Metropolitan Opera – Mozart’s Idomeneo. October 14, 2006.

Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center – Dress Circle, Seat B118 ($125).

Conductor – James Levine; Ilia – Nicole Heaston, Idamante – Kristine Jepson, Elettra – Olga Makarina, Idomeneo – Ben Heppner.

Story: The Cretan king Idomeneo captures Ilia of Troy and sends her to Crete. She is rescued from a storm by the king’s son Idamante and falls in love with him. Princess Elettra flees Argos to take refuge in Crete, and also falls in love with Idamante. On his way home, Idomeneo runs into a storm, and promises Neptune he will sacrifice the first man he meets if he survives. Idomeneo comes ashore to find Idamante seeking solitude, having been misinformed of his father’s death. Idomeneo hopes to avoid carrying out his vow by banishing Idamante without telling him the reason, which causes great sorrow in his son. Eventually Idamante finds out, and demands to be sacrificed. As he is about to be killed, Neptune speaks and proclaims that the alternative is for Idomeneo to yield the throne to Idamante and Ilia. Elettra is horrified and dies.

The story, as I summarized it, sounds a bit disjoint, but it reflected my understanding of the plot after seeing the opera and reading the program synopsis a couple of times. I have seen several of Mozart’s operas (Don Giovanni, Cosi Fan Tutte, and this one), they all seem to have plots that are not particularly captivating. Some of the "monologues", especially the ones by Idomeneo and Elettra, were a bit long.

The Met usually has relatively impressive sets, while the columns are quite tall, the same set (with slight backstage variations) was used for all three acts of the opera. For Act 2, which is supposed to be a seashore setting, all they did was to add a few white sheets to represent sails. The stage designers must have been great fans of symmetry. The two halves seem to be mirror images of one another. Even where people stand is balanced. I don't particularly care for it.

And the costumes. The story is set during the Trojan War. I am not a historian, but what Elettra wore looks like a formal gown during Victorian times, and the soldiers’ costumes look more Roman than Greek. The chorus members looked like French peasants. All in all, it seemed anachronistic and hodge-podge.

Prince Idamante’s part was sung by a mezzo-soprano. During intermission some music student Anne ran into (waiting in line to buy coffee) explains the range is beyond most tenors and is thus often played by a mezzo-soprano. I just find it awkward, unbelievable, and confusing. The singing in and of itself was good, and one is supposed to suspend reality, but they weren’t enough to get me past thinking it as being ridiculous. Surely Mozart could have written equally great music for a “regular” tenor. The Elettra death scene, while funny, was a bit incongruous also.

The music is good. The orchestra played well, the singing was excellent. However, the music is not enough to overcome the disjoint story, simplistic staging, weird costumes, and confusing roles. This is an opera you can just listen to on the radio and not miss much.

The opera is being staged in Germany (Berlin, I think), and is causing a great stir because of the staging. There were threats directed against the opera house. I simply can’t understand how the production design people can turn this into a controversial affair, or why people would be so offended.

See also the New York Times review of the performance.