I’m a complete newbie when it comes to opera, but ever since I attended my first performance last season (La Traviata, at Pacific Opera Victoria) I’ve been entranced.

So I took advantage of the economies of scale, buying a season ticket for this season’s performances by Pacific Opera Victoria (POV).

First up was Cinderella in October: a smidge too long, (OK I’ll admit I found it insufferably long), a smidge too romantic for my taste. The costumes were great, the performances were wonderful, it was all good; it’s just the opera itself I wasn’t sucked into. I do much better with a tragedy like La Traviata (which has a great drinking song thrown in) or perhaps like Wagner’s Ring Cycle (which I’d love to see, at least in parts).

Opera is supposed to be melodramatic, right?

So I was more pleased with Rodelinda, which I attended this past Saturday at the matinee performance of POV.

The set was grey, foreboding, imposing, fortress-like, with lots of egresses and ingresses (including a ladder the characters put to good use) – indicative of the treachery ad intrigue of the libretto. The costumes were lavish, but with muted colours. The characters had lots of hair and wore fur to hide their swords and scabbards and personal agendas. Props included stones and bones in shades of grey, and the only real colour was the judicious use of bright red fabric to effect the bloodthirsty nature of palace politics. It was delightfully menacing.

I was surprised and pleased at this set, because this is a romantic opera, not a tragic one. However, the setting did not detract at all from the central story: the love and faithfulness of Rodelinda and her beloved king and husband Bertarido.

In fact, I was moved to tears by the duet between Rodelinda and Bertarido, one of the most beautiful pieces of music I’ve ever heard.

King Bertarido and his ally Unolfo were played by countertenors. To my newbie ear, their voices were an odd counterpoint to their characters: high ranges for male royalty. I never did really get used to it during the performance. I’ve since learned this choice was intentional:

The period flavour is enhanced by the presence of two accomplished countertenors, Gerald Thompson (as Bertarido) and Matthew White (as Unolfo), singing roles originally intended for castrati. Even without the ghastly surgical interventions of olden times, a rich, full voice in a woman’s range supported by a man’s body has an almost otherworldly effect.

It’s true – the effect was to put the two male protagonists in stark contrast to the antagonists: the conflicted Grimoaldo (tenor) and the evil Garibaldo (baritone).

By the way – for me the most compelling character in this opera is Grimoaldo. He has multiple layers and shades of grey. He wants Rodelinda with a dangerous passion, and he is deeply troubled by the thought of what he must do (at Garibaldo’s urging) in order to force her to marry him. After all, he wants her to want him too, and that he can never do. His anguish was palpable and moving. Bravo to Benjamin Butterfield for a fine performance.

So my emerging love affair with opera continues. Next time (for La Boheme in February) I will make sure to attend the popular “Inside Opera” talks at the University or at least the pre-performance lobby lectures offered by the POV — and I’ll bring lots of tissue.