L'ERISMENA DI CAVALLI (Venezia, 1655)

Speranza

Francesco Cavalli is the most important Italian opera composer of the late 17th century, though his reputation has fluctuated and performances of his operas are still comparatively rare.

Watching and hearing "Erismena", first performed in Venezia in 1655, you begin to wonder whether it is prudery, rather than any innate flaws in Cavalli's music, that has kept him out of the repertoire.

A bitter-sweet erotic comedy that examines concepts of gender and orientation, Erismena breathes an air of sexual liberalism that would doubtless either have fazed or appalled subsequent generations.

The plot IS complex.

Distraught when she is dumped by her lover, Idraspe, Erismena disguises herself as a bloke (a warrior) and joins the army.

Wounded, she is taken to the court of King Erimante to be tended by his concubine Aldimira. Aldimira - who attracts men like a magnet, Idraspe included - fancies the supposed soldier rotten, but is forced to assume she has fallen in love with a gay man.

Cavalli resolves the resulting tangle in a down-beat ending that asserts chilly, unwonted convention.

The king orders Idraspe to marry Erismena, while Aldimira is paired off with another of her admirers.

As with Shakespeare's All Well That Ends Well, you are left wondering how long any of these relationships will last after the final curtain.

We owe the rediscovery of this little gem to a sort of a miracle.

It is stageg it with sensuous clarity on a simple set of stairs and platforms.

It is directed from a keyboard with glowing warmth, and there is some gorgeous singing, notably from Erismena and Aldimira, their voices blending and twining with heady beauty.

The venue, though, shoud be ideal.