fra tempeste funeste quest' alma...

world's no. 1 rodelinda fan!! tenor, despite the handel- er, handle.

[derring-do]

The English Concert, Lucy Crowe and Hugh Cutting | Handel - Live from Wigmore Hall

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Free Handel concert, get your free Handel concert right here

[unulf0]

@barschter000 @zisurru maybe you guys would be interested?

[unulf0]

thinking of her...

chui chai ( a sort of solo dance ) of akashtalai, guardian of longka's airspace in the ramakien. she wasn't present in the ramayana, but i have a feeling she may have been an offshoot of the sea guardian ( ผีเสื้อสมุทร, who i also have quite a bit to say about, but i'll save that for another time ). the lyrics are a blazon, not really anything of note in them. may translate them later.

her role in the story itself is that of yet another "monster of the day," one-time enemy, but like several other such characters, she's taken on a life off the stage. akashtalai has become something of an underrated queer icon, due to how her appearance and movements lie in between the measured elegance of the "lady" archetype ( ตัวนาง ) and the forcefulness of the stereotypically masculine "yaksha" archetype ( ตัวยักษ์ ).

[reactionimagesdaily]

[unulf0]

relating to the previous string of posts- i did once come across an opera set in cambodia! "where the sun rises," as the libretto puts it. :)

unfortunately, it is Weird As Hell. not in a good way. the plot literally hinges on colourism. i'll link it here anyways- il colore fa la regina, composed by c. f. pollarolo ( of flavio bertarido fame ), libretto by mateo noris ( of flavio cuniberto and il flavio/il re infante fame ) ( i say this as if anybody other than me cares about these operas )

[unulf0]

obscure baroque libretto of the week: l'oronta, by claudio nicola stampa, set to music by g.m. orlandini. score not extant, or at least not registered on rism. featuring a soprano despot ( drool... ), surprisingly accurate depictions of southeast asian theism ( the bar is terribly low, but still ), and yet another person named oronte ( well, oronta ) who is not from anywhere near syria.

masunede, king of cambodia, has died. his brother messane ( the aforementioned soprano despot ) takes the throne. the courtiers, among them masunede's widow, the titular oronta, deal with the fallout. and then in comes the chinese delegation! and there's some side plot centred around the romance between the prince aldiso and his cousin elisa, but in all honesty i couldn't care less.

as per the introduction, the story is based on an account from one giovanni battista ranugio. unfamiliar. digging brought up nothing, though i am still very intrigued. i am also still on the hunt for an opera set in siam, but i am happy for the cambodian baroque nerds. not sure how many there are, but i'm sure they're out there somewhere. if they are i'd like to get to know them.

[unulf0]

updates:

ramusio. giovanni battista ramusio. not ranugio. book one of his navigationi et viaggi. the part that mentions the east indian land of "cambaia" is an account of the travels of one odoardo barbessa. the ruler of the country is brought up, along with several customs regarding monarchy and what have ye, but there is nothing about the power struggle that this opera focuses on, nor any names from it ( both things that, according to the introduction of the libretto, were drawn from historical sources- though the titular character's name seems to have been shortened, and apparently was originally "averonta" ).

the introduction also cites the "storia dell' indie orientali" ( "history of the east indies" ) by one nuñez alvaro. neither myself nor the history nerd friend i pored over this with have been able to find anything about that.

based on personal estimates, the historical events that inspired l'oronta likely took place during the early parts of the khmer middle period, specifically the chaktomuk era. no later than the early 16th century. and the thing with the chaktomuk era is that it was something of a "dark age," and very few primary sources survive from it- khmer primary sources, at least. at the moment most of my hope is in the accounts of travellers like barbessa.

all of the above is going by the assumption that it takes place in what is now cambodia. cambaia seems to at least be in the islamic cultural sphere. ramusio/barbessa's account places it adjacent to persia and some land called mandao, though it is still considered part of the east indies. another important detail is that it apparently used to be called "indo," and its rulers are referred to as "sultans" by the text ( though this may not ultimately mean much, considering how europeans liked to apply terms from muslim culture to random "pagan" cultures ). i fear that cambaia may actually be somewhere in maritime southeast asia ( and i may have to rework the design of messane that i spent this morning working out, but i digress ).

i continue digging. this is all very interesting, and i'd like to put... names to faces? faces to names? proper names to inaccurate approximations thereof? eh, whatever. let's feckin' go!!

