We heard Mozart’s opera Idomeneo at the Met yesterday. Our evening started with dinner at Café Fiorello with my Aunt Jean. Last night’s performance was the season premiere for this production. It got a rave review on operawire.com. The usual, improbable plot includes the ever-popular love triangle between Ilia, a Trojan princess/slave, Idamante, the son of the Cretan king Idomeneo, and Elettra, daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra and brother of Orestes, all expats from a different myth.
Idomeneo, returning from the Trojan War, when caught in a tempest, makes a rash and hasty prayer to Neptune, promising to sacrifice the first man he sees if he gets safely back to Crete. He does, and of course, that first man is his son Idamante. His failure to fulfill the vow to Neptune brings devastation to Crete in the form of a sea monster that eats many people.
Well, no more spoilers—you’ll just have to hear it. It might be available as a telecast. Matthew Polenzani is commanding as Idomeneo. Soprano Alice Coote plays Idamante in a trouser role. James Levine conducted and got much, much applause before each act. The young and beautiful Nadine Sierra sang the part of Ilia and opens the opera with a long solo. What may have been the hit of the evening was Elza van den Heever as Elettra in her mad scene.
Idomeneo, Neptune, menacing and harassing the populace of Crete, acting just like a bullying deity. Some things never change.
The Met and the fountain at Lincoln Center Plaza. It always looks so inviting.
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