Antonio
de Literes (1673-1747) is perhaps the most distinctive voice of
the Spanish Baroque; and although this impressive zarzuela is
only attributed to him, all internal evidence points to it being
his work. Written like Acis y Galatea and Los Elementos
to a text by José de Cañizares, Júpiter
y Semele had the first of several productions on May 9, 1718
at Madrid’s Teatro de la Cruz, predating Handel’s English opera
Semele (never, pace Cristina Diego Pacheco’s otherwise
impeccable notes, thought of as an oratorio) by twenty-six years.
Júpiter
y Semele may not rival what is after all one of Handel’s supreme
masterpieces, but then it does not aim at the same mark. Where
Handel, greatest of Enlightenment music-dramatists, presents an
operatic range of situations and raw emotions triggered by love
and desire, Literes is more distanced, fashioning a sophisticated
mix of high allegory and low comedy. Spoken dialogue alternates
with sung numbers, ranging from operatic recits and da capo
arias down to comedy dúos al español in the
fast-moving manner of the baroque zarzuela. The score’s variety
is a delight, not least for the energised choral epigrams which
frame several of the scenes.
Character
and psychology are not Literes’ prime concerns; but Semele herself
- unusually - is a speaking role, and in this atmospheric and
urgent live concert recording (made this February in Literes’
native Mallorca) Virginia Ardid is able to bring an actor’s subtlety
and power to her scenes with Jupiter. This makes for some unusual
effects - notably at the catastrophe, where Semele is incinerated
by embracing (as she herself has demanded) the God in his true
fiery form. The alternation of sung and spoken strophes for the
two protagonists makes for gripping drama. Rarely can even Marta
Almajano have given such a towering performance as she does here,
and Jupiter’s poised lament after Semele’s death is, fittingly,
the musical highpoint of the performance.
The
villains of the piece, Cupid and Juno, are played with spiteful
verve if less vocal distinction by Lola Casariego and Soledad
Cardoso, contrasted in timbre and working well in tandem. The
supporting singers are generally excellent, though the minor subplot
of King Cadmus’s war with Ydaspes suffers from the latter’s limitation
as a speaking actor. Eduardo López Banzo and Al Ayre Español
have always played Spanish baroque as if to the manner born, but
there’s an unbuttoned urgency here which makes this their most
rewarding zarzuela performance yet.
It’s
tricked out with instrumental additions from contemporary sources,
and suitable helpings of dialogue. There are good notes as well
as José Cañizares’ elegant Spanish original text,
usefully translated into French and German as well as ... though
I’m not sure English is quite the right word for Mark Owen’s rendition,
which makes very little sense and contains a host of howlers.
It’s time he upgraded his translation software or monitored the
results more carefully. The whole is most attractively packaged
by Harmonia Mundi, and altogether Júpiter y Semele
is easily the most vivid recording to date of any baroque zarzuela.
Christopher
Webber
Jupiter - Marta Almajano;
Virginia Ardid - Semele; Cupido - Lola Casariego; Juno - Soledad Cardoso;
Enarreta - Marina Pardo; Jordi Ricart - Cadmo, Sátiro; Jose Hernández
- Ydaspes