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Tuesday, December 3, 2024

Come, younger waverers – parterre field


I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Vincenzo Bellini’s setting of the Romeo and Juliet story, was a right away success in Venice in 1830 ending a run of dangerous luck for the Sicilian composer. It was however one among a number of profitable Italian variations of the tragic love story – two of which by Zingarelli and Vaccai had been nonetheless being carried out on the time Bellini’s model premiered – therefore the totally different title for Bellini’s take. None of those operas had been primarily based on Shakespeare’s play, however a tragedy by Luigi Scevola derived from the Luigi da Porto and Matteo Bandello novellas.

The Zingarelli and Vaccai Giulietta e Romeo operas share DNA with Bellini’s model. Zingarelli was Bellini’s composition professor on the Naples Conservatory. Felice Romani wrote the libretto for the Vaccai Giulietta e Romeo and revised, condensed and recycled it for Bellini, who was composing in a rush. The ultimate act of Vaccai’s opera was usually substituted for Bellini’s – notably by Maria Malibran – a follow which infuriated Bellini. Bellini’s opera was a right away success and toured the world (Wagner performed it in Riga in 1835) however by the 20 th century, it had disappeared from operatic phases.

The primary efficiency within the 20th century allegedly was a RAI live performance in 1957-58 performed by Lorin Maazel with Fiorenza Cossotto and Antonietta Pastori (launched on CD on the Myto label). A 12 months later it got here to New York through Allen Sven Oxenburg and the American Opera Society with Giulietta Simionato and Laurel Hurley. Simionato returned to the AOS for a repeat in 1964 with parterre fave Mary Costa as Giulietta. The Metropolitan Opera has by no means carried out it regardless of the presence of Anna Netrebko and Joyce DiDonato (and sporadically Elina Garanca) on their roster (there have been rumors of a projected manufacturing 20 years in the past or extra). I feel Netrebko moved on to different repertory and the Met by no means had a dedication to revive bel canto, so it glided by the wayside.

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I noticed Capuleti on the Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1985 with Cecilia Gasdia and Tatiana Troyanos in a stunning manufacturing. I understand now with shock that that was almost 40 years in the past… In 2001, New York Metropolis Opera premiered a brand new manufacturing with Sarah Connolly and Mary Dunleavy who did justice to the beauties of the rating. Opera Orchestra of New York carried out it in live performance thrice. I used to be too younger for Tatiana Troyanos and Ashley Putnam in 1979 however vividly bear in mind a debuting Jennifer Larmore with an incandescent Mariella Devia in 1994. Then in 1999, Vesselina Kasarova and Annick Massis carried out it for OONY at Carnegie Corridor.

OONY founder Eve Queler (age 93) was in attendance final night time at Teatro Nuovo’s semi-staged live performance presentation of I Capuleti e i Montecchi and was greeted with fondness by many opera and voice fanatics within the viewers who relished her displays in years previous. The Glimmerglass Competition introduced it in 2008 throughout a “Shakespeare” themed season (Capuleti is a variety of issues but it surely ain’t Shakespeare) with Sandra Piques Eddy/Emily Righter and the beautiful Sarah Coburn. Will Crutchfield led the opera himself at Bel Canto at Caramoor again in July 2012 with Kate Aldrich and Eglise Gutiérrez neither of whom had been of their finest type. (Historical past lecture over, kiddies, you understand I can’t assist myself given the area…)

Teatro Nuovo capabilities in another way from Bel Canto at Caramoor, specializing in younger singers on the very starting of their careers with an emphasis on coaching them within the foundations of bel canto. So there aren’t any stars, however a variety of model, erudition and good musicianship. Important editions of the scores are consulted in addition to modern vocal treatises. The orchestra for his or her concert events makes use of historic devices and is at viewers degree with a Primo Violino e Capo d’Orchestra as conductor and a Maestro al Cembalo on the fortepiano accompanying recitatives (typically doubled by cello). Final night time Jakob Lehmann was the Primo Violino with Mo. Crutchfield presiding on the fortepiano.

With the recollections of Troyanos, Gasdia, Larmore, Devia and Kasarova replaying in my thoughts, it was arduous to just accept these very delicate, fantastically ready however lower than vocally stellar younger artists on this very voice pushed opera. However they made up in dedication, model, and knowledgeable phrasing for what they lacked in vocal glamor – the entire was better than the sum of the components.

The perfect efficiency throughout got here from rising younger mezzo-soprano Stephanie Doche as Romeo – and she or he began out unpromisingly. (She was a alternative for the initially introduced Simone McIntosh) There’s a resinous lean timbre fairly harking back to Kate Lindsey’s however her tone sounded surprisingly bottled up with some hole tones within the backside and higher registers. By the second act, Doche’s voice appeared warmed up and extra confidently deployed and she or he even managed a trill within the last loss of life scene. Doche was intensely engaged with the textual content and phrased with dramatic intention, bel canto model and chic musicianship. The Rochester, New York native appears to be a expertise to observe.

