Telemaco
A series of operas connected with the ten-year siege of Troy continues with Gluck's two-act opera from 1765.
Telemachus discovers that his father Ulysses has been turned into a tree by the evil enchantress Circe to keep him imprisoned on her island. Circe decides to liberate him but Telemachus will not flee without another of her captives, Asteria, the girl he loves. Ulysses thinks she is another of Circe's wiles which will bring about their destruction.
The adventures of Ulysses were pure gold for allegorists, and they had an absolute field-day when it came to Circe. She had the lot: magic, metamorphosis, temptation, sex, drugs. She is daughter of Sun and Ocean: Lust is said to proceed from heat and moisture. Those who succumb to her are, like Ulysses' men, bestialised or, as in Gluck's opera, turned into trees. (counter tenor) (soprano) (soprano)
Schutz Choir of London
London Classical Players Jennifer Ward Clarke and John Toll (continuo) conductor
Roger Norrington Act
8.30 Peter Jones on the sorceress Circe.
8.45 Act 2