And now, Lyonel's aria, one of the most famous arias from Friedrich von Flotow's 'romantic comic' opera, Martha. Before I start on anything at all, I adore this man's voice. As I've said before in the Nina entry, I love the fact that at first you feel like you're listening to a baritone, until he hits those glorious high notes. I'd be really interested to see him in a baritone role at some point...I wonder whether he could handle it?
Set in England in 1710, Martha is nice and stereotypical and begins with...wait for it...a disguise! Lady Harriet, bored with her life and suitor, Sir Tristan, decides to mix it up a bit. She and her maid go incognito as country girls 'Martha' and 'Julia' to a country fair. Brilliantly, Sir Tristan is persuaded to go as 'Farmer Bob'. In a slightly creepy twist, the country girls are auctioned off for work at the highest bidder's farm; and brothers Plunkett and Lyonel win Martha and Julia. There is much confusion involving farmwork, Farmer Bob, a group of hunters and the Queen herself - but all ends happily with Lady Harriet's bizarre behavior being forgiven Lyonel being made the Earl of Derby, and Plunkett marrying Nancy aka Julia. Brilliant.
The interesting thing about this piece, by German composer von Flotow, is that it is so typically french. An interesting twist that may help to explain this, is that Flotow's musical training was all French, hence why the lyrical line of the melody is something that you'd expect from the tip of Massenet's quill. It's slightly unnerving therefore to here the German lyrics...but it's so beautiful that in the end you don't really mind.
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