Whatever way you look at it, Handel's Rodelinda has a very special place in the composer's output. It is, by common consent across the centuries, among his finest operatic achievements. And it was with Rodelinda, after nearly 150 years of neglect, that, in 1920, the modern revival of Handel's stage works got under way in Gottingen.
Opera Theatre Company's new production, which opened at the Everyman Palace Theatre in Cork on Friday, is also a landmark - the first production the company has toured with a period-instruments band, the London Baroque Sinfonia. I hadn't experienced opera in the Everyman Palace before, but the balances between stage and pit seemed to benefit greatly from the use of period instruments. And it wasn't just the obvious matters of style, timbre or articulation. The orchestra, under Laurence Cummings, though not always tidy in detail, managed to achieve a fullness of sound without unduly overpowering the singers.
The action of Rodelinda, about dynastic succession in seventh-century Lombardy, hinges on an exceptional manifestation of marital fidelity. Helen Williams has the emotional measure of this regal role, with its finely-gauged arias of grief, vehement rejection, and triumph. The opening night showed some moments of instability, but the vividness of expression and the daring of some of her decorated lines were more than adequate compensation.
The opera boasts two villains, Charles Johnston's Garibaldo irredeemably dark (designer Neil Irish dresses him in black), Nicholas Sears' Grimoaldo soft enough to hesitate in the face of murderous challenge. The very moment of waver in Act II and the later discovery of the object of his affections with another man (actually her husband, who is presumed dead) found Sears at his finest.
Counter tenor Jonathan Peter Kenny captures well the Act I gloom and despair of the "lost" husband Bertarido (he's not quite so affecting later, and his handling of recitative is not always convincing), and Yvonne Howard's Eduige makes the most of her Act II shift from love into vengeance, fury and scorn.
James Conway's direction is understated, Simon Corder's distinctive, often strong-coloured lighting seeming almost the most dynamic factor after Handel's often rivetting music.
