Beauty’s Truth is an adaptation of G.F. Handel's oratorio The Time of Triumph and Truth by Aaron Hunt
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Director's Notes:
At twenty-two, Handel composed his first oratorio, in Italian, Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno. More than fifty years and several iterations later, it was also Handel’s last oratorio, now written in English and retitled, The Time of Triumph and Truth. As originally written for four soloists, this morality story is very much of its time, when myth and allegory provided rich, subtle meaning to spoken and written storytelling utilizing established archetypes such as Beauty, Time, and Pleasure. Herein, Beauty is the everyman character on a journey from worldly amusements to the more secure rewards born of moral and psychological understanding and self-perception. (Ruth Smith 2008)
Just before his death, Handel completed his final version, replete with the choruses for which he was then known, new arias, and a new character. Winton Dean has calculated that Handel borrowed from twenty of his other works to complete the revised The Time of Triumph and Truth to his satisfaction. (Watkins Shaw 1983) Moreover, by 1757 the libretto was now primarily a Christian morality tale with many of the psychological insights downplayed.
In my version, we have returned to the original 1707 text as the inspiration for the production, and refurbished the story to show Beauty on a journey that brings her into a social consciousness, and on her own terms, rather than a Christian allegory. The characters that assist her here, (Time and Truth), and the characters that stand in her way, (Pleasure and Deceit), do not rob her of her agency. She makes her decisions, not born of fear of Time’s ravages or Pleasure’s renunciation, but because, through steady council and concentrated effort, she has learned to know herself, and therefore sees a different place for herself in humanity’s social fabric. At the same time, I have tried to incorporate some of the best music of the first version along with that of the final version, giving the listener the opportunity to enjoy both the fledgling composer whose works were heavily influenced by the Italian school of that time, and the mature composer whose works helped to define his time.
-Aaron Hunt
The Genealogy of Beauty’s Truth
1706 – Handel arrives in Rome
1707 – Composed Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, his first oratorio
1712 – Handel moves to London
1725 – Cardinal Benetto Pamphili (the original librettist for Il trionfo) revised it and called this work Il Trionfo del Tempo nella Belleze Ravvenduta
1737 - Il Trionfo del Tempo e della Verità, still partially based on Pamphili’s text, but with several additional numbers wholly or partially set as choruses
1757 - The Time of Triumph and Truth ‘Altered from the Italian with several new Additions’, (translations and versifications by Thomas Morell), contained most of the music of the 1737 version, two revised arias from the original 1707 work, and eight other movements (seven of them increasing the role of the chorus), and a different overture.
1758 – The Time of Triumph and Truth ‘With Several New Additions’, the final version with five added arias
The Cast of Beauty's Truth
Beauty - Teaira Burge
Time - David Govertsen
Pleasure - Ryan Townsend Strand
Deceit - Mary Govertsen
Counsel - Jonathan Wilson
Director - Aaron Hunt
Music Director - Sarah Jenks
Producing Artistic Director Aaron Hunt directs, with musical direction by Resident Music Director Sarah Jenks, audio design by Brent Morden, and video design by James Conrad Smith.
At twenty-two, Handel composed his first oratorio, in Italian, Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno. More than fifty years and several iterations later, it was also Handel’s last oratorio, now written in English and retitled, The Time of Triumph and Truth. As originally written for four soloists, this morality story is very much of its time, when myth and allegory provided rich, subtle meaning to spoken and written storytelling utilizing established archetypes such as Beauty, Time, and Pleasure. Herein, Beauty is the everyman character on a journey from worldly amusements to the more secure rewards born of moral and psychological understanding and self-perception. (Ruth Smith 2008)
Just before his death, Handel completed his final version, replete with the choruses for which he was then known, new arias, and a new character. Winton Dean has calculated that Handel borrowed from twenty of his other works to complete the revised The Time of Triumph and Truth to his satisfaction. (Watkins Shaw 1983) Moreover, by 1757 the libretto was now primarily a Christian morality tale with many of the psychological insights downplayed.
