Francesco Cavalli (1602-1676): La Calisto

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Francesco Cavalli (1602-1676): La Calisto
dramma per musica in a prologue and three acts on a libretto by Giovanni Faustini, after Ovid's Metamorphoses

Directed by: Mariame Clément
Sets and costumes: Julia Hansen
Lighting: Marion Hewlett

With:
Elena Tsallagova, Calisto
Vivica Genaux, Eternity / Diane
Giovanni Battista Parodi, Jupiter
Nikolay Borchev, Mercury
Filippo Mineccia, Endymion
Raffaella Milanesi, Destiny / Juno
Guy de Mey, Lymphée
Vasily Khoroshev, the little Satyr
Lawrence Olsworth-Peter, Nature / Pan
Jaroslaw Kitala, Sylvain
Tatiana Zolotikova and Yasmina Favre, two Furies

Les Talents Lyriques
Musical direction, harpsichord and organ: Christophe Rousset.

There was certainly no dull moment in the festive, libertarian and impertinent Venice of the mid-17th century. In this city where Carnival lasted six months and which saw the proliferation of theatres that it had invented a few years earlier, where everyone could pay for their ticket to attend shows that until then were reserved only for princely courts, La Calisto created in 1651 bears witness to this.

Inspired by one of Ovid's Metamorphoses, Giovanni Faustini's abundant libretto tells the misadventures of the nymph Calisto, Diana's attendant, on whom Jupiter has set his sights but who refuses him, wanting to preserve both her chastity and above all her freedom. On the advice of the faithful Mercury, Jupiter takes on the appearance of Diana and it works! Here is Calisto all excited by these physical effusions and frankly seduced by the one she believes to be her mistress, obviously attracting the opprobrium of the real Diana when she suggests to repeat them. While by a reverse misunderstanding, the shepherd Endymion in love with Diana shows himself attracted to Jupiter in disguise, Juno, always in pursuit of the infidelities of her fickle husband, unmasks the deception and takes revenge by transforming Calisto into a bear. Unable to undo what his wife has decided, Jupiter will soften the fate of the unfortunate Calisto by sending her to the sky to become the constellation of the Great Bear. Sapphic caresses and homosexual temptations, Diane's follower Lymphée tormented by the desire for sex and motherhood despite her vow of chastity, Diane herself sensitive to the charms of Endymion, Pan's rutting troupe and his procession of Satyrs, very explicit bawdy allusions - "You disdain me because I have a tender little tail that has not finished growing" reproaches the little Satyr to Lymphée who pushes him away - the libretto stops at nothing to approach love, and particularly carnal love, in all its facets.