![]() ![]() But, at night Sextus entered her bedroom by stealth, quietly going around the slaves who were sleeping at her door. Rembrandt van Rijn, Lucretia, 1666, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN, USA. The Christian perspective at end of the opera is difficult and raises all sorts of questions, not least of which is if Tarquinius is forgiven, where does this leave Lucretia? In the final bars, Furness has the padre break open a holy phial and anoint the medic, taking water from the basin and pouring it over her head, which he held back by the hair in an uncomfortable and shockingly tight grasp.Ī tale of rape is never going to be a comfortable night at the opera, but the effect of the ancient story on the male and female chorus had us in deep discussion on the journey home. Lucretia was Collatinus’ wife, who received him as an honored guest. ![]() The production’s take on the chorus was fascinating: the padre oversteps his counselling role making occasional tentative advances on the medic throughout, which she repels, but the balance of physical interaction sees the man dominate the woman. husband of Lucretia distant cousin of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus and Sextus Tarquinius. Musicians and singers created a tight-knit ensemble with some heartbreakingly beautiful moments, the dense libretto mostly clear. In the pit, conductor Lionel Friend drew a first-rate performance from his band, the exposed players getting to grips with the delicate nuances so important in this work, building tension with minute attention to detail. Oskar McCarthy’s plotting Junius, MacArthur Alewel’s resonant bass as a fiery Collatinus and the huge menacing figure of splendid baritone Joylon Loy’s Tarquinius made a formidable ensemble. Roman soldier Junius sees political advantage, suggesting to the obsessed Etruscan Tarquinius that “Virtue in women is a lack of opportunity”, setting Tarquinius off on his city escapade, swimming the filthy Tiber. Physically shattered by her military role and deeply conflicted by issues of religion and duty, her clear robust soprano added depth and an inner strength to the character.Ī trio of off-duty soldiers camped outside Rome hear rumours about their wives in the city being unfaithful with husbands away fighting the cause, except Collatinus’ wife Lucretia who remains virtuous. Horgan’s silvery tenor breathed a padre’s wise council, but it was the more disturbed Richardson’s performance that drew the attention. The legend of Lucretia-a woman who was sexually violated and therefore shamed her male kinsmen who then took revenge against the rapist and his family-was used not only in the Roman republic to represent proper womanly virtue, but was used by many writers and artists in later times.Robin Horgan and Charlotte Richardson were our excellent guides to the scene in Rome, almost Shakespearean commentators, detached from the action at first but eventually overwhelmed by the powerful story. Lucretia's brother and husband are the first Roman consuls. Her uncle and husband are leaders of the revolution and the newly-established republic. Her rape is thus the trigger for the Roman revolution. When her body is publicly displayed, it reminds many others in Rome of acts of violence by the king's family. Brutus, her uncle, declares that they will drive the king and all his family from Rome and never have a king in Rome again. Though the men try to convince her that she bears no dishonor, she disagrees and kills herself, her "punishment" for losing her honor. She submits, but in the morning calls her father, husband, and uncle to her, and she tells them how she has "lost her honor" and demands that they avenge her rape. She shows herself to be unafraid of death, and then he threatens that he will kill her and place her nude body next to the nude body of a servant, bringing shame on her family as this will imply adultery with her social inferior. Fearing posthumous disgrace when Tarquin threatened to kill both her and a male slave and make it appear that she had been caught in adultery with the slave. 3 Afterwards, although she was the victim, Lucretia committed suicide. When everyone else is asleep in the house, he goes to Lucretia's bedroom and threatens her with a sword, demanding and begging that she submit to his advances. The virtuous Lucretia was raped by Sextus Tarquinius, the son of the tyrannical king of Rome, in the 6th century BC. Several days later, Sextus Tarquinius goes to Collatinus' home and is given hospitality. The wife of Collatinus, Lucretia, is behaving virtuously, while the wives of the king's sons are not. They decide to surprise their wives to see how they behave when they are not expecting their husbands. The story begins with a drinking bet between some young men at the home of Sextus Tarquinius, a son of the king of Rome. ![]()
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