Death in Venice - Britten

[motodraconis]

All photos taken from the Eno flickr site.


An opportunity, courtesy of crazycrone's spare ticket, to see this opera close up. This left me with a spare balcony ticket which I passed on to Nadia. In the event, Crazycrone had managed to nobble 2 spare box tickets, so we were all able to view from the box. Something I much appreciated, not least because there was a fair bit of crazed and strangulated facial acting going on from the lead character, and being able to see (as well as hear) this aspect really helped draw you into the story.



Which, if I'm honest, started off rather boringly for me, with an endless monologue from the lead character. This was the scene setting, which made sense later and tied back with themes that made you go "Oh! Now I get it!" but for me, the first major group scene was where it took off, with the appearance of Tim Mead playing the "Voice of Apollo."



Mead's glorious and arresting countertenor voice jerked me out of my stuffy-air induced snoozing into wide awake thrill. I have never heard countertenor sung before and I just wish there could have been more of Mead! This is definitely something I want to locate to listen to at home. And with the arrival of Tadzio, the opera started to kick off...



Tadzio had no singing role, but instead, performed ballet...





This combo of bold and dramatic sets, beautiful dancing, often in silhouette, caught me up...



The story itself, had moments of me chuckling scornfully, as the main character dissolved into ridiculousness over his obsession for Tadzio, but as the opera wore on, so the level of creepiness increased. The subject matter was disturbing, with an older man stalking and following the young boy through the streets of Venice and becoming ever more fixated on him.



What did disappoint me, was the complete lack of any female voice roles. The only main female character was the mother of Tadzio, chosen entirely for looking elegant and beautiful, she neither sang, nor spoke, nor even had a name beyond "the Lady of the Pearls." This opera could not even come close to the Bechdel test! I'd have preferred less monologue from the main character and more vocal variety, but I suppose that's Britten for you, and the main subject matter was (after all) male on male desire with the females little more than incidental ciphers.

Creepy, stalkery, and quite beautifully presented...