''Armida'' is an

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

by British composer Judith Weir. It premiered on 25 December 2005 as a television broadcast on the UK station,

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

which had commissioned the work. The English

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

, also written by Weir, is loosely based on the story of Rinaldo and Armida, in

Torquato Tasso Torquato Tasso ( , also , ; 11 March 154425 April 1595) was an Italian poet of the 16th century, known for his 1591 poem ''Gerusalemme liberata'' (Jerusalem Delivered), in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between ...

's 1581 epic poem set in the

First Crusade The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Islamic ru ...

, '' La Gerusalemme liberata'' (''Jerusalem Delivered''). Armida had been a highly popular subject for operas in the 18th and early 19th Centuries, but only rarely afterwards. In Weir's 50-minute-long opera, the setting is updated to a modern Middle-East conflict which alludes to but never specifically mentions the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

. Rinaldo, Tasso's

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

knight, becomes an army officer conflicted about his love for peace and his duty as a soldier. Armida, Tasso's beautiful

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

sorceress, becomes a high-powered television journalist, equally conflicted by her profession as a war reporter in her occupied country. She enters the army camp, ostensibly to interview the soldiers, but with the intention of subverting them. When she and Rinaldo fall in love, she spirits him away in her news helicopter to an enchanted

Moorish The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or se ...

city. His fellow soldiers try to free him, but Rinaldo no longer has an appetite for combat. In the end, love triumphs as both journalism and soldiering are replaced by what Weir calls in her libretto "cultivation and repose". Rinaldo and his comrades start growing flowers and vegetables in the desert. Armida's employer, Metropolis News, decides to stop covering wars and specialise in gardening shows. The instrumental score was written for

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays notes an octave bel ...

soprano saxophone The soprano saxophone is a higher-register variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument invented in the 1840s. The soprano is the third-smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists (from smallest to largest) of the soprillo, sop ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

, piano and

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

Judith Weir: Armida

Chester Novello Wise Music Group is a global music publisher, with headquarters in Berners Street, London. In February 2020, Wise Music Group changed its name from The Music Sales Group. In 2014 Wise Music Group (as The Music Sales Group) acquired French cla ...

music publishers. and was performed in the premiere by The Continuum Ensemble conducted by Philip Headlam. The title role was sung by American soprano Talise Trevigne while the American tenor,

Kenneth Tarver Kenneth Tarver is an American operatic tenor, born in Detroit. He has appeared at some of the world's most prestigious opera houses, such as the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Municipal Theatre of Santiago in Chile (as Lindoro in ''L'Italiana in ...

sang Rinaldo. The production, filmed in

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

, was directed by Margaret Williams.Photographs of the production and commentary
on the official web site of The Continuum Ensemble The opera was also the subject of a 2005 documentary film, ''Judith Weir: Armida and Other Stories'', directed by Teresa Griffiths.Judith Weir: Armida and Other Stories
on the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

database The world stage premiere of ''Armida'' was February 2019 in Manchester at the Martin Harris Centre, with students of the University portraying the characters. Armida and Rinaldo were played by Katie Emanuel and Zahid Siddiqui. The production was conducted by Anna Beresford and directed by Emily Tandy.MUMS Opera Project
Manchester University Music Society (2019).

Roles

References

{{Authority control Operas 2005 operas Operas for television English-language operas Operas by Judith Weir One-act operas Iraq War in fiction