Steffani's Orlando: Scena Ultima: Chaconne

Boston Early Music Festival Dance Company and ensemble. Boston Early Music Festival, recorded June 16, 2019. Paul O'Dette & Stephen Stubbs, Musical Directors; Gilbert Blin, Stage Director; Robert Mealy, Concertmaster; Melinda Sullivan, Dance Director
Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière, Choreographer; Anna Watkins, Costume Designer; Gilbert Blin with Kate A. Noll, Set Designers; Kelly Martin, Lighting Designer; Ellen Hargis, Assistant Stage Director; Kathleen Fay, Executive Producer
Video by Kathy Wittman, Ball Square Films.
Audio by WCRB Classical Radio Boston.

[@mario4798]

Strepitoso omaggio ad uno dei più grandi Maestri del Seicento!

[@TheTristanmarcus]

Very clear influence of the great Jean-Baptiste Lully ❤ Steffani was famous for bringing influence from French opera into Italian opera - ironically, the Sun King of French opera was himself an Italian by birth 😂

[@aaguero]

I got chills at the end. This is just perfect delight!

[@gergelygyulai9696]

Great opera! I hope that a complete recording on CD will be released soon on the CPO or Erato label. Earlier: Niobe, now Orlando..., hopefully the Steffani-circle will continue in Boston.

[@gustavs9]

I look for the DVD being produced

[@marcostoppa2380]

Complimenti! Molto coinvolgente!!

[@lonniethomas2649]

I loved this production so much!!!

[@antoninopirrone2541]

Fantastico!!! Bravissimi!!! 😍

[@brrehusebye7298]

Fantastic ❤🎉

[@katze1984]

Horrible audience!! clapping in the middle of the piece and also at the end when the music has not yet ended. Seems to be a general problem of the Boston audience since I have seen this stupid behavior in several of the videos uploaded here. In Europe, you let the musicians and singers finish properly and approately and then you give applause.

[@bostonearly]

During the Baroque period, the tradition of waiting until the ultimate conclusion of a piece to applaud was not yet developed. Indeed, it wasn't until the early 20th century that this became commonplace. Baroque composers would have expected spontaneous applause and often catered to it. As our productions follow period performances practices, we cannot fault period audience practices from our patrons.

[@gustavs9]

@@bostonearly very good answer! In Venice, the public used to come with bread and salami to have a snack during the opera !!!

[@lindagprice]

@@bostonearly Very true. It would be more palatable, IMHO, however, if that were why modern audiences are doing it! Today, audiences do it for a different reason. Witness gymnastics performances with music. Rock concerts..... Anyway, this is a fantastic video! Wonderful dancing. Thank you for posting it!

[@doggy5]

Why not do a festival around Orlando Furiso? Then you can present this work as well as Francesca Caccinis' La liberazione di Ruggiero, Handel's Orlando, Ariodante and Alcina, Vivaldi's Orlando as well as Haydn's Orlando Paladino, and perhaps other works based on the same theme as well.

[@bostonearly]

Our Festival is only one week, so we usually only present one fully-staged opera and one chamber opera. We did do a chamber opera performance of Caccini's La liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola d'Alcina in November 2018 and plan to present an encore performance at our 2023 Festival.

[@doggy5]

@@bostonearly Yeah, I guess that would be too much given how much work goes into staging one opera. Well, keep up the good work. Hopefully, there will be stagings of the complete version of those operas one day. For instance, I've noticed that usually, the dance sequences are cut out whenever Handel's Alcina is staged, and I've yet to find a performance with the dance sequences left completely intact.