AVERY GRAND OPERA
A superb production – 107 years in waiting – showcased Ireland’s own classical pedigree
The performance of Robert O’Dwyer’s Irish-language opera Eithne on October 14 was a triumph of musicality, performance and dedication. It’s a pity that this bracing work could only have a single concert performance, not a fully staged one. A great deal of credit goes to baritone Gavan Ring, whose research on the work was a major factor in its thoroughly deserved revival after 107 years. But it made for a great experience, and a realisation that opera is not the foreign interloper it has often been considered in Ireland.
Eithne was last performed in 1910, but in the following years it got caught in the lethal tug o’war between extreme nationalism and the association of classical music purely with English and European composers. Despite the best efforts of men like Douglas Hyde and others in the Gaelic League and the Feis Ceoil, Irish classical music never achieved the status of Irish literary work during the Celtic revival.
This latest production was an extraordinary step up for Opera Theatre Company, which usu- ally works within strictly limited budgets. Eithne demanded the full National Symphony Orchestra, large choirs of male and female singers and nine outstanding soloists in the main roles, including Gavan Ring, Orla Boylan, Robin Tritschler, Imelda Drumm, and John Molloy, all singing in Irish.
It’s a hugely ambitious work and the music is unmistakably in the romantic mould of the 19th century, with decided echoes of Wagner in its orchestration and its mythological story.
The female choir at times sounded like the Rhine maidens from The Ring cycle.
Amid the dense orchestral surge there was some fine exposed playing from the flutes, clarinets and the harp. The libretto, a mixture of Oisín in Tír na nÓg and other Irish myths, by the priest Tomás Ó Ceallaigh, is a bit short on dramatic power, especially in the first act, but when John Molloy’s powerful bass-baritone giant confronted Robin Tritchler’s rich lyric tenor hero, things were spruced up considerably.
The odd combination of a sad and happy ending was a long way from the misfortunes of Irish legends, but the overall effect was of a production that showed how the Irish language and grand opera can co-exist comfortably. And Opera Theatre Company printed the text in Irish and English in the programme, as well as providing English surtitles. A memorable night for Irish classical music and performers.
‘Amid the dense orchestral surge there was some fine playing on flutes, clarinets and harps’