Dolhuys Kermis

A Madhouse Fair

A guided tour of the local psychiatric hospital, during which you can view and even touch the patients. Gawp at your fellow humans - for a price. Unimaginable? Yet, from the 15^th to 18^th centuries, this actually occurred at the so-called madhouses during the annual ‘Madhouse Fair’. OPERA2DAY revives this astonishing historical phenomenon in the former NEBO Hospital building on Scheveningseweg in The Hague, visitors embark on a musical journey past a series of heart-rending portraits. Touching vocal music merges with surprising theatre.

Lunacy or melancholy?

Not that long ago, anything outside of what was then considered desirable behaviour was deemed ‘crazy’: from the mentally ill, epilepsy patients, the mentally handicapped, agitators and addicts to elderly dementia patients. Their symptoms were seen as forms of ‘melancholy’, which was tantamount to lunacy.

Laments in the madhouse

That same melancholy inspired composers such as Monteverdi, Carissimi and Fontana to produce some of their most magnificent and striking compositions. Most of these were in the form of ‘lamenti’: laments with an unabashed dramatic and expressive style. Many of these compositions are constructed around a repeated descending bass line that puts the listener in a melancholy mood.

Another round!

At the Dolhuys Kermis, visitors are literally led through the most beautiful, miraculous lamenti from around the 1600s. They are swept away by the love-melancholy in Monteverdi’s fabulous Lamento della ninfa. They watch, to music by Carissimi, an isolated patient who thinks she is Mary, Queen of Scots, confined in her death cell; they are introduced to the humorous Lamento dell’impotente; and they meet a youngMadre Ebrea in the kitchen, suffering from post-natal depression avant la lettre. The OPERA2DAY doctors elucidate the symptoms, based on the somewhat astounding preconceptions of the 17^th century.

Star performers, gorgeous musical numbers!

OPERA2DAY steekt de eeuwenoude operatraditie steeds in een hedendaags jasje.

The melancholy singers are from the Vox Luminis vocal ensemble. The ‘early music soloist ensemble’ Vox Luminis is acclaimed both for its outstanding intonation and clarity of sound as well as for the individual and ensemble quality of the singers. A recent CD of the group was awarded Record of the Year 2012 by the leading British music magazine Gramophone, as well as scooping a Diapason d’Or. The singers are being accompanied by the baroque ensemble of OPERA2DAY. The troupe of actors is led by René M. Broeders, the medical superintendent acting as your host. OPERA2DAY’s Baroque ensemble provides the musical accompaniment, conducted by Hernán Schvartman, and the stage director is Serge van Veggel, who is also the developer of the concept.

The music

- Lamento della ninfa Claudio Monteverdi

- Zefiro Torna Claudio Monteverdi

- Lamento della regina Maria Stuarda Giacomo Carissimi

- Lamento dell'impotente Fabrizio Fontana

- Lamento della Madre Ebrea Antonio Cesti

- De lamentatione Ieremiae Prophetae Anonymous (Gregorian)

- parts from L’Humore musicale Orazio Vecchi

Programm booklet

Download here the pdf of the programm booklet of 2012 (2MB).

Listen here to an audio recording of the Lamento della ninfa by Monteverdi, recorded during the Dolhuys Kermis 2012, performed by Vox Luminis (soprano Zsuzsi Tóth).

Bewaren

Vox Luminis

The ‘early music soloist ensemble’ Vox Luminis is acclaimed both for its outstanding intonation and clarity of sound as well as for the individual and ensemble quality of the singers. A recent CD of the group was awarded Record of the Year 2012 by the leading British music magazine Gramophone, as well as scooping a Diapason d’Or.  Several members of the ensemble have been guests in earlier productions of OPERA2DAY.