Charpentier: Médée
Soloists
Les Arts Florissants
William Christie
After several early baroque operas which didn't really leave much impression today's choice had a much greater impact. By 1693 opera had moved away from the world of Monteverdi and Cavalli toward the world of Rameau and Handel. This is a particularly fine example of a French Baroque opera. It has all of the ingredients you could expect, including both lyrical and dramatic arias, important parts for the chorus and some impressive orchestral writing. Some of the music does really pack a punch and, for me at least, this is where we start to feel that composers are writing operas that need no special pleading or interventionist editing. The music and drama really do speak for themselves. Oddly there were several passages in the opera which reminded me of Purcell. I know we think of him of as a master of English music (which of course he was) but there is more than a tinge of French influence in his music. It shows that at least by this time in the 17th century opera was beginning to become an international language. More on that tomorrow.