[unulf0]

update to the update:

odoardo barbessa is also known as duarte barbosa, and that's a name i've definitely heard before. tracked down his own writings and found exactly what i was looking for.

khamba. cambaia is cambay is khamba, a kingdom in what is now gujarat. cambodia is also talked about in barbosa, though i hadn't thought to read as far as that part. this is still a south asian win. happy for the south asian baroque nerds ( which i am confused at the lack of- why do i see desi artists in every field but opera? why do i see opera singers from every part of asia but the south, while the repertoire is filled with depictions of the indian subcontinent? )

i will continue searching for accounts of the history of khamba, for the specific events l'oronta is based on. i still don't think the names sound south asian or arabic or anything like that, except for maybe "masumede," which is close enough to some variants of "muhammad."

[unulf0]

obscure baroque libretto of the week: l'oronta, by claudio nicola stampa, set to music by g.m. orlandini. score not extant, or at least not registered on rism. featuring a soprano despot ( drool... ), surprisingly accurate depictions of southeast asian theism ( the bar is terribly low, but still ), and yet another person named oronte ( well, oronta ) who is not from anywhere near syria.

masunede, king of cambodia, has died. his brother messane ( the aforementioned soprano despot ) takes the throne. the courtiers, among them masunede's widow, the titular oronta, deal with the fallout. and then in comes the chinese delegation! and there's some side plot centred around the romance between the prince aldiso and his cousin elisa, but in all honesty i couldn't care less.

as per the introduction, the story is based on an account from one giovanni battista ranugio. unfamiliar. digging brought up nothing, though i am still very intrigued. i am also still on the hunt for an opera set in siam, but i am happy for the cambodian baroque nerds. not sure how many there are, but i'm sure they're out there somewhere. if they are i'd like to get to know them.

[unulf0]

updates:

ramusio. giovanni battista ramusio. not ranugio. book one of his navigationi et viaggi. the part that mentions the east indian land of "cambaia" is an account of the travels of one odoardo barbessa. the ruler of the country is brought up, along with several customs regarding monarchy and what have ye, but there is nothing about the power struggle that this opera focuses on, nor any names from it ( both things that, according to the introduction of the libretto, were drawn from historical sources- though the titular character's name seems to have been shortened, and apparently was originally "averonta" ).

the introduction also cites the "storia dell' indie orientali" ( "history of the east indies" ) by one nuñez alvaro. neither myself nor the history nerd friend i pored over this with have been able to find anything about that.

based on personal estimates, the historical events that inspired l'oronta likely took place during the early parts of the khmer middle period, specifically the chaktomuk era. no later than the early 16th century. and the thing with the chaktomuk era is that it was something of a "dark age," and very few primary sources survive from it- khmer primary sources, at least. at the moment most of my hope is in the accounts of travellers like barbessa.

all of the above is going by the assumption that it takes place in what is now cambodia. cambaia seems to at least be in the islamic cultural sphere. ramusio/barbessa's account places it adjacent to persia and some land called mandao, though it is still considered part of the east indies. another important detail is that it apparently used to be called "indo," and its rulers are referred to as "sultans" by the text ( though this may not ultimately mean much, considering how europeans liked to apply terms from muslim culture to random "pagan" cultures ). i fear that cambaia may actually be somewhere in maritime southeast asia ( and i may have to rework the design of messane that i spent this morning working out, but i digress ).

i continue digging. this is all very interesting, and i'd like to put... names to faces? faces to names? proper names to inaccurate approximations thereof? eh, whatever. let's feckin' go!!

[unulf0]

somehow just noticed that they've got my terrible bisexuals on the operavision channel banner.

[unulf0]

obscure baroque libretto of the week: l'oronta, by claudio nicola stampa, set to music by g.m. orlandini. score not extant, or at least not registered on rism. featuring a soprano despot ( drool... ), surprisingly accurate depictions of southeast asian theism ( the bar is terribly low, but still ), and yet another person named oronte ( well, oronta ) who is not from anywhere near syria.

masunede, king of cambodia, has died. his brother messane ( the aforementioned soprano despot ) takes the throne. the courtiers, among them masunede's widow, the titular oronta, deal with the fallout. and then in comes the chinese delegation! and there's some side plot centred around the romance between the prince aldiso and his cousin elisa, but in all honesty i couldn't care less.

as per the introduction, the story is based on an account from one giovanni battista ranugio. unfamiliar. digging brought up nothing, though i am still very intrigued. i am also still on the hunt for an opera set in siam, but i am happy for the cambodian baroque nerds. not sure how many there are, but i'm sure they're out there somewhere. if they are i'd like to get to know them.

[unulf0]

something about the bit in "io t'abbraccio" where rodelinda calls bertarido by the feminine "mia vita" and bertarido calls rodelinda by the masculine "mio tesoro." can't properly explain it. won't properly explain it. but. ourgh.

