(This was originally for the Independent's Observations section the other day.)
The new season at the Royal Opera House opens
with a collaborative effort unusual enough to seem a tad startling. Orphée et
Eurydice, by Christoph Willibald Gluck, is an 18th-century classic of
the first order, mingling singing, dance and orchestral interludes in the
service of a timeless Greek myth. To realise it, the theatre is opening its
doors to the Israeli-born, London-based choreographer and composer Hofesh
Shechter and his company of 22 dancers; and also to the conductor Sir John
Eliot Gardiner and his orchestra and chorus, the English Baroque Soloists and
Monteverdi Choir. The celebrated Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Flórez sings the
title role, the British soprano Lucy Crowe is his Eurydice, and the production is
co-directed by John Fulljames and Shechter.
It is Shechter’s first venture into opera –
and he is on board because he simply fell in love with the Gluck. “I was
offered work in opera before and refused,” he says. “I have to feel I’m
connecting with the music when I make dance for it and when I heard this I felt
there was something about the simplicity of it that seemed to lend itself to
dance. Often operatic music can feel very busy, or doesn’t leave enough space for
the imagination. Something about Orphée, though, is pure, spacious and open. I
really love it and I was very curious about how my style of movement would fit
with it and how it would bring other qualities and feelings into my material.”
This collaboration is a new departure for
John Fulljames, too: “I have no choreographic training, and this is Hofesh’s first
experience in opera, so I think there’s a good complementarity there,” he
remarks. “One of the most important things about Hofesh is that he’s not only a
choreographer; he’s a musician. He’s unique amongst choreographers at his level
in that he not only makes his own choreography, but usually he also writes his
own music – so it’s been fascinating for him to work with existing music and to
respond to it in detail.”
When Orphée’s beloved Eurydice dies, the
demigod travels beyond the grave to try to bring her back, aided by the power
of his music. The story, suggests Fulljames, is at heart all about coming to
terms with the loss of a loved one.
“I love this opera’s directness,” he says.
“It’s extraordinarily undecorated. So much opera risks being sentimental or
melodramatic – but this is the opposite. Gluck strips back everything in order
to get to an emotional truth: he’s interested in exploring grief and the
relationship of love to loss. You really understand love when you understand
loss. I think the piece is an extraordinary study of the grieving process,
going through stages of anger and betrayal and eventually reaching a point of
acceptance about loss. Its consequence is coming to a much greater
understanding of love.”
With all this to relish, the joy of hearing Flórez sing the aria immortalised by the great English contralto Kathleen Ferrier in translation as “I have lost my Eurydice” can only be a bonus.
With all this to relish, the joy of hearing Flórez sing the aria immortalised by the great English contralto Kathleen Ferrier in translation as “I have lost my Eurydice” can only be a bonus.
