Notwithstanding the fact that by then the Vespers already existed, it is nigh irresistible to associate it with Monteverdi’s move to St Mark’s. In part this is because of the impact of the landmark recording that John Eliot Gardiner made there in 1989. But it is also because a kind of sonic imprint, if not of St Mark’s itself, then at least of the grand religious architecture of the Counter-Reformation, is written into the work’s very score. Concerted, antiphonal, and echo effects abound. This is a work that evokes a particular sense of space as much as a particular historical moment. 

That historical moment is, of course, equally as striking. It may have been written with a church position in mind, but it was also a time when the wider influence of the church was inexorably giving way to rising Enlightenment secularism. These two world-historical forces meet in Monteverdi’s score through his use of renaissance polyphony and medieval plainchant alongside an instrumental basso-continuo and its associated monody style. That Monteverdi is fundamentally looking to the musical future, however, is clear from its first few bars which quote extensively from the opening of his opera L’Orfeo (1607).

I first encountered the work in my student days in a 1960 edition by the British musicologist Denis Stevens. Among other curiosities, in noting that cornetti players were hard to find, Stevens’s editorial note suggested these parts could be performed by oboes or clarinets. Performance practice and performing skills alike have come a long way in the years since, but the truth remains that mounting a performance remains, as a review article in Gramophone magazine recently put it ‘modern-day early music’. As Mantel was suggesting more broadly, we must always create this music, not merely recreate it.

Pinchgut Opera's Vespers (Peter Rubie)

The artistic challenges that arise in doing so were mostly surmounted by Pinchgut in the performance it brought from Sydney to the Melbourne Recital Hall. Ironically, for a work so associated with acoustic space, the problems that did arise did so mostly because of the way the singers were arranged in a wide arc behind the orchestra on the Elisabeth Murdoch Hall stage. 

It is of course a now well-accepted view that the Vespers was likely to have been conceived with just soloists (and not a choir) in mind, but when choosing to perform it in this way, it obviously also becomes necessary for the singers also to be able to project as soloists. Placed as they were here, however, their sound lost focus and their ability to project both the text and a full dynamic range was significantly lessened. This was no doubt an unintended result, but it was also ironic given Monteverdi’s own stipulation that performances of his music should always be ‘prima le parole, poi la musica’ – first the words, then the music.

Pinchgut Opera's Vespers (Albert Comper)

In almost every other respect, however, we were treated to a first-rate performance. Vocalists and instrumentalists alike were uniformly excellent, with standout solo performances from baritone David Greco (whose bright tone enabled his final ‘Gloria’ to cut through), tenor Louis Hurley, and from cornettists Matthew Manchester and John Foster. The whole ensemble was directed with a clear musical vision and consummate finesse from a chamber organ by Pinchgut’s Artistic Director, Erin Helyard. If, as Helyard suggested in his opening remarks, Pinchgut is looking to expand its offerings in Melbourne, there is little doubt that this would be wholly welcomed.

Pinchgut Opera presented Monteverdi’s Vespers at City Recital Hall, Sydney on 20 –21 March 2021 and at the Melbourne Recital Hall on March 25. Performance attended: March 25.