On Feb. 24, 1607, in the ducal palace of Francesco Gonzaga in Mantua, some 200 members of the Accademia degli Invaghiti gathered to hear what would turn out to be the first Western opera, Claudio Monteverdi’s “L’Orfeo.” The room was small, the stage was smaller still, and many roles were doubled. It wasn’t opera as we know it today so much as a drama, a Greek tragedy, with music. Saturday at Jordan Hall, the Boston Early Music Festival concluded its trilogy of Monteverdi’s surviving operas with a salute to that first performance.
This was essentially the same production that BEMF offered in November 2012, with Gilbert Blin staging, Aaron Sheehan singing Orfeo, and Mireille Asselin doubling as Euridice and La Musica. The 18-piece orchestra, which included the brass players of Dark Horse Consort, was deployed in a divided semicircle on stage; the nine singers were the warp to the orchestra’s woof in creating a visual and aural tapestry.
Blin’s concept was almost too intimate. The singers entered in black coats and hats, and trundling their prop cart, as if they’d just arrived at the palace. And the costumes had a homespun quality; the original performance would have been elaborately costumed. It would also have called for a larger orchestra than the BEMF Chamber Ensemble. Monteverdi may well have had Duke Francesco’s court theater in mind for his work, but it was unavailable for the evening of the premiere.
Still, this performance was alert and energetic and full of ideas. It was a nice touch to show, on a riser behind the orchestra, Euridice being bitten by the snake even as Orfeo sings of his joy. The riser needed to be higher, however, since the shepherds blocked the view from many seats. A masked Carlos Fittante cavorted as a different classical god in each act, but his stylized Baroque dancing didn’t square with the vocal ensemble’s more natural movement. And though as Thanatos he led an arresting succession of dead souls to Caronte’s boat, it seemed a mistake to have Caronte turn away during “Possente spirto,” Orfeo’s great plea to enter Hades. It was also strange to see Euridice spring to life for the final chorus, since the point of this Neoplatonist fable is that true happiness is for the hereafter.
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Perhaps the performers were having too good a time to notice. Sheehan’s Orfeo was earnest and meltingly sung; Asselin was an animated Euridice and playful as La Musica. Shannon Mercer was a devastated Messenger, Nathan Medley a tormented Speranza, Matthew Brook a gruff Caronte, Marco Bussi a stern Plutone, Teresa Wakim a sweetly wheedling Proserpina, and Jason McStoots a sunny, down-to-earth Apollo. BEMF artistic co-directors Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs varied their chitarrone accompaniment to suit the mood, and the Dark Horse Consort players were splendid, in particular Alexandra Opsahl and Kiri Tollaksen in the cornetto ritornello of “Possente spirto.” Doubling as nymphs and shepherds, the singers were full and rich in the choruses and tender in their interactions. Perhaps it was their good hearts and high spirits that brought Euridice back from the dead.
Monteverdi: ‘L’Orfeo’
Presented by the Boston Early Music Festival
At: Jordan Hall, Saturday
Jeffrey Gantz can be reached at jeffreymgantz@gmail.com.