#grimoaldo

[unulf0]

i love the little noises he makes.

[unulf0]

mesto, infermo, il cor sen' giace, mà il suo mal così gli piace, che bramar pace non sa

( notes under cut )

had a clear vision for how the middle bit of "prigioniera hò l'alma in pena" would be animated in my adaptation- grimoaldo with a different outfit, chained up in a void, imaginary rodelinda with her hands all over him. i didn't have a very clear idea of the outfit in question, though, aside from "solid black and with a limb or two outlined in metallic stuff." it was when i was looking at images of columbidae ( which i've come to associate with the guy for various reasons ) that my mental image really solidified- the colours are taken from the new guinea bronzewing.

i felt that the material- the mirror fragments- also ties to the overarching theme of reflections in this sequence. i'd talk more about it, but i feel like it's more easily conveyed visually. but basically: that phantom image of rodelinda i mentioned ultimately being a reflection of grimoaldo's desires, and the self-examination in the whole thing.

the specific placement of the mirror fragments on the sleeve are also an allusion to his historical counterpart's death from a ruptured vein in the arm :p

[unulf0]

met opera rodelinda blobs! ( and grimsquare )

this isn't an original idea, but it's still one i doubt many people would know, unless you inhabited a specific corner of the internet at a specific time.

individual blobs below! feel free to use them for whatever, with credit. :)

[unulf0]

their contrast reminds me of some sort of bird species. somewhere in between ruffs and the birds-of-paradise of genus lophorina, i think.

( and maybe if we think about it a little harder, rodelinda vaguely resembles a tree swallow, with those colours and those sleeves. )

anyways. this is my opera blog.

[unulf0]

confusa si miri, l'infida consorte / ch' in faccia di morte così mi deride

we're back! and i'm taking act 1 scene 11 as an opportunity to play around with bert and shadows and how they sort of blend together. he's basically a ghost, after all.

[unulf0]

assorted opera updates, because whooh boy.

el real midsummer night's dream opened last night. i opened the webpage then and found a singular photo with iestyn davies ( as oberon ) in it. opened it again this morning, and it was no longer there. weeeeird. the photos of liv redpath's ( absolutely gorgeous ) tytania are gone with it. regardless, i eagerly await the proshot.

looked into the karlsruhe handel festival, because i saw a clip from its tolomeo(!!!), though it was from a performance where tolomeo was played by cameron shahbazi rather than jjo ( and honestly, i prefer the former ). tried to navigate the venue's website to see if they had stuff on video ( and they have some seriously interesting handel prods + countertenor competition! ) but it's all in german. which i do not understand. Hilfe!

but i did get my hands on an audio recording of a different run of that tolomeo prod! the only cast member i care about there is giuseppina bridelli.

forgot about the recent akhnaten with john holiday at los angeles opera, which i'd been discussing with a friend off-site. they reminded me and showed me photos, and that led me on a little side-quest. i'd seen their nefertiti, sun-ly pierce, in met stuff and her artist bio mentioned her being bertarido(!!!) in rodelinda at the hudson opera house. however, i could find nothing about that production apart from that.

quick aside, on the topic of philip glass productions that have involved anthony roth costanzo at some point- still no new information about roles in paris satyagraha. i remain puzzled.

continuing my endeavours to learn all of grimoaldo's parts in rodelinda, and then some. "prigioniera ho l'alma in pena" is turning out to be the most difficult, surprisingly ( and frustratingly, because to me it's his most iconic aria ). many long phrases with no easy place to sneak in a breath. don't get me wrong, i'm still tripping over the coloratura in "tuo drudo è mio rivale" and "tra sospetti," but at least the movement of those ones make them less of an asphyxiation risk.

i am still obsessed with matteuccio. there's something oddly poignant about how his penultimate recorded role was that of the virgin mary.

spent an entire hour the other night sketching out what i saw in my head as i listened to the prologue of l'ormindo ( which is really good, though the same cannot be said for the sketches ). the recording from les paladins, for reference. i'm planning on listening to the opera itself this evening. ( cavalli would take time, i knew, but i didn't expect it to be that much! )

[unulf0]

hmm. much to consider.

( sources: description of the young grimuald from the history of the langobards, trans. william dudley foulke + photo of juvenile european turtle-doves by theodosis mamais on ebird )

[unulf0]

rodelinda prod, but they replace bertarido with a baritone: ew.

rodelinda prod, but they replace grimoaldo with a soprano: hm…