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Article: The Modern `Lucretia';At Wolf Trap, Britten's Controversial Tale of Rome
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- August 1, 1988
- Author:
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"The Rape of Lucretia" by Benjamin Britten appeals to a fairly
specialized operatic taste, and it has not escaped criticism even
among devotees of modern opera. But the production playing at the
Barns of Wolf Trap (with one more performance tomorrow night) pleads
its cause as eloquently as one can imagine. The music is
beautiful-never more beautiful than in the stylized horror of the
rape scene itself-and it is performed exquisitely by a cast of highly
talented young singers under the baton of Cal Stewart Kellogg, who
has the style exactly right.
The staging, by Nicholas Muni, puts the ancient Roman story in a
modern context, with the male and female chorus (two solo singers who
turn ...