Armida is sixteenth century Italian poet Torquato Tasso’s fiery tragic heroine from his epic The Liberaton of Jerusalem, a tale that at face value is about the Crusades. Tasso’s point was not to illuminate the history of the 11thcentury, but rather to write an allegory urging Alfonso d’Este, the duke of Ferrara in Tasso’s time, to take action against the Turkish invasions of what is now northern Italy. Thus, Tasso wrote a story illuminating political concerns and peppering them with themes of fantasy, magic, female power and prowess, and, ultimately, death. His greatest achievement in the piece was the creation of a sympathetic female heroine from “the wrong side” that has provided endless inspiration for dramatists.
There are several operas that take on Armida as a main character. Monteverdi’s opera Armida abbandonata from the early 17thcentury was incomplete or lost. Jean-Baptiste Lully’s 1686 Armideis the first known opera about this fascinating woman. Handel’s 1711 work Rinaldoglorifies her power by providing what I would call one of the most fiery musical entrances ever written for a female only see her transform later into a simple, weeping broken-hearted woman. By contrast, Hadyn’s Armida, written around 70 years later, starts at the peak of the heroine’s love affair with Rinaldo and tracks her emotional downfall into hellish action as caused by his betrayal.
Armida’s trajectory as tragic heroine is therefore unique in Haydn’s portrayal. Her magic, fueled by the myrtle tree, is central to keeping order. Her greatest power is the ability to drug warriors into a state of love-sickness as she has done with Rinaldo. With this power she can weaken armies, thereby allowing her co-dependent uncle Idreno to overtake them with his own army. She feels trapped by her duty to Idreno, and his plans to send Rinaldo to fight against his own European camp are cause for her alarm. To support Rinaldo’s efforts to ensure the security of her country means relinquishing her power of love over him and accepting his possible death in battle.
Another fascinating aspect of Hadyn’s telling of the story is Rinaldo’s independence. As the opera progresses the seemingly weak, punch-drunk European warrior becomes autonomous. Despite being “drugged” by Armida’s powers of love, he comes to make his own decisions about his future and is torn between loyalty to his homeland and fidelity to a woman he has come to love in earnest. He transforms from manipulated lover to restored warrior for the “correct” side of the battle.
Perhaps what draws so many to Armida’s story are the vast amounts of emotional depth that are possible in portraying this “free woman”. She is not necessarily human, certainly not a goddess, has the marks of a Queen, is a pagan magician and seductress, and, we come to discover, holds the power of hell in her hands. She is the anti-ingénue. Yet when it comes to love it is her fallibility that inspires sympathy.
Other characters in the drama help to form the communities that exist on both sides. Ubaldo is Rinaldo’s closest friend who succeeds in bringing the latter back to his sense of self. Their comrade Clotarco falls for the magical Zelmira, but sadly their love affair, although pure, is cut short when Idreno discovers Zelmira’s betrayal.
Like so many other pieces from this era of opera, many of the gaps in the drama can only be filled through distinct character and design choices. Our approach to Haydn’s opera combines elements from across various periods in order to establish a timeless and other worldly atmosphere. The clothing is inspired by the Byzantine era coupled with lines from the 1930’s. The human world and the magical world are separated by texture and color, yet Armida is able to disguise herself as human while she is with Rinaldo. An atmosphere of sweeping fire that has destroyed the once-beautiful palace belonging to Armida is palpable. It is a malleable space, manipulated by Armida, which can at once create obstacles, define architecture or manipulate a person’s psyche. The intact structure high above the charred earth only exists because of the power of the myrtle tree: it is the last organic feature of Armida’s world and the key to her power. She guards this treasure carefully, but in the end cannot avoid Rinaldo’s desire to destroy it. She is then faced with a decision as to whether or not she will use her final strokes of power to destroy those who defy her, even her lover.
Australia, 2016