In my version, we have returned to the original 1707 text as the inspiration for the production, and refurbished the story to show Beauty on a journey that brings her into a social consciousness, and on her own terms, rather than a Christian allegory. The characters that assist her here, (Time and Truth), and the characters that stand in her way, (Pleasure and Deceit), do not rob her of her agency. She makes her decisions, not born of fear of Time’s ravages or Pleasure’s renunciation, but because, through steady council and concentrated effort, she has learned to know herself, and therefore sees a different place for herself in humanity’s social fabric. At the same time, I have tried to incorporate some of the best music of the first version along with that of the final version, giving the listener the opportunity to enjoy both the fledgling composer whose works were heavily influenced by the Italian school of that time, and the mature composer whose works helped to define his time.
-Aaron Hunt
The Genealogy of Beauty’s Truth
1706 – Handel arrives in Rome
1707 – Composed Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, his first oratorio
1712 – Handel moves to London
1725 – Cardinal Benetto Pamphili (the original librettist for Il trionfo) revised it and called this work Il Trionfo del Tempo nella Belleze Ravvenduta
1737 - Il Trionfo del Tempo e della Verità, still partially based on Pamphili’s text, but with several additional numbers wholly or partially set as choruses
1757 - The Time of Triumph and Truth ‘Altered from the Italian with several new Additions’, (translations and versifications by Thomas Morell), contained most of the music of the 1737 version, two revised arias from the original 1707 work, and eight other movements (seven of them increasing the role of the chorus), and a different overture.
1758 – The Time of Triumph and Truth ‘With Several New Additions’, the final version with five added arias
The Cast of Beauty's Truth
Beauty - Teaira Burge
Time - David Govertsen
Pleasure - Ryan Townsend Strand
Deceit - Mary Govertsen
Counsel - Jonathan Wilson
Director - Aaron Hunt
Music Director - Sarah Jenks
Producing Artistic Director Aaron Hunt directs, with musical direction by Resident Music Director Sarah Jenks, audio design by Brent Morden, and video design by James Conrad Smith.
MEET OUT ARTISTS
Teaira Burge is a Chicago based crossover performer who has developed a reputation as a versatile performing artist throughout opera, musical theater, and operetta productions. Since moving to Chicago in 2013, Teaira has had the pleasure of performing with several local companies, including Music Theater Works, New Moon Opera, The Floating Opera Company, Petite Opera Productions, The Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company of Chicago, and Chicago Folks Operetta. Teaira obtained her Master of Music degree from the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University and is a student of Judith Haddon.Teaira also works as a teaching artist at Bubbles Academy, where she teaches Preschool Preparation, Creative Movement, Bubble Ballet, and Art + Music to students ages 1-5 years old. When she is not singing, dancing, or playing the ukulele for toddlers, Teaira is most likely cheering with PomSquad Fitness, attending bluegrass concerts, saving pictures of poodles to her phone, or eating her weight in salted caramel ice cream.
Chicago native David Govertsen has been active as a professional singer for nearly twenty years, portraying a wide variety of opera’s low-voiced heroes, villains, and buffoons. Mr. Govertsen has appeared as a soloist with numerous local and regional opera companies, including Lyric Opera of Chicago, Santa Fe Opera, Tulsa Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, and the Haymarket Opera Company. He is a member of the vocal chamber quartet Fourth Coast Ensemble, performing art song in Chicago and throughout the Midwest.
As a concert soloist Mr. Govertsen has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Grant Park Orchestra, Santa Fe Symphony and Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival among many others. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2011 as the Herald in Otello with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Riccardo Muti. He is an alumnus of the Ryan Opera Center and the Santa Fe Opera and Central City Opera apprentice programs and holds degrees from Northwestern University, Northern Illinois University and the College of DuPage. Mr. Govertsen is currently on faculty at North Park University, Valparaiso University, Lewis University and the College of DuPage.
As a concert soloist Mr. Govertsen has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Grant Park Orchestra, Santa Fe Symphony and Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival among many others. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2011 as the Herald in Otello with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Riccardo Muti. He is an alumnus of the Ryan Opera Center and the Santa Fe Opera and Central City Opera apprentice programs and holds degrees from Northwestern University, Northern Illinois University and the College of DuPage. Mr. Govertsen is currently on faculty at North Park University, Valparaiso University, Lewis University and the College of DuPage.
