Francesca Caccini - La Liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola di Alcina
Royal Irish Academy of Music, Lir Academy of Dramatic Art, 2019
David Adams, Hélène Montague, Clodagh Kinsella, Dylan Rooney, Aebh Kelly, Breffni Fitzpatrick, Berus Komarschela, Vladimir Sima, Megan O'Neill, Caroline Behan, Seamus Brady, James Danaswarmy, Ava Dodd, Amie Dyer, Hailey-Rose Lynch
The Abbey Theatre, Peacock Stage, Dublin - 29 March 2019
Even if it's for being the first female opera composer, Francesca Caccini is historically an important figure in the world of music, but her opera La Liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola di Alcina suggests that she should also be considered as one of the important early influences on the development of opera. Perhaps that lack of recognition is down to the fact that this 1625 opera is the only one of her works that survives, but that just means it should surely be given more attention and fortunately the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin and the Lir Academy of Dramatic Art are good at bringing such works back to life in their Opera Shorts programme.
Composed almost 400 years ago, already the familiar structure and elements of 'modern' opera are in place in La Liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola di Alcina (The Liberation of Ruggiero from Alcina's Island), and it even shows signs of a style that might even have been more influential in the longer run than either Monteverdi or Cavalli. With a prelude taking place between the gods, with ballet inserts, choruses and merveilleux spectacles, already the basic elements that feature in the French tragédie lyriques of Lully and Rameau and the late baroque operas of Handel are all in place.
The subject of Alcina and Ariosto's Orlando Furioso too is one that is revisited repeatedly in some of the classic works of early and late baroque opera; in Lully's Armide, Handel's Orlando and Alcina, Haydn's Orlando Paladino, and Caccini's arrangements can already be seen to be closer to those works not just in terms of the development of musical theatre and operatic conventions, but in the adherence to mood and variety of situations, blending the worlds of gods and humans, love and sorcery into a richly textured work.
Ideal material then for the students of RIAM and the Lir in Dublin to explore; challenging works too, the Opera Shorts programmes featuring new and contemporary works as well as early music. Directed by Hélène Montague, the production doesn't attempt anything too clever or contemporary with La Liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola di Alcina, but instead they let the purity of the work speak for itself and find other ways to highlight the beauty of the work's composition.
The set design by Molly O'Cathain is itself fresh and bright, an attractive modern vision of an island that has its own seductive quality rather than a witch's island of horrors. It's more like an elegant landscaped garden, with potted plants and modern white climbing poles, but there is evidently a dark side to it, the poles forming a kind of cage (housing the captive musicians!), the greenery we later discover just the tops of heads of all the poor unfortunates that Alcina has lured to their doom after first having her evil way with them.
Alcina's latest victim, under her charm without even realising that he is her love slave, is Ruggiero. Melissa, a more benevolent sorceress, has arrived on the island and disguising herself as a man she sets out to rescue Ruggiero from the clutches of Alcina and reunite him with his fiancée Bradamante. Moved by the pleas of the captives that Alcina has turned into plants, Melissa also attempts to free Alcina's other victims, but she first has to face down Alcina's monsters and the wrath of the queen of the island Alcina herself.
Although the basic storyline is simple, there are a wide variety of dramatic situations that Caccini sets beautifully to music. The RIAM/Lir production excels in brings both together and finding the appropriate tone, which sometimes means blending the seductive with the sinister, the tragic with a comic element. The attractive/sinister contrasts are also highlighted in the black and white designs of the costumes, but most evidently in the music, the slow and hesitant rhythms of the plucked strings gradually becoming more enveloping and enchanting, casting Alcina's spell over the audience.
The same principle is applied to the voices and the casting perfectly reflects Caccini's intentions. Dylan Rooney's Ruggiero is a light lyrical baritone, his character unable to break the spell that has him held in thrall to Clodagh Kinsella's commanding Alcina. Aebh Kelly's bright soaring performance as Melissa is perfect as someone who cuts through the spell, a spell that holds Ruggiero and audience alike in an even tighter grasp following the appearance of Megan O'Neill's spellbinding Siren. There's a melancholic beauty also to Berus Komarschela's Astolfo, one of the chorus of Enchanted Plants, comically/tragically consigned to a wheelbarrow.
The addition of the Siren, the appearance of Alcina's Monsters and a huge set-piece conclusion of liberation of the Freed Knights and Lovers from Alcina and her Attendants, also provides great opportunities for spectacle, with a storm added for additional merveilleux effects. Under the musical direction of David Adams Caccini's La Liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola di Alcina still sounds fresh 400 years after it was first performed and, as staged by Hélène Montague with the performances of the students of RIAM and the Lir, it proves still to be an utterly beguiling work.
Links: RIAM, The Lir, Abbey Theatre
