Handel’s operas were frequently written for some
of the finest singers available. ‘Faramondo’ was produced in 1738
at the King’s Theatre in the Haymarket after the collapse of the
rival Opera of the Nobility. This means that, unlike some of his
Covent Garden operas which were produced whilst his rivals performed
at the King’s Theatre, ‘Faramondo’ was written for a superb cast
which included the bass Antonio Montagnana sang the role of King
Gustavo and the castrato Carestini (making his London debut) in
the title role. Writing for such fine singers means that Handel
takes for granted the ability to sing virtuoso passages. In fact,
singers would have expected to be able to display their talents
in the requisite number of arias. These arias were crafted (or
fine tuned) once the cast was known, so that they take advantage
of the best points of a singer’s voice. King Gustavo’s arias takes
good advantage of Montagnana’s amazing range and all the singers
would have expected the divisions to lie in the best part of their
voices. Signora Antonia Merighi was a contralto profondo who sang
eight or nine roles for Handel, leaving us with a legacy of parts
with coloratura in what can be a difficult part of the average
female voice. And this is one of the eternal problems of casting
Handel operas. Finding singers who are not only up to the demands
of the part, but for whom the part lies in a good part of their
voice. With a complete absence of castrati, a remarkable lack
of low contralti and the presence of counter tenors, a voice type
Handel used sparingly in the operas, it is not surprising that
casting the operas nowadays is difficult. But a singer must be
able to do more than just sing the part. Handel’s arias are not
just vocal concerti, they illuminate aspects of the character
and a singer must be able to use the virtuoso passages to help
create character. So when listening to any performance, we are
constantly monitoring how the singers match against the ‘ideal’
performance. Whereas in Puccini’s ‘La Boheme’ we may have heard
what comes close to an ideal performance, in a Handel opera we
may never have the chance, not even on record. This recording
of Handel’s ‘Faramondo’ is currently the only one available, so
we must be grateful to Vox (who originally issued the recording
in the late 1990s) and to Brilliant. Whether the cast is ideal
is not entirely the question, it is more the way that they cope
that will matter.
Handel wrote his next opera, ‘Serse’ for the
same cast and ‘Faramondo’ can be regarded as the first of his
final group of operas. Handel’s final three operas (‘Serse’, ‘Imeneo’
and ‘Deidamia’) are all notable for a rather lighter feel. Whilst
none of them is strictly comic, one can feel that Handel was taking
a rather sardonic view of the whole opera seria genre. After all
this was the period when he was writing some of his greatest drama
in oratorio, for example ‘Saul’ was written the same year as ‘Serse’.
The plot of ‘Faramondo’ is a little convoluted,
turning on a series of relationships both loving and warlike.
Faramondo is at war with Gustavo and has already killed one of
Gustavo’s sons. Gustavo’s surviving son, Adolfo, is in love with
Faramondo’s sister, Clotilde. Gustavo’s daughter, Rosimonda, is
loved by and in love with Faramondo. Gustavo and his children
have sworn to avenge Gustavo’s son killed by Faramondo. Both Gustavo
and Gernando (initially an ally of Faramondo’s) are in love with
Clotilde. The drama plays out the character’s conflicts between
love and duty. Handel takes the drama totally seriously. In fact
the opera seems in many ways to hark back to earlier days when
he produced such serious works as ‘Radamisto’. But, ‘Faramondo’
is linked to the later operas by its shortness (the libretto was
heavily cut before Handel set it) and a lighter feeling in many
of the numbers. Much of the love music is particularly fine.
In the Montagnana role of Gustavo, Peter Castaldi
is reasonably efficient, with a tendency to smudge his passage
work and some rather approximate high notes. Castaldi does not
seem to have the capacity to give us a measure of the full range
of Montagnana’s voice and I think some of the lower notes are
transposed up. The title role is sung by D’Anna Fortunato. Here
her voice does not seem a good fit with Carestini’s; she does
not seem to find the tessitura of the role very comfortable. The
top can sound a little squeezed and the low notes effortful. She
uses rather more vibrato than I found comfortable.
As Clothilde, Julianne Baird has an affecting
voice, with a delightful trill. But her control in the fioriture
is not always ideal and she sometimes sings under the note. Drew
Minter as Gernando is singing the role written for Signora Antonia
Merighi’s low contralto. He over uses his chest voice for the
low notes and rather snatches at the top notes. Though apt to
be untidy, he is a stylish singer.
Jennifer Lane, singing Rosimonda, has a very
dark voice, I felt she could convincingly sung Gernando. Not the
most technically assured singer on the disc, she is nevertheless
a stylish one. As Adolfo, Mary Elen Callahan is more than adequate.
The small role of Childerico, sung by Lorie Gratis, was written
for William Savage. He had been a boy treble, singing in Oberto
in ‘Alcina’ and Handel would write the title role of ‘Imeneo’
for him when his voice had settled in a light bass. Here he has
a part written for him to sing in the soprano register (either
still as a treble, or more likely as a counter-tenor).
The opera is performed with some cuts, which
is strange given that the total running time comes in at under
3 hours. And even stranger, Acts II and III are prefixed by movements
from the Concerto Grosso Opus 6. Handel was in the habit of using
Concerto Grossi in the oratorios, but not in the operas. And both
of the acts have their own sinfonias anyway.
This is by no means a perfect recording. But
the Brewer Chamber Orchestra play stylishly and Rudolph Palmer’s
tempi are crisp and well chosen. Despite their technical limitations,
the cast believe in the opera and use Handel’s wonderful vocal
lines to create character, making us believe in the opera as baroque
music-drama; just as it should be.
What is needed is a modern recording with a star
cast. Rather than re-recording ‘Ariodante’, ‘Alcina’ or ‘Rinaldo’
could not someone give is a new ‘Faramondo.’ Until then, we must
be grateful to this recording which does its duty pretty well.
Robert Hugill
Brewer Chamber Orchestra/Rudolph
Palmer