Gluck is one of those composers who is enormously important and influential – Wagner and Berlioz revered him – but most people would rather hear the people he influenced rather than his own music. The operas that are performed today are on classical subjects and have a reputation for being beautiful, rather statuesque and very boring. It was brave of the Royal Opera House to put on Iphigenie en Tauride as its first new production of the new season and, sure enough, there were quite a few empty seats.
If, however, you don’t insist on opera being all top Cs, lots of hum-along tunes and colourful costumes, the show is well worth a visit. The story is strong – Iphigenia, having been spirited away from Aulis to be a priestess, is at last met by her brother Orestes (wracked with guilt for killing their mother) and his best friend. She doesn’t know who they are and has to sacrifice both of them. They’re saved by a well-timed deus ex machina but lots of interesting emotions go on before then. What I admired particularly was Gluck’s ability to convey the emotions of a man literally haunted by his guilt and the conflicts of love and duty. He sets the words clearly, emotionally and very economically – there’s less than 2 hours of music and much of it, after a slightly nondescript first act, is seriously good.
