Book Two - 19th November 2018

[Jim]

The bit you shared reminded me that I've had a CD of extracts of the opera for a number of years, had almost forgotten about it. My recording is from Jane Glover's edition, performed by Glimmerglass Opera; obtained it as part of a subscription to BBC Music some years back.
As you say, it needs staging to be fully appreciated.

[Roger]

Jim and Kalliope, the thing about La Calisto is that Jove wins the nymph's love in disguise as Diana, as you know. In every production I have done or been involved with, the same singer (a mezzo-soprano) sings both Diana and Jove-as-Diana. It thus becomes a huge role (since the opera also includes her romance with Endymion), but it makes the comedy quite subtle and the emotion very touching.

There is a recording by René Jacobs's available on DVD, however, with excerpts on YouTube, in which the bass-baritone Jove sings Jove-as-Diana himself—in falsetto, and flouncing around in a skirt. This pushes the comedy over into farce, and mutes the pathos of Calisto's confusion when Diana inexplicably rejects her, but it does even out the casting.

I don't know what solution Jane Glover adopted at Glimmerglass or what Ivor Bolton and David Alden will do in Madrid, but to me it makes a world of difference. R.

[Kalliope]

I saw today the following documentary on Michelangelo. It was very good.


https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7055784/... the work shown were two Ovidian, which I will post in the corresponding books.

One is his Bacchus - in marble.

Michelangelo. 1496. Bargello, Florence.



There is something striking, and slightly disturbing, in his expression.

[Kalliope]

Yesterday I went to the Balthus exhibition in the Thyssen museum, and in the shop section dedicated to the exhibition they had a couple of books by Balthus's bother, Pierre Klossovski, since they both exchanged many ideas and some notions from Pierre's novels would resurface in Balthus's work.

One was this one Le bain de Diane.

Inspired in Ovid, of course.

I may read it later on and will add it to the Library in the Group.

[Kalliope]

Last Monday I went to see Cavalli's opera "La Calisto".

It was wonderful. Much better than expected. The production - the costumes, the characterisation etc... were extraordinary. Very creative and very funny.