work and consider it a masterpiece. Mozart in D minor – wow! Three favourite works – D minor Piano Concert, Don Giovanni and the Requiem. [Where’s Idomeneo?! - Ed.]
Brett Weymark
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City of Sydney Pinchgut Opera wants you to know about the very important assistance we receive from the City of Sydney. Not only do they support us financially by giving us our most significant government grant but last year seven Councillors’ came to our production of Dardanus. We feel we are Sydney’s opera company taking this extraordinary music to the City and the rest of Australia. (We were interested to discover that last year nearly 10% of our audience came from outside Metropolitan Sydney). With the assistance of the City’s Cultural Affairs and Community officers we were able to invite forty people from disadvantaged areas of the City to the general rehearsal. We will do the same for Idomeneo and we are very please to be part of this community initiative. |
And that’s it from us. Don’t forget to buy your tickets as they are selling fast. Best wishes from Ken, Alison, Liz, Anna and Andrew.
"If I knew of one single note that I could change in this quartetto I would do so immediately. But nothing in the entire opera pleases me as much as this quartet.” W A Mozart, about Andrò ramingo e solo
Pinchgut Opera Ltd ABN 67 095 974 191
www.pinchgutopera.com.au
email : liz@pinchgutopera.com.au
PO Box 239 Westgate NSW 2048
ph. (02) 9518 1082 fax (02) 9572 8881
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