Lamentation and Retribution

For the past five years, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden have devoted a portion of each November to Barocktage, a celebration of operas from the earliest days of the form to the opera seria that predominated throughout the eighteenth century. Each year has featured at least one high-profile new production, often involving celebrated directors and lavish sets, and invariably featuring first-rate singers and renowned period performance ensembles. This year the rarity on offer was Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s Médée; and while the staging of Peter Sellars brought the classical tragedy into the twenty-first century, it was the opera itself that proved to be the star of the evening. The cast, led by Magdalena Kožená’s dramatic reading of the title character, and the Freiburger Barockorchester under the direction of Sir Simon Rattle made a strong…