Coloratura soprano Alina Tamborini has appeared with Teatro Nuovo earlier than in lesser roles like Berta in Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Isoletta in La Straniera. She appeared candy however a bit inexperienced in these components. As Giulietta she left a combined impression with some critical caveats. The phrasing was pretty so long as the voice remained regular. She was adorning the road ambitiously however with some sense of fashion. There was emotional engagement and she or he was coached to sing off the textual content with particular which means. She was intense in her expression of grief and despair.

The voice itself is excessive positioned however shallowly supported – there’s a fluttery vibrato that pushes excessive notes sharp and disrupts legato singing. Center tones can fail to phonate absolutely. She does, because of the quick vibrato, have an easy trill which she makes use of lavishly. However the lack of agency breath assist and the quivery, overbright timbre didn’t let one settle into the vocal traces which sounded jittery and uneasy. Crutchfield included the brief dramatic arioso passage –– “Morir dovessi ancora” –– equal to Juliet’s “potion” speech in Shakespeare, that Bellini added to Giulietta’s Act II duet with Lorenzo within the 1831 La Scala manufacturing – a restoration he additionally made at Caramoor. It provides Giulietta extra spirit and fewer passive droopiness which appears to be her default mode.

Amanda Woodbury, who appeared with Teatro Nuovo as Amenaide of their Tancredi in 2018 would have been a more sensible choice although she has been dipping her toe into extra dramatic coloratura roles. In truth, both of the 2018 Tancredis – Tamara Mumford and Aleks Romano – would have excelled as Romeo. However Mumford has been much less energetic this season and Romano, sadly, has left performing to work within the enterprise sector (like Laura Vlasek Nolen earlier than her, one other high quality mezzo). I discovered Romano a serious expertise.

The remainder of the forged was merely purposeful at finest. Robert Kleinertz, our tenor Tebaldo, has primarily sung opera on the Boston Conservatory the place he should be a scholar. He’s a piece in progress with a voice that may ring out brightly or bleat like a sheep. This younger man appeared stiff each bodily and vocally – he wants extra time within the oven earlier than he’s served as a principal course.

Kyle Oliver as Lorenzo gave the impression of a light-weight baritone Masetto needing extra gravitas whereas Michael Leyte-Vidal as Capellio has good, wealthy vocal materials that lacked rhythmic form, element, and focus in his supply. Neither position is necessary sufficient to noticeably derail the proceedings which focuses squarely on the younger lovers pushing everybody else to the facet.

The semi-staging was intentionally easy with merely a chair or bier for Giulietta to lie upon. Costumes had been fashionable live performance black fits for the boys and night robes for the women, slacks for Romeo. Rear projections on an upstage scrim revealed evocative watercolors of primo ottocento set designs after Alessandro Sanquirico with English titles projected on the high. Stage director (and erstwhile buffo baritone) Marco Nisticò wasn’t formidable with the (decreased) refrain who primarily lined up in rows on both facet of the principals however offered good personenregie for the intimate scenes with the lovers. It confirmed you the way little you really want to stage an opera when the singers are dedicated and the music is dramatic and transferring – I felt I obtained the entire story from the interactions of the singers, the atmospheric projected backgrounds and the music itself which engages straight with the guts.

The orchestral taking part in was typically superb except for some pitchy-poo with the valveless horns. The solo clarinet solo within the second act, by Maryse Legault, drew applause. The strings have a much less good timbre and the woodwinds are mellower giving a darker shade to the orchestral sonority. Lehmann favored ahead transferring, full of life tempos taking time to luxuriate in lyrical passages.

A pre-performance live performance showcased the Teatro Nuovo younger artists (who double because the opera refrain) singing arias and scenes from the Vaccai and Zingarelli operas with a duet by Stephen Foster “Wilt Thou Be Gone, Love?” from Shakepeare’s textual content accompanied by Timothy Cheung on the piano, Romeo mourning over Juliet’s tomb appears to have been the scene the place composers – a number of of whose Romeo and Juliet diversifications had been lately featured on parterre’s Chris’s Cache podcast — had been notably impressed.

Franco Fagioli sings the Zingarelli (composed by the unique Romeo, Girolamo Crescentini):

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Right here is Vaccai with Marilyn Horne doing the “Malibran” model:

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Georges Thill within the Gounod opera:

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From the Zandonai opera with Miguel Fleta:

Jan de Gaetani sings the Foster duet with Leslie Guinn, baritone:

On condition that New York Metropolis hasn’t heard Bellini’s lovely opera in over twenty years, it was excessive time for it to come back again, although Capuleti is now no stranger to the world’s phases. The opera itself was the star which isn’t a foul factor however bel canto wants simply that – “lovely singing.” We’d like stars in our bel canto heaven. They’re on the market and, hopefully, Crutchfield will discover them and make them glow at their brightest. They’ve the means.



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