Ryan Townsend Strand, tenor, is a Minnesota native whose "beautiful vocalism" (San Francisco Chronicle) and "...attractive nimble tenor” (Chicago Classical Review) have afforded him a budding career as a concert and oratorio soloist. Highlights of the 2020-2021 season include returning to Haymarket Opera Company to perform Handel’s Acis and Galatea in October, debuting with the Illinois Philharmonic as the tenor soloist for Handel’s Messiah in December, and continuing his performances of Bach’s Cantatas this sea with the Bach Vespers at Grace Lutheran Church in River Forest, IL.
A passionate performer of Bach, Strand sang the tenor arias in the St. John Passion with the Elmhurst Symphony in March, a highlight of his spring. He also made his debut last season as Endymion in Bach’s secular Hunt Cantata under the baton of Nicholas Kramer with Music of the Baroque alongside mezzo-soprano Allyson McHardy.
Strand made his professional Chicago opera debut in Haymarket Opera Theater’s production of Alessandro Scarlatti’s Gli equivoci nel sembiante (Armindo). With his passion for the next generation of singers, Strand was cast as Frederick in Pirates of Penzance with Opera for the Young, touring throughout the Midwest for elementary school audiences. Opera credits include productions of Così fan tutte (Ferrando) with Transgressive Theater-Opera & Elmhurst Symphony; Mark Adamo’s Little Women (Laurie), Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea (Nero), and Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath (Al Joad) with Northwestern Opera Theater. He would have made his onstage debut at Lyric Opera of Chicago this spring in Richard Wagner’s Götterdämmerung prior to COVID-19.
Strand is a founding member and executive director of Constellation Men’s Ensemble in Chicago.
A passionate performer of Bach, Strand sang the tenor arias in the St. John Passion with the Elmhurst Symphony in March, a highlight of his spring. He also made his debut last season as Endymion in Bach’s secular Hunt Cantata under the baton of Nicholas Kramer with Music of the Baroque alongside mezzo-soprano Allyson McHardy.
Strand made his professional Chicago opera debut in Haymarket Opera Theater’s production of Alessandro Scarlatti’s Gli equivoci nel sembiante (Armindo). With his passion for the next generation of singers, Strand was cast as Frederick in Pirates of Penzance with Opera for the Young, touring throughout the Midwest for elementary school audiences. Opera credits include productions of Così fan tutte (Ferrando) with Transgressive Theater-Opera & Elmhurst Symphony; Mark Adamo’s Little Women (Laurie), Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea (Nero), and Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath (Al Joad) with Northwestern Opera Theater. He would have made his onstage debut at Lyric Opera of Chicago this spring in Richard Wagner’s Götterdämmerung prior to COVID-19.
Strand is a founding member and executive director of Constellation Men’s Ensemble in Chicago.
