JULIUS CAESAR (Battistelli) Rome 2021 Bayley Madore Hubbard Donose

JULIUS CAESAR by Giorgio Battistelli
Teatro Costanzi, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Italy
November 20, 2021

CAST

Clive Bayley, Julius Caesar
Ruxandra Donose, Calpurnia
Michael J. Scott, Casca
Julian Hubbard, Cassius
Christopher Lemmings, Cinna
Timothy Robinson, Clitus, Marullus
Hugo Hymas, Lucius
Christopher Gillett, Soothsayer
Dominic Sedgwick, Antony
Elliot Madore, Brutus
Allen Boxer, Flavius, Messala, Metellus
Scott Wilde, Dardanus, Decius
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Conductor: Daniele Gatti
Orchestra del Teatro dell’Opera di Roma
Coro del Teatro dell’Opera di Roma
Chorus Master: Roberto Gabbiani
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Stage Director: Robert Carsen
Stage Designer: Radu Boruzescu
Costume Designer: Luis F Carvalho
Lighting Designer: Robert Carsen, Peter van Praet
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Julius Caesar is an opera (original title: “Tragedy in Music”) in two acts by Giorgio Battistelli (music) with a libretto by Ian Burton based on William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar . The premiere took place on November 20, 2021, at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma .

The opera requires a large orchestra of approximately 70 musicians with 22 violins, 8 violas, 6 cellos, many woodwind instruments, and percussion including glockenspiel and marimba . It is placed not only in the pit, but also in two lateral areas.

As befits a tragedy, dark colors dominate. Apart from Caesar’s wife Calpurnia, only men appear. The vocal parts are predominantly declamatory, like a modern version of the early Baroque recitar cantando . Only in the finale is there an arioso by Octavius. Battistelli used various techniques, including sprechgesang, speech rhythms, and onomatopoeic effects.

The choir is used as a threatening, anonymous crowd. There are some allusions to the polyphony of earlier eras, for example in the eight-part sections.
Battistelli depicted the psychological tensions and emotions of the characters in great detail in the timbres. The musical language can only be described as modern in a moderate way. According to the composer, it was inspired by Karlheinz Stockhausen and Luciano Berio , but also by Richard Strauss and Richard Wagner . The sound that characterizes this work is created by repetitive patterns in the strings with violent outbursts from the wind instruments above them. The diverse percussion also plays a part. The score creates a restless mood, which the reviewer from Bachtrack occasionally found monotonous. [ 8 ] Within the sound bands and clusters, isolated consonant sounds emerge, which appear to the listener like “colored, almost pictorial spots”.

Plot
First Act
Julius Caesar enters Rome triumphantly after his victory in the civil war. The tribunes Marullus and Flavius can only with difficulty control the people, who are simultaneously celebrating the Lupercalia . The people go to the Senate. There, a fortune teller warns Caesar to beware of the Ides of March. After the others have left, senators Cassius and Brutus discuss their worries that Caesar, so popular with the people, might have himself proclaimed king. During the next assembly, senator Casca tells them that Antony publicly offered Caesar a crown three times, which Caesar rejected each time amid the cheers of the people. Caesar then suffered a brief fainting spell in the middle of the Forum and asked afterward if he had made a mistake. Everyone answered no. At that moment, they would have forgiven him even if he had murdered their mothers.

To convince Brutus of the necessity of Caesar’s death, he visits him with a group of other conspirators: Trebonius , Decius , Casca , Cinna , and Metellus . They decide to take action and thereby prove that they are true Romans. Their first step is to ensure that Caesar arrives at the next Senate meeting.

Caesar’s wife, Calpurnia, dreams of her husband’s murder for the third time. When he is about to leave for the Senate, she tries to persuade him to stay home this time. But Caesar refuses to show any weakness. Even the news of an ill omen—the heart of a sacrificed animal could not be found—fails to change his mind. Only when Calpurnia advises him to use her fear as an excuse does he give in. Then Decius arrives to pick him up. He claims that Calpurnia misinterpreted her dream. It actually symbolizes Caesar’s triumph. Moreover, the Senate has decided to offer him the crown that very day. When Brutus and the other senators arrive and flatter him, Caesar joins them.

Outside the Senate, Caesar encounters the soothsayer again, who points out that the Ides of March are not yet over. The senators surround him. In anticipation of his coronation, Caesar boasts of himself as a fixed star among all the other shining stars. The conspirators then reach for their daggers and strike. To Caesar’s astonishment, his friend Brutus is among the murderers. After his death, the senators proclaim Rome’s freedom and the end of tyranny. Everyone symbolically dips their hands in Caesar’s blood. Shortly afterwards, Antony arrives. He extends his hand to everyone and asks that Caesar’s body be brought to the Forum for a public tribute. Despite Cassius’s reservations, the senators cannot refuse him this request. Brutus, however, wants to give the first speech to convince the people of the necessity of Caesar’s death. Antony fears that the murder could trigger another civil war.

Second Act
In his speech, Brutus convinces the people that the death of his best friend Caesar was necessary because he loved Rome even more than he loved them. Only in this way could he save Roman freedom from a tyrant. The people cheer him enthusiastically and want to escort him to Caesar’s house. However, Brutus insists on traveling this route alone. After he has left, Antony delivers his speech. He skillfully casts doubt on the conspirators’ motivations, reminding them that Caesar had refused the crown offered to him three times. He then reads Caesar’s will, which promises 70 drachmas to every Roman citizen. The enraged people swear revenge on the murderers.

Civil war has broken out again. Cassius and Brutus are expecting a battle against the armies of Antony and his ally Octavius . Brutus shows Metellus a letter informing them that the enemy is marching towards Philippi . Metellus has also received such a letter. Against Cassius’ advice, Brutus decides to attack the enemy there. After the consultation, Brutus asks his servant Lucius for his cloak, in whose pocket he finds a book he has been looking for for a long time. Lucius has bad premonitions. Brutus, too, cannot sleep. As he tries to read by candlelight, the ghost of Caesar appears to him and promises that he will see him again before Philippi. Cassius tells Metellus that he is pinning all his hopes on this one battle. He agrees with Brutus that in the event of defeat, they will kill themselves so as not to be led back to Rome as prisoners in triumph.

The battle goes badly for Brutus and Cassius. Brutus launched his attack too early, and Cassius’s soldiers attempt to escape while surrounded by Antony’s army. Cassius asks one of his soldiers to hold the dagger he intends to plunge into. The soldier turns out to be Caesar’s ghost. A short time later, Brutus finds his friend’s corpse. He wants to rally his remaining men for a final stand. However, they desert. When he asks Cinna to hold the dagger for his suicide, she refuses. Decius also refuses this service. The last soldier asked turns out to be Caesar’s ghost, just as with Cassius, who can use it to complete his revenge. At Brutus’s corpse, Antony describes him as the only one of the conspirators who acted out of selfless motives. Octavius takes over Caesar’s ambitions and will rule as the first Roman emperor.

Quoted from Wikipedia