With Nabucco (1842) Giuseppe Verdi began a long and feverishly productive creative period in his life. More importantly, in this work, largely influenced by French grand opéra, the masses are as important as the soloists. This is one of the reasons why this opera, representing the enslavement of the Hebrews by the Babylonians under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar, was later received as a metaphor of the Austrian political domination of Italy, which the patriots of the Risorgimento were fighting against. Neither the alleged political metaphor (which has been recently questioned by Roger Parker), nor the grandeur of the drama as a series of large tableaux seem to be at the center of the conception of this recent production (Genoa, 2004), staged in a relatively small theater that does not allow choral masses to act dynamically (the soloists overpower the contained choral masses).
Year: 2005
GIORDANO: La Cena delle Beffe
The recording industry has recently been good for Umberto Giordano. We now at last have well recorded performances of Mala Vita (Bongiovanni), Siberia (Gala), Madame Sans-Gêne, Il Re and Mese Mariano (all on Dynamic). Still missing are recordings of his first opera Marina, of Regina Diaz, Marcella (Gigli recorded one aria) and Giove a Pompei. La Cena delle Beffe was somewhat better represented. There was a live performance on MRF-LP and in 1988 Bongiovanni recorded another performance (with Fabio Armiliato) in Piacenza. Both recordings however are no match for the RAI broadcast of the 14th of April 1956 (and not 1955 as the sleeve notes say). That recording was already issued several years ago by the same company (Myto 2MCD002.220). The big difference between both issues is that this first version included an Italian language-only libretto while this new issue doesn’t. That can make a difference for enjoying the recording though Sem Benelli’s Italian libretto is not exactly written in house and kitchen Italian.
GOMES: Salvator Rosa
One of the nice features of art in former times was the care-free way artists took in mining the same sources over and over again. Contents and quality were held in higher esteem than an “original” idea. Auber’s La Muette de Portici was still in full swing in many theatres when Antonio Ghislanzoni of Aida-fame concocted a libretto on the same subject: the rising of Naples led by the fisherman Tomas Aniello against the Spanish viceroy in 1647. (Incidentally, it is a legend that La Muette triggered the separatist mutiny that ended the united Netherlands in 1830). And in 1953 composer Jacopo Napoli won third prize in the Verdi composition competition with another Mas’aniello which was duly performed at La Scala. As they couldn’t find a tenor, they asked a youngster, thanked him profusely after the job was done and sent him back home for another two years: Carlo Bergonzi.
SALIERI: Tarare
The appearance of a DVD of the Beaumarchais — Salieri Tarare is cause for celebration.
Cherubini’s Medea at Toulouse
L’événement du mois, sinon de la saison, vient d’avoir lieu à Toulouse avec la nouvelle production d’un chef d’œuvre trop rarement joué : Medea de Luigi Cherubini. Avec, pour défendre le rôle-titre, l’éblouissante performance d’Anna Caterina Antonacci, couronnant une réalisation de tout premier plan, tant au niveau de l’Orchestre National du Capitole dirigé par Evelino Pidò, qu’à celui des mises en scène, décors et costumes signés Yannis Kokkos. Une réussite exemplaire dont il ne faudra pas rater la reprise au Châtelet de Paris dans le cadre de son annuel festival des régions.* Compositeur majeur, à la fois contemporain de Mozart – il était son cadet de quatre ans – et de Beethoven – né dix ans après lui -, injustement boudé par divers oukases de ces modes qui se suivent puis se démodent, il était l’homme de la maestria absolue, héritier de Gluck, mozartien dans l’air du temps, adepte de la rigueur classique et annonciateur visionnaire du romantisme. Autant d’éléments et de formes qui émaillent son œuvre prolifique (opéras, cantates, messes, sublime musique de chambre) comme Les Cailloux du Petit Poucet. Berlioz le railla, l’admira, l’imita…
Falstaff in LA
LOS ANGELES, May 29 – Portraying the title role of Verdi’s “Falstaff,” which opened at the Los Angeles Opera on Saturday, the bass-baritone Bryn Terfel is so irascible, nimble on his feet and altogether charming that he almost makes you forget how splendidly he sings the music. Yes, this Falstaff is a blowhard, a bald and broken-down knight, and a shameless moocher.
Mozart and Gluck in London
Did Mozart really think Cosi Fan Tutte was a comedy? Matthew Warchus didn’t seem sure when he created his ENO staging three years ago; but, even if Steven Stead’s revival doesn’t milk every gag in Jeremy Sams’ wonderfully witty translation of Da Ponte’s libretto, there are enough laughs to make you think he might have done.
Voigt and Heppner at Cincinnati’s May Festival
Friday will go down in the annals as one of the most spectacular opera evenings ever at the May Festival.
Two of the world’s greatest Wagnerian singers, soprano Deborah Voigt and tenor Ben Heppner, came together for the first time in Act II of “Tristan und Isolde,” a concert performance under the baton of James Conlon in Music Hall. It was one of those rare moments of music making that one feels lucky to witness, and the hall erupted in cheers for nearly 10 minutes at its conclusion.
Replacing David Gockley
Edward G. Wallace Jr., an oilman, has observed and supported the arts in Houston for several decades.
His great passion is opera, especially bel canto opera.
TCHAIKOVSKY: Eugene Onegin
Recently released by TDK, this version of a Tchaikovsky classic was recorded at the Bolshoi Theater in October 2000. Directed by Boris Pokrovsky and conducted by Mark Ermler, the production features Maria Gavrilova as Tatiana, Nikolai Baskov as Lensky, Vladimir Redkin as Onegin, Yelena Novak as Olga, and Aik Martirosyan as Gremin. It is very much a live recording, complete with curtain calls and screaming fans who cheer their favorites after practically every number (to the performers’ credit, there are no encores!).