Mary Lutz-Govertsen as Deceit
Roles at TT-O Count Ory, Countess Adele, 2019 Letters of Love and Subterfuge/Le Nozze di Figaro Act II, 2019 The Consul, Anna Gomez, 2019 Cosi Fan Tutte, Fiordiligi, 2018 A Few Words About Chekov, Olga Knipper, 2016 The Telephone, Lucy, 2015 Hello Out There, A Girl (Emily), 2015 |
Mary Lutz-Govertsen, a "formidable soprano [who] seems to defy categorization (Vocal Arts Chicago, 5/25/16)" is an active young soprano in the Chicago opera and classical music scene. She has performed with numerous Chicago-area and Midwest companies, including Third Eye Theater Ensemble, Transgressive Theater-Opera, Windy City Opera, Chamber Opera Chicago, Verismo Opera, Main Street Opera, OperaModa, Opera for the Young, the DuPage Symphony and Chorale, the Music Institute of Chicago, Katydid Opera, and Chicago Symphony Chorus. Her roles include Alice Ford/Falstaff, Lucia/Lucia di Lammermoor; Donna Anna/Don Giovanni; Fiordiligi/Così fan tutte; Rosalinde/Die Fledermaus; Adele/Le Comte Ory; Heroines/Les Contes d’Hoffmann; First Lady/The Magic Flute; Mimi and Musetta/La bohème, Madame Lidoine/The Dialogues of the Carmelites; Female Chorus/The Rape of Lucretia; and Mlle. Silberklang/Der Schauspieldirektor, among others. She has been an apprentice at Opera New Jersey, where she covered the role of Clorinda/La Cenerentola and at Opera Cedar Rapids, as Fiordiligi/Cosi fan tutte. Lutz-Govertsen has been an avid performer of 20th and 21st century works since her time at Northwestern University, where she sang the role of Deborah Metcalfe in the inaugural workshop production of T.J Anderson's opera Slip Knot. She is currently a member of VOX3, where she recently sang John Musto's song cycle Penelope, and is a frequent performer with Third Eye Theater Ensemble, a Chicago company dedicated to presenting modern opera that addresses relevant social issues. Her contemporary opera roles include Anna Eingold in Joshua Bornfield's opera Uncle Alex, Almera in Nico Muhly's Dark Sisters, and Mabrouka in Mohammed Fairouz's Sumeida's Song. She lives in Chicagoland with her husband, bass-baritone David Govertsen and son Ben.
Jonathan Wilson is always thrilled to perform with Transgressive-Theatre Opera after playing Peter Semyonych in their production of The Seduction of a Lady by Richard Wargo as part of A Chekhov Trio. An enthusiast of contemporary opera, Jonathan recently performed the role of John Brooke in Mark Adamo’s Little Women with Chicago Vocal Arts Consortium, and he was excited to perform in the midwestern premiere of Hilliard’s and Boresi’s charming comedic opera, The Filthy Habit (Gil), with Third Eye Theatre Ensemble and the world premiere of the full length work, Cosmic Ray and the Amazing Chris (Quintar, Nerd 2), with Thompson Street Opera Company.
Last November Jonathan made his Chicago Fringe Opera debut as Hannah Before in As One, a chamber opera wherein two singers, a mezzo-soprano and a baritone, depict the experiences of its sole transgender protagonist, Hannah, as she endeavors to resolve the discord between her own self and the outside world.At home in many musical styles, Jonathan also recently appeared in Theo Ubique’s 2017 Jeff Award-winning production of the musical The Most Happy Fella (Ciccio, Jake) in Chicago. Other musical theatre and operetta performances include Assassins (Zangara) with Petite Opera Productions, several productions with The Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company of Chicago, and multiple productions of Monty Python’s Spamalot.Outside of performing,
Jonathan is passionate about math and science and holds degrees from the University of Illinois and University of Michigan in physics, mathematics, and electromagnetics. He has worked as a radio frequency electrical engineer and a lecturer of physics, astronomy, and Earth science. He greatly admires the creative overlap between the scientific and musical arts to explore the intricacy, complexity, and beauty of the world.
Last November Jonathan made his Chicago Fringe Opera debut as Hannah Before in As One, a chamber opera wherein two singers, a mezzo-soprano and a baritone, depict the experiences of its sole transgender protagonist, Hannah, as she endeavors to resolve the discord between her own self and the outside world.At home in many musical styles, Jonathan also recently appeared in Theo Ubique’s 2017 Jeff Award-winning production of the musical The Most Happy Fella (Ciccio, Jake) in Chicago. Other musical theatre and operetta performances include Assassins (Zangara) with Petite Opera Productions, several productions with The Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company of Chicago, and multiple productions of Monty Python’s Spamalot.Outside of performing,
Jonathan is passionate about math and science and holds degrees from the University of Illinois and University of Michigan in physics, mathematics, and electromagnetics. He has worked as a radio frequency electrical engineer and a lecturer of physics, astronomy, and Earth science. He greatly admires the creative overlap between the scientific and musical arts to explore the intricacy, complexity, and beauty of the world.