Francesco Cavalli is the most important Italian 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 Venice 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 bittersweet 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 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 downbeat 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 the City of London festival, which has imported James Conway's production for Opera Theatre Company, Dublin. Conway, who is about to take over English Touring Opera, stages it with sensuous clarity on a simple set of stairs and platforms. David Adams directs from the keyboard with glowing warmth, and there is some gorgeous singing, notably from Lynda Lee as Erismena and Charlotte Page as Aldimira, their voices blending and twining with heady beauty.
The venue, though, was far from ideal. However attractive the baroque church of St Sepulchre-without-Newgate may be, its acoustic is cavernous and its sight lines appalling. Unless you are sitting dead centre, pillars and pulpits block your view. These shortcomings, for some, wrecked the impact of an exceptionally fine evening.
