Pinchgut Opera, based in Sydney and founded in 2002, specializes in Baroque and Classical opera, featuring works such as Semele, The Fairy Queen, Idomeneo, and Orfeo. One of its more obscure repertoire choices is Marc-Antoine Charpentier's 1688 David & Jonathan. It's a work that's rarely performed or recorded, so this fine performance is revelatory. The libretto by François de Paule Bretonneau generally sticks to the story as outlined in the First Book of Samuel, focusing on King Saul's enmity with David, David's friendship ...
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Pinchgut Opera, based in Sydney and founded in 2002, specializes in Baroque and Classical opera, featuring works such as Semele, The Fairy Queen, Idomeneo, and Orfeo. One of its more obscure repertoire choices is Marc-Antoine Charpentier's 1688 David & Jonathan. It's a work that's rarely performed or recorded, so this fine performance is revelatory. The libretto by François de Paule Bretonneau generally sticks to the story as outlined in the First Book of Samuel, focusing on King Saul's enmity with David, David's friendship, (or love), for Saul's son Jonathan, and his grief over the deaths of Jonathan and Saul, but the librettist invents a villainous general, Joabel, whose jealousy triggers the fatal battle. He also adds a reunion between David and Jonathan before the latter's death, and treats their relationship as clearly romantic, which must explain Charpentier's decision to cast Jonathan as a soprano. (On the other hand, the composer may have been motivated by the need for a woman's voice in a...
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