Cherubini’s Medea, in the 1909 Italian version being used by the COC, got there by a fairly circuitous route. Euripides 5th century BCE tragedy and Seneca’s 1st century CE play inspired a French verse version of 1635 by Thomas Corneille which was turned into an opera by Marc-Antoine Charpentier in 1693. In 1797 a version with music by Cherubini to a libretto by François-Benoît Hoffman; retaining much of Corneille’s version as spoken dialogue, premiered in Paris. In 1909, for the Italian premiere at La Scala an Italian translation with added recitatives was used and that became, more or less, the standard version for its rare 20th century revivals (most notably in the 1950s with Maria Callas) and that’s the version being given at the COC with Sondra Radvanovsky in the title role. Understandable really. It’s hard enough to find a cast that can do justice to the music. To expect them also to be expert at declaiming Alexandrines en français is probably expecting a bit too much.
It’s coming towards the end of the traditional “season” but there’s sill plenty happening. Here’s how I see may shaping up at present (I expect more theatre listings will come in. They tend to be somewhat less notice!):
Here are some upcoming shows for April:
So the COC is set to release details of the 2024/25 season some time in late February so in the interests of tradition I’ll have a go at guessing what we will hear. I have to admit that i have very little confidence in my predictions as the combination of COVID and new management has disrupted old patterns and new ones are not yet very apparent. Even the sacrificial goat liver (see left) isn’t helping much. There have been two complete seasons since COVID. One featured five revivals and the other five “new to Toronto” productions sourced from other houses. COC commissions, new productions or co-pros were noticeably absent. It’s probably also fair to say that there was a distinctly conservative vibe to the productions. I’m not saying horned helmets and crinolines but it’s noticeable that the revivals haven’t included any of the COC’s edgier efforts.
Here’s a look at the start of 2024 in Toronto.
operaramblings 