Paradoxically, Florentine Opera's double scoop of tragic romance left a listener feeling refreshed, even cheerful Friday night.
It's nearly impossible to walk away from an evening of Baroque music feeling glum and dour, especially when that music is sung and played so well in the intimate setting of the Marcus Center's Wilson Theater at Vogel Hall, a smaller sandbox than the Florentine's regular venue.
While based on ancient stories, John Blow’s "Venus and Adonis" (1683) and Henry Purcell’s "Dido and Aeneas" (circa 1688) are as easy to diagram as a Taylor Swift song: girl and boy are in love, but something gets in the way, and somebody's left crying.
The great Purcell was Blow's student, and their short operas have structural similarities, but their tones are different.
"Venus and Adonis" is a cheerful pastoral romance between the goddess (Alisa Jordheim) and a robust mortal (Leroy Davis), until an accident occurs. In the more fully tragic "Dido and Aeneas," the love between the Carthage empress (Sandra Piques Eddy) and visiting Trojan warrior (Davis) is wrecked by a hater, the sorceress (Colleen Brooks, bringing a delightful touch of Cruella de Vil).
In both operas, the woman has home-field advantage and greater power, but is slow to yield to love. Venus is playing with Adonis, and also perhaps reluctant to surrender herself to a mortal; the proper Dido, as suggested by Piques Eddy, is a deep-feeling introvert who wants all or nothing. Both operas are flexible about gender roles. Countertenor Randall Scotting played a role in both, including a turn as the most strapping Cupid I've ever seen.
Davis radiates warmth as the elemental Adonis. While he gets less to do as Aeneas, he invests the Trojan with attractive dignity. Jordheim, Piques Eddy and Davis sing these operas in English with wonderful diction, making them easy to follow.
RELATED: Florentine Opera time-travels to Baroque with period approach to operas
"Dido and Aeneas" builds to a remarkable conclusion: first Dido's lament, where Piques Eddy finally bares her heart, and then the beautiful elegy sung by the Florentine Opera Chorus, whose work I enjoyed throughout the evening.
Stage director William Florescu and choreographer Dani Kuepper kept people moving in both attractive and functional ways. This is not realism, folks, and they allowed us to enjoy that.
A nimble 12-member Baroque ensemble, conducted by harpsichordist Jory Vinikour, featured salient licks on theorbo (an oversized lute) and Baroque guitar by Brandon Acker. The double bill also serves as a showcase for the Florentine's Baumgartner Studio Artist program, now in its 10th year, with former and current studio artists playing key roles.
Florentine Opera performs "Venus and Adonis" and "Dido and Aeneas" through Sunday at Marcus Center's Wilson Theater at Vogel Hall, 929 N. Water St. For tickets, visit florentineopera.org.