[gluecookie]

Opera stream Rodelinda, Händel

When: sunday 5th july, 7:00pm CET

Where: kosmi

Production: Garsington opera

What's the story? -> Rodelinda has been captured by Grimoaldo's troops, her husband Bertarido is pretending to be dead (why?), Grimoaldo wants to get laid and Rodelinda spurs him and that's where I lost the plot. Someone's sister is here? And a child and a duke? Come enjoy the over the top baroque opera with me :)

Language: italian, english subs

Duration: 3h

[gluecookie]

Opera stream reminder!!

@unulf0 is dissing my hot takes on the naming conventions of this opera. Please everyone come join me tonight for the stream :)

[unulf0]

happy to be of service! also, please come. pspsps. shaking grimoaldo like he's filled with cat food ( and maybe he is ). hey looooook. highly punchable tenor with tumblr sexyman potential who keeps singing about his boobs for some reason.

oh. also. there's a brilliantly sensitive portrayal of a character directors love to reduce to "obligatory low female voice role who is a Mean Bitch." and sick background choreography. and [SPOILER] [SPOILER] [SPOILER].

[unulf0]

opera siam orfeo ed euridice review

i would like to preface this post by bringing up how after the show, i went into the bathroom and saw, in the mirror, a little under a quarter of my right eye was partially red with irritation. it's still a bit red as i'm sitting here typing this. now, realistically speaking, something got into it. i did feel mild discomfort in that eye on the way to the show. i think it was a hair of some sort. but back to the bathroom mirror. i looked at it, saw my red eye, and my first thought at that was "damn. that mezzo was so good, she made my eye bleed." and at the very least, the first part of that sentence was true.

i would also like to add that at the time of writing, i haven't been able to find any photos of the production itself, just promotional photos that show nothing of what the actual production looks like. hopefully my descriptions are sufficient.

so. orfeo ed euridice. opera siam. final performance, evening of 28th june 2026- 2569, if you'd rather have the buddhist year. auditorium of king's college, which turned out to be smaller than i thought, but something about the school building as a whole gave me off vibes nevertheless. tried not to think about it. i'd snagged the cheapest seats in the house, with discount, because college stuff is seriously threatening to bankrupt me. luckily, they were front-row- well, third-row, but the first two rows were unavailable due to the position of the somewhat impromptu orchestra pit. despite the impression their setting gave off and the relative youth of most of the members, the orchestra weren't amateur by any means. they were utterly phenomenal. i'd taken my seat early and listened to them testing out their instruments while i waited. among other things, i found myself mesmerised by the harpist, pasatorn stieniti- something about a big, bulky guy having such light fingers. he'd been playing the opening of "deh, placatevi" as one of the oboes and one of the clarinets were trying to harmonise with each other.

so, the performance itself- we open on a "typical thai funeral ceremony." those were director somtow sucharitkul's words, but i can't think of a better way to describe it. it's a very evocative image, the mourners- the chorus- waiting in line to pour water on euridice's hand while the cremation oven stands open and pitch-black over everything. the set-pieces remain for the duration of the opera, occasionally having extra parts added or removed. it wasn't what i'd expected based on the summary i'd read beforehand- among other things, it mentioned orfeo returning to the surface via a causeway of naga, which turned out to be just a backdrop. 

even so, the oven/doorway piece is used to great effect throughout. there is a connection to be made, i think, about the constant presence of that fixture and the overarching theme of love overcoming death.  the white temple archway is the oven where euridice's body ends its journey; the curtains that the apparition of her enters through, led on by the queen and king of the underworld- more on them later; the doorways orfeo passes through on his journey to her. 

the background characters, while meant to be regard as a collective rather than individuals, weren't just set dressing. i loved how the chorus interacted with the solo characters. euridice socialising with the other spirits in the afterlife, the guests at the funeral at the beginning and the reunion at the end- where orfeo was given a cute pink bow tie- and all that. aside from this, it was very heartening to see a chorus so diverse in age, and i enjoyed their collective performance in terms of vocals- particularly in "chi mai dell' erebo," where they reached for orfeo from between the bars of cages on either side of the stage. this was also the best part of the dancers' performance for me. i loved the way they moved across the stairs, with that juxtaposition of fluid and jerky movements. and then there were the stagehands, who were incoporated as characters in the show itself. it added to the dream-like atmosphere, the presence of people wearing headsets and all that and moving things around before the audience's eyes. i suppose they could be interpreted as ordinary funeral/wedding planners. still, i loved the image of a pair of stagehands motioning for orfeo to return the photo of euridice to its place, and i do feel that it was very much a deliberate choice- the curtain goes down for the intermission not at the end of act one, but sometime after the beginning of act two, when the scene must be changed from the more mightmarish part of the underworld to the part euridice resides in. in act 1, meanwhile, the audience witnesses the stagehands change the scene of the funeral to the underworld and its cages filled with tormented spirits.

