'Juditha triumphans' at the Sferisterio Festival, 9 agosto

Sex and Heroism
'Juditha triumphans' at the Sferisterio Festival,
appreciated by GIUSEPPE PENNISI

Anything goes in Holofernes' encampment. During the siege of the Jewish town of Bethulia, the night before the final attack to conquer it, the Assyrian soldiers seem to have a very happy, and sexy, time. Nearly all of them are busy with all kinds of intercourse: mostly heterosexual, but also gay and lesbian. Their chief and leader, the general Holofernes, was sent directly by Nebuchadnezzar (remember Verdi's Nabucco?) to take land, towns and breeds from the Jews. He is a bit bisexual and has, in his initial arias, quite a go on his favorite eunuch and servant Vagaus. However, he does clearly prefer girls. There are quite a few around him. His adversaries know it and send the young widow Juditha (with her friend Abra) to the Assyrian camp with the purpose of seducing him, first, and doing away with him, immediately afterwards.
Juditha is very attractive. Thus, Holofernes plans to have quite a night with her: in preparation, he has four girls kissing his nipples, caressing his legs and tickling the most intimate parts of his body just covered by flashy and fleshy golden slips. He wants to be very much excited to show Juditha what a real Assyrian is able to do (in bed). The night is such a night that after a lot of sex with Juditha, Holofernes falls asleep. His soldiers and retinues follow him into the world of deep dreams also, because the party has been wetted with plenty of booze; they too are exhausted after so much sex and alcohol. Well, the gentle lady beheads the man whose body she just had enjoyed with pleasure. And the High Priest of the Jews, Ozias, praises her as the savior of the fatherland.

Miljana Nikolic as Juditha and N'Mon Ford as Holofernes in Vivaldi's 'Juditha triumphans' at the Sferisterio Festival. Photo © 2010 Foto Tabocchini
This is not, of course, the Bible, but how a priest in 1716 used the text to make it an oratorio -- Juditha triumphans devicta Holofernis barbarie, normally known as Antonio Vivaldi's Juditha triumphans, catalogue number RV 644. Vivaldi is generally remembered as one of the leaders of late baroque music. For thirty years, he held an important musical post at St Mark's Basilica in Venice, but this did not prevent him from travelling widely throughout Europe and having a complicated personal life, even though he was a priest. He found time to compose an enormous number of works, including some forty opera and various choral pieces, in addition to the concertos for which he is best known now. The Juditha triumphans libretto was written by Giacomo Cassetti, a wordy Venetian lawyer very familiar with real life behind the curtains in the Republic around 1715.

A scene from Vivaldi's 'Juditha triumphans' at the Sferisterio Festival. Photo © 2010 Foto Tabocchini
Juditha triumphans was an occasional piece commissioned by the Ospedale della Pietà to celebrate the victory of the Republic of Venice against the Turks who had landed on Corfu to lay siege to the island whose population resisted until the Venitian fleet arrived to settle the matter. The manuscript, found in the Academy of Santa Cecilia Archives, reveals that it was meant to be sung only by women, including the chorus. Even though the vocal and the orchestral score is full of lust and eros, rather common on Venetian stages (as Cavalli's work shows), partly as a reaction to the bigotry of the Counter-Reformation. The string orchestra was augmented by timpani, trumpets, mandolins, theobos, viola da gamba, viola d'amore, oboes, organ and even soprano chalumeaux just to extract a very lush sound.

A scene from Vivaldi's 'Juditha triumphans' at the Sferisterio Festival. Photo © 2010 Foto Tabocchini
At the Sferisterio Festival, Juditha triumphans [seen 6 August 2010] was performed not as an oratorio but as a fully fledged opera. Thus a number of adjustments had to be made. First of all, the sexual part: it is clearly in the score, but it is highly doubtful that it was be performed in 1716 in the Ospedale della Pietà with a cast of two sopranos and three altos and a women only chorus. Thus, the brilliant stage director Massimo Gasparon lowered Holofernes' vocal part by three octaves and entrusted the role to N'mon Ford, a young and attractive baritone 'd'agilità' who could cope with the baroque vocalizing and act intelligently while showing as much of his muscles as opera house conveniences allow. His Juditha is Miljana Nikolic, young, attractive and able to marry a good center register with a scary acute which she handled with ease and without any fear, albeit missing tonalities and without a pleasant tint in her voice. Giacinta Nicotra is the eunuch Vagaus, clearly in love with Holofernes; she has great distressing arias about her feelings not being fully understood by the Assyrian general. Alessandra Visentin (Ozias) and Davinia Rodriguez (Abra) have comparatively minor roles, and handled them effectively.

Miljana Nikolic as Juditha, N'Mon Ford as Holofernes and Giacinta Nicotra as Vagaus in Vivaldi's 'Juditha triumphans' at the Sferisterio Festival. Photo © 2010 Foto Tabocchini
The conductor, Riccardo Frizza, was not in a hurry -- as he generally seems to be -- and extracted the sensual color from the orchestra -- a good ensemble but not a baroque orchestra with period instruments or instruments patterned after those of the early 1700s. Nonetheless, at the end of the performance, accolades were for the excellent stage direction and superb singing and acting more than for the conducting or for the orchestra.
In short, a successful performance which may very well deserve a DVD.
Copyright © 10 August 2010 Giuseppe Pennisi,
Rome, Italy

ANTONIO VIVALDI
ITALY
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