And if full-scale performances of Handel operas aren't easily come by, think of the even sadder fate of La Púrpura de la Rosa, the historic entertainment that recently lured me to Indiana for what was billed as its North American premiere: the first opera composed and performed in the New World, created in 1659, then lost, then re-created in 1701 in Lima to celebrate the birthday of the 17-year-old Spanish monarch Felipe V. The history of the work is muddled; the 1659 music to Pedro Calderón de la Barca's play has been lost, and the 1701 music is the work of Tomás de Torrejón y Velasco, chapelmaster of the Lima cathedral. This music, nicely staged by baroque-theater scholar James Middleton as the crown of this year's Bloomington Early Music Festival (known locally as BLEMF), was worth the trip. Calderón's story interprets the legend of Venus and Adonis, with later additions to wrench the plot toward a simpering obeisance to Spain's Felipe (who is symbolized in the plot as Mars, a belligerent ladykiller). The music, light-textured Spanish songs of the utmost charm, is lovely, well worth someone's further attention; the Bloomington production -- with gorgeous and authentically cut costumes on a cute but provincial stage -- bore out what everybody hears about Indiana University as a place for superb musicmaking. As with all of southern Indiana in springtime, I found the work irresistible.
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