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Handel: Agrippina / Malgoire

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Very classic small symphony Overture but when the singing starts we are in another world. The meeting of Agrippina and Nero was a great hazard since the soprano mother had to confront her alto son, and Malgoire had chosen Jaroussky for Nero's part. The result is perfect. The two voices are so close that the son is nothing but a puppet in the hands of his mother. But his first aria shows the man has an ambition of his own and that the shadow of his mother is going to become the real master of the situation. He has the voice and the will to do so. Agrippina is going to use two men to achieve her goal: to put her son on the throne. Pallas is her closest counselor with the deep and powerful voice she needs to advocate her case, to build the conjuration. The second is Narcissus with his alto voice is the one who brings the bad and good news of the death of Claudius. Agrippina holds the two men by promising love to them. The two men being so different, one a bass one an alto, she appears like the real center of the conspiracy and people are revolving around her as if she were the master planet of that Roman galaxy. Nero is distributing some alms in the main square of the city and is witnessed doing so by both Pallas and Narcissus. Agrippina can then fulfill her plan and make her son the new Caesar. And it is then that Claudius arrives in Rome saved from the tempest by Otho. And we learn at once about another rivalry, this time between Claudius and his savior Otho, they both love Poppaea. And Agrippina understands the value of this fact to manage her own son onto the throne, though Claudius has already announced Otho will be the next Caesar. The alto voice of Otho is perfect for a lover who saved the emperor but wants nothing but love from one woman who is also desired by the emperor and later Nero. The music is there to give to that voice sadness and deep poignancy which makes the poor Otho pathetic. Poppaea appears and is depicted as a slightly heedless player with the hearts of other people. She has three potential lovers and enjoys the situation. Her vanity will have to fade away fast in the coming drama. Agrippina starts her plotting and convinces Poppaea that Otho has chosen the crown against his love for her. But Agrippina is divided between her constant fearing and her present desire to rejoice. But Poppaea is a lot more divided and she wants vengeance against Otho for preferring the throne to her. She will then plot with Claudius and make him believe Otho is a traitor who has only wanted his crown and nothing else since she refused to yield to his love. Claudius is built by Handel as a man of authority and swift decisions but who can have some short moments when he caresses other ambitions, love for example, and then when dealing with his love for Poppaea he loses all wisdom. And he is so easily fooled away by her that he becomes silly in pursuing such a love. And Poppaea closes the first act on an aria that brings together love, vexation and fury in a heartfelt call for vengeance. The second act starts with the fraying of Agrippina's plot since Pallas and Narcissus realize they have been manipulated and decide to unite. Otho reveals his real feelings: he does not want the crown. He just wants Poppaea's love. The two male altos and one male soprano do not play the same role as in biblical operas: they are not the central heroes of the opera but rather various characters of second importance. The most important of them is Nero, but he is a young fool whose voice righteously blends into that of his mother. The second is Otho, but he is a complete and pathetic dreamer in the story and his alto voice sounds sad and kind of unraveling in its surroundings when opposed to Agrippina's clear soprano or to Claudius' firm and strong baritone. That deeply tragic dimension appears with blinding brightness in the aria of the fifth scene of the second act, a lament when confronted with Poppaea's treachery. No other voice but a male alto can render the depth of this suffering and deception. Luckily the brilliant Poppaea is coming back and realizes, with a little bit of help from Otho, who has been manipulated by Agrippina and that the one who is really loving her over everything else is Otho himself. Clemency in love and jealousy makes love stronger and jealousy pointless. The long expected confrontation of Poppaea and Nero finally comes up. The two voices are so close in range that they seem to be perfect together but Handel plays on intonations to make the confrontation anything but a union. Rhythms and tonal textures make the two voices appear at some antipodes of any possible coming together. No luck for the young vulture Nero who is playing for his own lust in the back of his mother. But Agrippina is troubled with dark thoughts and she should rightly be. She manipulates Pallas into killing both Narcissus and Otho and then Narcissus into killing Pallas and Otho. Claudius arrives and she tries to manipulate him into getting rid of Otho because for telling treacherous things in the city, and she finally reveals her intention: to get the throne for her own son. Claudius accepts the demand just out of love for her. The opera seems to have reached its end. And yet there is a third act that adds nothing to the story and makes Claudius appear as a bad loser.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, University Paris 8 Vincennes Saint Denis, University Paris 12 Creteil Val de Marn