Hercules against the Amazons
This 250 year old opera by Antonio Vivaldi was lost because its many arias and recitatives were scattered all over. When collected, they amounted to about four hours of music, much too long for any audience today. The opera was reconstructed by the conductor Alan Curtis and the director John Pascoe for the music festival in Spoleto, Italy, and, although their reconstruction is admirable, I found the opera boring and rather silly.
The story tells of Hercules attempt to overcome the Amazon women with his Greek army – actually a battle of the sexes. But most of the opera deals with love and love wins out in the end. The music is typical Vivaldi. All I could hear most of the time were his concerti, whether the Four Seasons or others, they just went on and on. The arias are long and repetitive.
The staging is very beautifully done, with real olive trees as scenery and Hercules striding around naked with only a lion skin to his back. The nudity is not offensive and fits the character. The voices are great but there is little acting and I don’t recommend the opera to anyone unless you are really obsessed with music of the Renaissance.
