My name is Marc, my soul is sensitive, my wallet is empty,
but I am said to be talented.
Yes, it is for sure that we would recognize him
this way. Marc Chagall, the
French-Russian painter-genious. The painting was originally made for the
performance of Midsummer Night’s Dream
in 1939.
A red angel, purple trees and a brown-coated orange horse or
rather donkey is embracing a nice lady; the wife, Bella Rosenfeld is staring at
us from the face.
And the unique, mysterious blue colours. Because Chagall was a maniac of the blue, and the purple
was his speciality. As for me, I prefer a Lady with an Ermine, but
this painting strikes me in my heart, the ultimate and unselfish appearance of beauty is fairly strong...
But how can appear this painting on the cover of an AliaVox
CD, which is the famous publisher of Early Music? The answer is simple. The
Fairy Queen, a work of Purcell, which
was shown in 1691 in Queen’s Theatre, is based on a Shakespeare’s comedy, the
Midsummer Night’s Dream in terms of story and text.
At that time, at the end of the 17th
century, there were a couple of things which can hardly be understood nowadays.
For example, Shakespeare. After 80 years, on his own England, in his own
theatre, his plays practically couldn’t be staged, because they bored the
audience to death.
But today, roughly 300 years later, in the rush of our
world, when we cook our eggs using nuclear energy originated from the splitting
atoms, in this new world, which is constantly in the focus of our swears, a
conventional Shakespeare play can be put on stage any time.
Anywhere.
The
presence of the audience is taken for granted and it will be appreciated. Even
secondary school students, who are also sworn, because they are just pushing
their gadgets and hanging on Facebook, and don’t read anymore, when they are
scared of the piles of compulsory
books, they say that this is sh*t, that is not cool, and the other one
is also awful, and what about Romeo and
Juliet?, well, that is quite good …in other words the world is changing here
and there, today and in the past , too.
The year is 1691, the original play can be roughly
understood, but the fantasy, the stage visuals and the music were brought into
focus. Dream, Spring, Nimph, Fairy, Autumn, Mistery, Summer, Mysticity, Night,
Winter…we almost don’t have any’ real ’characters left, only Titania and Oberon, and Puck or Theseus. The last ones are not singer’s
roles. Actually neither the Fairy Queen's role is.
???
Yes, let’s not forget about the fact that it’s a semi-opera,
a pseudo-opera, without big arias and long
recitatives, a real England peculiarity; Handel, and the Italian operas
arrived much later here. The music is a kind of insertion, is paced before and
after the acts, and is not always connected to neither the story nor the
characters. This was the masque, or as we rather say today, theatrical
music.
That we have almost 100 years
after Orfeo?, nobody was bothered about it, things were going according to the
flow of the local history, however, on the Italian stages, the new style operas
had been more popular for a while, Caccini’ s flowers were in blossom, but here
they are still in the form of bulbs, waiting in bags.
After this what is Purcell ’s theatrical music like?
Exactly like this CD.
Simply phenomenal.
Rightly sensational, French Lully-like; The musicality is
striking, Italian, The name of Vivaldi
comes to my mind, who was dealing with melody with such a talent. A bit of
theatre, obviously attractive and expressive, in favour of light and lipstick.
On the other hand, it is not violent and too emotional, and not pushing, the
least. Fine, this is the right word for
it.
It lacks the complexity of structures, despite this, there
is a kind of seriousness inside, woven by mysticity as a cobweb. All plays show
something interesting. Somewhere the music, a sounding appendix, or a strong
programme music, or in many parts a completely independent part, being part
from the play.
Suite II. A one minute prelude. What kind?, practically a
nicely performed flying. Actually, it is followed by the legendary Bird’s Prelude , you might have heard. What
the wind instrumentalists do here - calls for another article.
As for scene V, and how it starts. An innocent prelude, not
more than one and a half minutes – an introduction, which does not lead us
anywhere, but pushes us out of the chair, like a catapult. It has such a big
inner pulse, that we are forced to stand up. Mainly to play it again, but even
more loudly. Just think it over how big volume our hifi can bear. Turn it up,
be brave.
It is especially enjoyable in a car. It can well restructure
our thoughts of the congestion on the roads of Budapest
The CD is a remastered version of the 1996 recording, now on
SACD. If we happen to have access to a
high resolution player and a HighEnd
system, do not hesitate for too long, it is definitely going to be an
experience, because the sound quality is strikingly good.
Just like a good theatre. Paper mache sets, simple music structures, but it is
capable of creating a different, indirect
reality. We are a little bit lost in, while the performance is on.
Savall could precisely comprehend what is needed here. And
if we know his world of music and his discs, then we know that he is a great
master of how to build a complex entity from simple things. And not fugas or
complex structures come into my mind. But that blue. And that yellow cloud,
which is deeply rooted in my mind. A Chachonne a la Purcell. Fairies and a
Mystery. And a Drunken Poet..
Henry Purcell – had no ancestors or real descendants; a
completely outstanding star in world of the music, standing alone. A bit of
a Mozart-feeling; their place can be
found and identified, but only on a timeline. He is said to start the unified
English Baroque. It is possible, but no one has ever written such pieces of
music since then. And please remember, he is a 32 -year-old gentleman, and the
last few years of his short life.
The Fairy Queen – mystical and hiding. It was performed
succesfully for a couple of decades, then soon forgotten. Then it turned up
again at the beginning of the century; and is in fashion today.
Highly, highly recommended.
Translated by Kiss Ildikó
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Thank you for the images.
