Armida
- TV Movie
- 2006
- 50m
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Interesting experiment
There was much media hilarity over the fact that this opera, broadcast by Channel 4 on Christmas Day, managed to pull an audience of only 300000, half of whom, in a postprandial stupor probably thought they were watching the Eastenders pantomime. Looked at another way: if this opera were staged at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden it would have to run to full houses every night for six months in order to reach a similar-sized audience. So let us, instead, regard it as a triumph for Channel 4 and for Judith Weir in getting such a wide viewing for her new opera.
Armida is supposed to be based on Torquato Tasso's Gerusalemme liberata This poem has been much used as a source for operatic libretti but the source material here does not go much further than naming the characters: there is Rinaldo, a soldier and Armida, a television war correspondent. Is Judith Weir telling us that a TV journalist is the modern day equivalent of a witch? We see Armida in her studio, we see Rinaldo being disenchanted in the desert. Then we have some other soldiers grumbling, rather amusingly about fighting a desert war in waterproof boots designed for the Falklands. Then Rinaldo and Armida drive off together, the end. The cast are attractive and sing well. I particularly liked the soprano Donna Bateman who sings the part of the weather-girl although I did not understand what relevance she had to the plot.
Judith Weir's music consists of pretty but unmemorable tunes set to a pleasant tinkly accompaniment. The singing was not operatic in style, it was more sotto voce. The singers were apparently miming but I would not have known if I had not read the pre-broadcast publicity. I suppose it's easier to mime quiet singing because you are not putting so much effort into it. I have often wondered what opera would have been like if it had been invented after the microphone rather than 300 years before. I had tended towards the conclusion that it would sound a bit like a Stephen Sondheim musical but Judith Weir provides an alternative answer. Armida is a worthy attempt to bring opera into the 21st century, a failure but an interesting one.
Armida is supposed to be based on Torquato Tasso's Gerusalemme liberata This poem has been much used as a source for operatic libretti but the source material here does not go much further than naming the characters: there is Rinaldo, a soldier and Armida, a television war correspondent. Is Judith Weir telling us that a TV journalist is the modern day equivalent of a witch? We see Armida in her studio, we see Rinaldo being disenchanted in the desert. Then we have some other soldiers grumbling, rather amusingly about fighting a desert war in waterproof boots designed for the Falklands. Then Rinaldo and Armida drive off together, the end. The cast are attractive and sing well. I particularly liked the soprano Donna Bateman who sings the part of the weather-girl although I did not understand what relevance she had to the plot.
Judith Weir's music consists of pretty but unmemorable tunes set to a pleasant tinkly accompaniment. The singing was not operatic in style, it was more sotto voce. The singers were apparently miming but I would not have known if I had not read the pre-broadcast publicity. I suppose it's easier to mime quiet singing because you are not putting so much effort into it. I have often wondered what opera would have been like if it had been invented after the microphone rather than 300 years before. I had tended towards the conclusion that it would sound a bit like a Stephen Sondheim musical but Judith Weir provides an alternative answer. Armida is a worthy attempt to bring opera into the 21st century, a failure but an interesting one.
helpful•10
- Gyran
- Mar 17, 2006
Details
Box office
- Gross worldwide
- $26,806
- Runtime50 minutes
- Color
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