FULL SEMELE (Eccles) New York 1993 Cassandra Hoffman, Daryl Henriksen, Natalie Arduino, James Blackly
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: Semele
- Composer: Eccles John
- Libretto: William Congreve Libretto Text, Libretto Index
- Venue & Opera Company: Merkin Concert Hall, Abraham Goodman House, New York City
- Recorded: January 12, 1993
- Type: Staged Opera Live
- Singers: Cassandra Hoffman, Daryl Henriksen, Natalie Arduino, James Blackly, Indira Mahajan, Jonathan Kline, Brent Porter, Samuel Lloyd Kinsey, Joseph Webster, Gerard Edery, Karen Lubeck, Valerie Valano, Nerine Leone, DAvid Shapero, Cindy Kinzelberg
- Conductor: Dongsok Chin
- Orchestra: Mannes Baroque Players
- Stage Director: Paul C. Echols
- Stage Designer: Michael Ganio
- Costume Designer: Michael Ganio
- Lighting Designer: Eric Cornwell
Information about the Recording
- Published by: The Mannes Camerata
- TV Director: Johannes Holub
- Date Published: 2024
- Format: Streaming
- Quality Video: 3 Audio:3
- Subtitles: nosubs
- Video Recording from: YouTube FULL VIDEO
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
Semele is an opera by John Eccles, written in about 1706 with a libretto by William Congreve drawing on the Semele myth from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. It forms part of the English opera tradition of Blow’s Venus and Adonis, but was never staged due to changes in popular taste at the time. Indeed, the opera remained unperformed until the mid twentieth century, eclipsed by George Frideric Handel’s 1744 secular oratorio of the same name, based on the same libretto.
Synopsis
Act I
Semele is about to be married against her will to Prince Athamus, though she loves the god Jupiter. Jupiter’s thunder interrupts the ceremony, and Athamus finds himself left alone with Ino, Semele’s sister. Ino is professing her love for Athamus when Cadmus enters to announce that Semele has been carried off to heaven by Jupiter in the form of an eagle.
Act 2
Juno, jealous wife of Jupiter, has instructed her handmaid Iris to find out where Semele and her husband are. Iris says that they are in his palace, guarded by dragons. Within the palace, Jupiter and Semele sing of their mutual love but Semele is not satisfied, realising that as a mortal her happiness must be transitory. Jupiter attempts to divert her from such thoughts, and to provide entertainment arranges for Ino to visit her.
Act 3
Juno, accompanied by Iris, visit the god Somnus and asks to borrow his magic rod to charm the dragons. She gets Somnus to put Ino to sleep so that she can take her place. Disguised as Ino, Juno falsely tells Semele that she has the opportunity to become immortal if only she can persuade Jupiter to appear before her as he truly is, in his natural godly state. When Semele and Jupiter are alone, Semele first secures from him a vow that he will do whatever she asks, and then she demands that he appear as a god. Jupiter warns her of her folly but is unable to persuade her to change her mind. He carries out the vow, appearing with his most gentle fire and lightning, but is unable to save her from being destroyed. In the final scene, Ino marries Athamus and Apollo prophesies that Bacchus, the unborn child of Jupiter and Semele, will rise from Semele’s ashes.
Quoted from Wikipedia