Murder, Divine Grace and Farce

Puccini’s Il Trittico

Met Opera

November 30, 2018

The gang's all here: Puccini's Il Trittico at the Met
Photo credit: Ken Howard

Apparently, Puccini intended the three one act operas of Il Trittico to always be performed together. But they rarely are. For starters, it’s expensive to have three completely different sets and casts in one evening. Also, the evening can get pretty long with massive set changes. Finally, the three works are not equally strong so often one (or even two) are dropped. Case in point, I had seen Suor Angelica together with Gianni Schicchi before but never Tabarro. So I was glad to experience the whole package the way Puccini intended it. And at the Met, which is the house where Il Trittico premiered on December 14, 1918.

It all begins in a very dark place of the soul.
Photo credit: Ken Howard

The evening started literally and figuratively in a very dark place with Il Tabarro a tale of passion, betrayal and murder. We are on the quais of the Seine and the nocturnal action revolves around the barge of Michele and his wife Giorgetta who employ a number of laborers for the loading and unloading of goods. Among them there is the dashing Luigi, who had an affair with Giorgetta. Everybody is pretty miserable and dreams of better lives. Michele remembers happier times with his wife and, upon discovering her betrayal, kills her lover and surprises her with the dead body. 

Villain without a cause. The murderous Michele in Il Tabarro.
Photo credit: Ken Howard

While the ingredients for great drama are there, this cast unfortunately did not deliver. There was zero chemistry between soprano Amber Wagner as Giorgetta and tenor Marcelo Alvarez as her lover Luigi (even if they both singers sounded very good) and most importantly baritone George Gagnidze as the murderous Michele was just not a strong enough villain. Since he’s the propeller for the super dramatic finale, his lack of oomph both vocal and acting-wise made the whole thing fall a bit flat. I’d be interested in seeing this again with a more convincing cast. 

Opolais moves as Suor Angelica.
Photo credit: Ken Howard 

Next up, with Suor Angelica the sets of church-gardens-cloisters were bright and airy, perfectly suited for a cheerful tableau of a day in some jolly nuns’ lives, with their innocent chatters and problems (such as longing to pet some lambs). When the focus shifts to Suor Angelica, though, the register swiftly moves to the mysterious first and heavily dramatic later. See, the thing is that Suor Angelica comes from a super-rich noble family who forced her to take the veil to distance her from the shame of bearing a child out of wedlock. She has been without news from her family for seven years, and when her super evil aunt (the Principessa, played by the always excellent Stephanie Blythe) shows up, things do not bode well. 

In the title character, soprano Kristine Opolais dominated the show with a visceral performance delivering a study in motherly love, pain and loss. I have recently become a mother and this opera, thanks to Opolais’ performance, spoke to me like never before. When the protagonist discovers – 2 years after the fact – that her son died, my heart sank. And when her pain starts pouring out in the aria Senza mamma, bimbo / tu sei morto, I cried. In the hands of Opolais, the potentially sappy plot turned into an emotionally raw piece, showing that with the right leading lady, this is a very powerful mini opera. Yes, the finale with the rapid fire succession of suicide—prayer for redemption—ascension to heaven with little angel boy welcoming his mother are a tad much, but the pain that came before then was real and universal. 

The farcical family tries to piece it all together
Photo credit: Ken Howard

Last but certainly not least, Gianni Schicchi is definitely the best of the three. This choral piece is so much fun that makes you wish Puccini spent more time popping out comic operas. Death is also front and center (as in the other two operas of Il Trittico), however here it is treated in farcical tones. Buoso Donati just died, leaving all his riches to the monks, probably to spite his greedy relatives. Enter trickster Gianni Schicchi to the rescue, who impersonates Buoso and modifies the will, only to leave the most treasured possessions (including a mule and the windmills of Signa) to... Buoso’s beloved friend Gianni Schicchi! The plot is fast paced, the comic timing terrific and the music just works. 

The cast was terrific all around, with everybody displaying excellent Italian, absolutely necessary to savor the juicy libretto. In the title role, legend Placido Domingo was quite impressive, displaying great acting chops, fluid movement and lyrically soave singing. While he came across more like a baritonal tenor than a real baritone, it mattered little since he conveyed Schicchi’s character with savoir faire and an almost youthful energy, clearly having a lot of fun with it. In a way, it’s a perfect fit for him at this stage in his career. Tenor Atalla Ayan and soprano Kristina Mkhitaryan delivered with ardor their lovebirds arias. The sets were the most elaborate and complex of the three one act operas, almost as to finish the evening with a bang and an optimistic feel good vibe, with a terrace overlooking the Florence skyline, a couple in love and a legendary singer asking for the public’s understanding as he turns off the stage lights. 

