Program:
- Claudio Monteverdi
L'Orfeo
from
- Tenor Anthony Rolfe Johnson (Orfeo), soprano Julianne Baird (Euridice) (see below for full list of cast/soloists); The Monteverdi Choir; The English Baroque Soloists; His Majesties Sagbutts & Cornetts; John Eliot Gardiner (conductor)
()
- Archiv Produktion 419 250-2
- Henry Purcell
Dido and Aeneas
from
- Mezzo-soprano Janet Baker (Dido) (see below for full list of cast); St. Anthony Singers; English Chamber Orchestra; Anthony Lewis (conductor)
()
- Decca 289 466 387-2
- Henry Purcell
“Thy hand, Belinda / When I am laid in earth” from Dido and Aeneas
from
- Mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson; Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra; Nicholas McGegan (conductor)
()
- HMU 907471.72
- Christoph Willibald Gluck
Selections of arias from various operas by Gluck (see below, under #3)
from
- Mezzo-soprano Janet Baker; English Chamber Orchestra; Raymond Leppard (conductor)
()
- Decca 476 261-7
For tonight’s program, I decided to journey from the Renaissance to the Baroque to the Early Classical periods! I also decided to do some honoring of Columbia Core’s Music Humanities by playing two operas discussed in the class: Renaissance/Early Baroque Claudio Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo and Baroque Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas! We then ended our program with opera selections by the Early Classical composer Christoph Willibald Gluck – including two selections from Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, which had us, in a way, coming full circle, back to the story of Orpheus – and featuring mezzo-soprano Janet Baker. What a perfect evening it was of being snowed in and listening to some amazing Renaissance, Baroque and Early Classical opera music!
- Monterverdi's L'Orfeo: tenor Anthony Rolfe Johnson (Orfeo), soprano Julianne Baird (Euridice), Lynne Dawson (La Musica), Anne Sofie von Otter (Messaggiera), Nancy Argenta (Ninfa), Mary Nichols (Speranza), John Tomlinson (Caronte), Diana Montague (Proserpina), Willard White (Plutone), Mark Tucker (Eco), Nigel Robson (Apollo), Mark Tucker (Shepherd I), Nigel Robson (Shepherd II), Michael Chance (Shepherd III), Simon Birchall (Shepherd IV), Howard Milner (Spirit I), Nicolas Robertson (Spirit II), John Tomlinson (Spirit III).
- Purcell's Dido and Aeneas: mezzo-soprano Janet Baker (Dido), soprano Patricia Clark (Belinda), bass-baritone Raimund Herincx (Aeneas), Eileen Poulter (Second Woman), Monica Sinclair (Sorceress), Rhianon James (First Witch), Catherine Wilson (Second Witch), Dorothy Dorow (Spirit), John Mitchinson (First Sailor)
- Gluck (in order that we listened to them): Orfeo ed Euridice – “Che puro ciel” and “Che faro senza Euridice”; Armide – “Le perfide Renaud me fuit”; Iphigénie en Aulide – “Vous essayez en vain – Par la crainte”; Iphigénie en Tauride – “Non, cet affreux devoir”; Iphigénie en Aulide – “Adieu, conservez dans votre âme”; Alceste – “Divinités du Styx”
Department:
