Griselda, the title character of the opera by Vivaldi, is one of those women too good to be true. After three long acts of mistreatment by her husband whom she steadfastly loves and never, ever criticizes, she is allowed to return to his good graces. Hardly the image you want your daughter to emulate especially since in real life such returns to grace tend to be exceedingly temporary.
Peter Sellars in his pre-opera talk enters declaring, "This is a turkey tonight; this is a catastrophe." He then explains that we have to understand Venice in 1735, Bocaccio's Decameron, the Black Plague, and the importance of the castrati. Which is asking rather a lot of the audience especiallly when one also needs to understand a little about Peter Sellars and the concepts behind this production.
Sellars observed that no one presents their true feelings. The king loves Griselda as he mistreats her to test her character. The audience represents the citizens of his kingdom who have never accepted the commoner Griselda as their queen. The king's best friend tries to seduce Griselda. The princess, secretly the daughter of the king yet engaged to him is in love with another. And so on. And on.
The story, in its day, was wildly popular and there are many, many operas based on it. Vivaldi's with a libretto by Goldoni which was sophisticated for its time had a great success. One can see Griselda as a Christ figure. He was also mistreated by his father, rejected by the crowd and betrayed by a friend. So whole we tend to see the docile acceptance of abuse, others may see the nobility of remaining true to one's self regardless of misfortune.
Peter Sellars in his pre-opera talk enters declaring, "This is a turkey tonight; this is a catastrophe." He then explains that we have to understand Venice in 1735, Bocaccio's Decameron, the Black Plague, and the importance of the castrati. Which is asking rather a lot of the audience especiallly when one also needs to understand a little about Peter Sellars and the concepts behind this production.
Sellars observed that no one presents their true feelings. The king loves Griselda as he mistreats her to test her character. The audience represents the citizens of his kingdom who have never accepted the commoner Griselda as their queen. The king's best friend tries to seduce Griselda. The princess, secretly the daughter of the king yet engaged to him is in love with another. And so on. And on.
The story, in its day, was wildly popular and there are many, many operas based on it. Vivaldi's with a libretto by Goldoni which was sophisticated for its time had a great success. One can see Griselda as a Christ figure. He was also mistreated by his father, rejected by the crowd and betrayed by a friend. So whole we tend to see the docile acceptance of abuse, others may see the nobility of remaining true to one's self regardless of misfortune.
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