– Lei

Domingo elevates the hopes of all around
Photo credit: Ken Howard

Patriotism Goes Biblical at the Met

Verdi’s Nabucco

Metropolitan Opera

December 16, 2016

Grand opera at the Met.
Photo credit: MetOpera

The revival of Elijah Moshinsky’s production of Verdi’s Nabucco brought us pleasurably back to grand, grand opera at the Met. For works like this one, where the historical context plays such a central role in the plot, sticking to traditional sets (especially those as spectacular as the Met’s here) is a necessary choice. I’m all for modernizing and streamlining productions, but for certain operas, dazzling historical pomp is just what it takes. Once we saw a minimalist Aida with an alien-futuristic take by Fura dels Baus and it was beyond grotesque. But back to Nabucco: not only did this production that debuted in 2001 prove itself a timeless classic with stunning temples and gorgeous costumes but we were also lucky to assist a remarkable star-studded cast bring the whole thing to life with none other than the inimitable James Levine at the helm.

Abigail moves in for the kill.
Photo credit: MetOpera

Mezzo Jamie Barton played Fenena, Nabucco’s daughter. I always jump at the opportunity to her her sing especially since I was completely blown away by her Adalgisa in Norma last year in Los Angeles. But after hearing Barton in Nabucco it became clear to me that Bellini’s writing for Adalgisa just suits her voice in a whole other way. Here it was like listening to another artist, a perfectly fine singer, just not as transfixing. The same goes for tenor Russell Thomas as Ismaele, nephew of the King of Jerusalem. We were bowled over by him in that same L.A. Norma. Here he was good, just not as extraordinary as when we first got to know him. True that both Fenena and Ismaele are not as meaty when compared to other roles in Nabucco.

Soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska as Abigaille, Nabucco’s eldest daughter who discovers she’s of slave descent, was a force of nature to be reckoned with. Her sound is incredibly powerful though her Italian was often a bit muddled. From the beginning, however, she came across musically and theatrically as a woman on a mission, a power hungry animal in pursuit, a rebel with a cause.

Bass Sava Vemić as the high priest of Baal, an evil character pushing Abigaille to power, was making his Met debut. We first encountered this young singer in a Roberto Devereux where he played the most minor role but was the best and most powerful singer on stage after Mariella Devia. It was great to see him again. He sounded good but not quite as forceful as we remember him that late winter day. His voice came across a bit too young for the role, perhaps he still needs to figure out the Met’s acoustic. On the other hand, baritone Dmitry Belosselskiy as Zaccaria, high priest of the Hebrews, was a discovery, which is a testament to just how solid this cast was overall.

Tenor turned baritone steals the show.
Photo credit: Marty Sohl

Which brings us to the highlight of the night. The legendary Placido Domingo was strikingly expressive as Nabucco. I’m not sure that what we heard was necessarily a baritone, but he sounded full and raw, and played the emotional core of the opera like an open wound. Still going strong at his age, Domingo exceeded my expectations on every level. While some say that Placido should just stop pretending to be a baritone, after hearing him here, I cannot but disagree with them since, at least here, in a way, his lyrical expressivity as a life-long tenor translated very well into the baritonal role. No other singer on stage conveyed character as effectively as Domingo. He portrayed the journey of the hubristic king who falls into madness only to subsequently convert and become an enlightened ruler with a heart-wrenching humanity that found me tears more than once over the course of the evening.

Father-daughter dynamics turned on its head.
Photo credit: Marty Sohl

At the center of Nabucco is a father-daughter drama, around which revolves a series of satellite dilemmas that help to motivate and shape things the larger story of the captive Hebrew population and their desire for freedom. This is one of those rare operas in which the role of the villain is played not by an alpha male of one kind or another, but rather by a jealous, vindictive, power hungry woman. Who said that the history of opera was only populated by stories of men doing awful things to women?

And it all comes to a head in Act III. The individual threads come colliding together when Nabucco, the now disenfranchised father descends into his deepest darkest cave. Having lost his throne and his position as the patriarch of his people, he makes an incredibly moving reflective prayer-like plea. Having hit rock bottom, he touches a kind of madness that I can only liken to that of Shakespeare’s King Lear who suffers a similar fate at the hands of two of his daughters. Then of course, all of this is followed by Verdi’s big show-stopping patriotic choral interlude Va’ pensiero. Beautifully executed, it is staged in a golden halo of transcendent light that is as uplifting and gilded as the melody the terrific Met chorus gently sings. It is truly gorgeous stuff and perhaps the most stunning ode to nationalistic longing in the history of opera.

Biblical patriotism comes suffused in a warm halo of light.
Photo credit: MetOpera

In just the past few months we have encountered several of the most important and moving patriotic bits in the nineteenth-century Italian canon. Last October two of Rossini’s political hymns graced the stage in the same week in both L’italiana in Algeri (Isabella’s aria Pensa alla patria) and Guillaume Tell (the final chorus À nos accents religieux). In Macbeth, which LoftOpera so brilliantly brought to us in December, we got to hear Verdi’s breathtaking moment of collectively displaced reverie in Patria oppressa.

It has been a season rife with Risorgimento undertones, as all the great classics in the nationalist songbook were here. With the election cycle rattling away through it all in the background like an obnoxious New York radiator in the dead of winter, it has somehow felt fitting. If only today we were so lucky as to be blessed with a populism that sounded so melodious.

– Lui & Lei

 

The great king crumbles, moves us to tears.
Photo credit: MetOpera