Phaedra, Barbican | reviews, news & interviews
Phaedra, Barbican
Phaedra, Barbican
An overly clean, efficient and, at times, vulgar, take from Henze on this lusty old story
Monday, 18 January 2010
In 2005, having completed the first act of his opera Phaedra and killed off his lead Hippolyte, Hans Werner Henze contracted a mystery illness. No one understood it or saw a way out of it. He stopped eating, then speaking. His eyes began to fail him. He fell into a coma. The musical world began to fly out to his Italian village outside Rome to pay their last respects and prepare for his funeral. Then, two inert months into the grief and the start of the obsequies, Henze "just stood up", and went back to work on the second act of Phaedra, in which Hippolyte returns from the dead.
In 2005, having completed the first act of his opera Phaedra and killed off his lead Hippolyte, Hans Werner Henze contracted a mystery illness. No one understood it or saw a way out of it. He stopped eating, then speaking. His eyes began to fail him. He fell into a coma. The musical world began to fly out to his Italian village outside Rome to pay their last respects and prepare for his funeral. Then, two inert months into the grief and the start of the obsequies, Henze "just stood up", and went back to work on the second act of Phaedra, in which Hippolyte returns from the dead.
The future of Arts Journalism
You can stop theartsdesk.com closing!
We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d
And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.
Subscribe to theartsdesk.com
Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
To take a subscription now simply click here.
And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?
more Opera
Help to give theartsdesk a future!
Support our GoFundMe appeal
The Marriage of Figaro, Welsh National Opera review - no concessions and no holds barred
Compelling revival, punches, placards and all
The Marriage of Figaro, English National Opera review - long on laughs, short on kerb appeal
Laugh-out-loud funny revival of an ingenious staging
The Flying Dutchman, Opera North review - a director’s take on Wagner
Annabel Arden offers the Great Disruptor as archetype of the stateless and voiceless
Love Life, Opera North review - Lerner and Weill's blast into the past
Time-travelling tale of love and despair - the first 'concept musical' revived
Jenůfa, Royal Opera review - electrifying details undermined by dead space
Knife-edge conducting and singing, but non-realistic production is weaker in revival
Best of 2024: Opera
Comedy takes gold over a year rich in standout performance
La rondine, LSO, Pappano, Barbican review - sumptuous orchestral playing in an underrated score
Puccini's 100th anniversary celebrated in style
L’étoile, RNCM, Manchester review - lavish and cheerful absurdity
Teamwork to the fore in a multi-credit operatic comedy
The Pirates of Penzance, English National Opera review - fresh energy in clear-sighted G&S
Tenor lead shines, and conductor finds new beauties in Sullivan's score
Rigoletto, Irish National Opera / Murrihy, Collins, NCH Dublin review - greatness everywhere
Sheer perfection in Soraya Mafi’s Gilda and an Irish mezzo’s Berlioz
The Elixir of Love, English National Opera review - a tale of two halves
Flat first act, livelier second, singers not always helped by conductor and director
Add comment