i'd mentioned the inclusion of proserpine and plutone, king and queen of the underworld, in this production- not as silent characters, they sang with the chorus, but still. i suppose there's only so much they can do, what with how they're not actual characters in the opera. even so, i feel like they were in a rather awkward position between "ominous background presence" and "active agents in orfeo's despair." too present, too concrete to be the former and yet too shadowy to be the latter.

the orfeo of this production, sung by mezzo-soprano and opera siam casting director kridhima siriwattanakamol, is wondefully moody- clothed in black, disdaining, distrusting. in the beginning we see him bent over by the bier and crying her name in between sobs and coughs- very impressive. this wasn't the first time i'd heard an operatic mezzo live, but it was the first time i'd heard one in an actual, live opera- in her natural habitat, you could say. her tone was dark but very flexible, not at all heavy. this contributed a lot to the scene we were presented with after the intermission, where orfeo sang "che puro ciel." his voice is dark and despairing in contrast to the lightness of the accompaniment and the words that come out of his mouth. he is a figure clothed in black standing among contented spirits in a brightly lit place. everything about him is at odds with his environment, and all those discrepancies came together to form the most striking scene in the opera to me. but kridhima's performance was not without a few hiccups. there were some mispronunciations and awkwardly placed breaths in "cerco/chiamo/piango il mio ben così-" though the ending of that last one is still ringing in my ears and i'm taking that as a good sign- and i feel like there was something disjointed to the sound of "men tiranne." but overall, she was, without a doubt, the star of the show. after the curtain call, the curtains weren't closed when they were supposed to be and she and the conductor, trisdee na pattalung, had to quickly do that, and that was funny.

i've spent enough time gushing about kridhima and orfeo, i think. euridice and amore may have been small roles, but they definitely weren't unnoticeable. punnika mahuemuang didn't quite live up to the whole "child prodigy" hype ( i feel like the presence of another young soprano in the chorus contributed to that in some way ), her squillo wasn't too strong and her acting was somewhat stiff in certain parts, but she made a very endearing amore nevertheless. chanya maneewan, euridice, had a lovely clear voice with a light tone that complemented kridhima's. in all honesty, i felt like they were doing her a disservice by casting her as a character who sang so little.

overall, i think that this production may not have lived up to the initial build-up, but it is more or less forgivable. sonically brilliant, well thought-out visuals, and frankly, the small venue did help in some regards- good acoustics, and slightly lessened the intimidation factor for a first-time viewer such as me. 8/10.

[gluecookie]

Opera stream Rodelinda, Händel

When: sunday 5th july, 7:00pm CET

Where: kosmi

Production: Garsington opera

What's the story? -> Rodelinda has been captured by Grimoaldo's troops, her husband Bertarido is pretending to be dead (why?), Grimoaldo wants to get laid and Rodelinda spurs him and that's where I lost the plot. Someone's sister is here? And a child and a duke? Come enjoy the over the top baroque opera with me :)

Language: italian, english subs

Duration: 3h

[unulf0]

just finished lincoln in the bardo- found it in a bookshop, figured i ought to read it before watching the operatic adaptation later this year. excited to see how they'll adapt the wacky visuals and prose! also very excited by the prospect of soprano trouser reverend.

[unulf0]

2025 garsington grimoaldo's strongest soldier

[derring-do]

Opera titles before 1800:

Mythological Figure, Orlando Furioso Reference, Guy in Location

Opera titles now:

Abstract Concept, Book You Should Have Read By Now, Evocative but Essentially Vague Phrase

Opera titles always:

Woman's Name

[unulf0]

i feel like "evocative but essentially vague phrase" also applies to a lot of baroque titles! a significant portion are alternative titles for operas better known by other names ( that follow the above conventions ) but... l'amor costante, la corona disprezzata, chi la dura la vince, l'amico dell' amico è nemico di se stesso, la tirannia gastigata, to name a few.

[unulf0]

thinking about grimmy #mygrimmy

[unulf0]

i haven't even fully processed scarlatti griselda yet. and you're telling me there's a recording of vivaldi griselda. with marie-nicole lemieux in the lead. and iestyn davies and philippe jaroussky. please. i can't take it anymore. enough griselda. please.