Maestro Patrick Quigley and Lauren Snouffer

(photo by Jennifer Packard)

It is always an exciting event when the D.C. based Opera Lafayette comes to town. They always introduce us to music with which we are unfamiliar, concentrating as they do on the 18th century. Furthermore, the scholarship is impressive since it puts the music into historical perspective and offers a new way of appreciating it. What a compelling idea it was to compare music written by men for castrati with music written by women for female voices. We confess that we had never heard of any 18th century female composers! What a discovery!

The first half of the program opened with Gluck's "Se mai senti spirarti sul volto" from La clemenza di Tito, based on the same tale which Mozart would later put to good use. Soprano Lauren Snouffer sang with bright clear tone and lovely phrasing, but we yearned for her to step away from the music stand. Although other audience members may not mind, we find it disconcerting when a singer keeps looking down and turning pages.

We remember Ms. Snouffer from small roles in years gone by. Exactly eight years ago we wrote favorably about her role as Amor in another Gluck opera--Orfeo ed Euridice. Even before that we found her charming as a winsome pig (!) in a contemporary opera for children presented at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. But we have vague memories from when we first began writing of her standing out in a gorgeous duet in Strauss' Dafne, perhaps at a summer music festival. So, it comes as no surprise that her career has flourished abroad and at venues outside of New York. It is sad that New York City has no mid-sized opera company or suitable theater to keep emerging artists right here.

Her fine vocal instrument competed with a solo oboe in J.C. Bach's concert aria "Ebben si vada...Io ti lascio". We loved the way they alternated on the same melodic pattern and then "sang" in duet.

The second half of the program introduced us to two female composers who impressed us with their unique voices. Maria Antonia Walpurgis (what interesting associations we have for that name!) was a princess, composer, patron of the arts, and a singer as well. She wrote an opera Talestri, regina delle Amazzoni from which we heard the overture and an aria "Vado, ma il core, o Dio!". In spite of the loathed music stand, the passion of the aria, especially the brief fury of the middle section, brought Ms. Snouffer's involvement with the audience to its peak. 

Maria Martines was a celebrated intellectual in Viennese society, famed for her composition and keyboard skills. Ms. Snouffer performed her concert aria "Berenice, a che fai?" which offered many opportunities for coloration, embellishment of the vocal line, and strength in the lower register.

We should mention how much we appreciated the projected titles which were consistently visible and made linguistic sense. We would love to hear more of the compositions by Walpurgis and Martines and we would love to hear Ms. Snouffer again  without a music stand.

The program also included some fine orchestral writing by (Franz) Joseph Haydn. Maestro Patrick Quigley took firm command of his orchestral forces, comprising mainly strings but also the aforementioned oboe played by Dan Bates, a flute and bassoon doubling on recorder, a pair or horns, a fortepiano, and a harpsichord.

As is true of every visit from Opera Lafayette, we felt educated as well as entertained. There is so much worthy music that the public never gets to hear.

© meche kroop