Rosa Feola as Violetta and Liparit Avetisyan as Alfredo in Verdi’s “La Traviata.” Picture: Marty Sohl / Met Opera
La traviata has by no means been on my most-loved Verdi record; I used to really feel equally about Rigoletto, however it’s these days risen in my estimation. Maybe there’s additionally hope for Traviata, thanks partially to the Met’s present system of providing scads of performances of ordinary works with unusually fascinating casts. Final weekend I attended the corporate’s 1067th and 1068th performances of Traviata, curious to match the Violettas of Rosa Feola and Ermonela Jaho after having earlier this 12 months additionally seen Lisette Oropesa’s. This binge resulted in experiencing two very satisfying portrayals of one in all opera’s most iconic characters.
Quite like my response to Tosca, I don’t discover Violetta probably the most sympathetic character, however she does provide sopranos an unusually wealthy alternative to excel. Regardless of not being a card-carrying Traviata-lover, I’ve caught a superb variety of worthwhile Violettas starting with Edita Gruberová on the 1989 opening evening of the first Franco Zeffirelli Met manufacturing. Cheryl Studer appears to have been the one different soprano I heard earlier than that manufacturing was changed 9 years later. I had a ticket for the opening of the second Zeffirelli however when Reneé Fleming withdrew and Patricia Racette jumped in, I gave mine away.
I did lastly hear Fleming in it when she ultimately took on the function on the Met. in addition to Angela Gheorghiu and Krassimira Stoyanova. I used to be within the viewers when Marina Poplavskaya premiered Willy Decker’s searing staging instead of Anna Netrebko who determined she now not wished to carry out the opera, a choice which she reversed plenty of occasions since then. Decker’s purple gown suited Sonya Yoncheva and Marina Rebeka admirably, Natalie Dessay considerably much less so. I reviewed the premiere of the Met’s present Traviata when it opened in 2018 and located Michael Mayer’s manufacturing a vulgar eyesore however Diana Damrau’s Violetta totally convincing dramatically if erratic vocally; it has confirmed her final function with the corporate thus far.
A number of seasons in the past, I thought of evaluating Violettas when the Met offered one other intriguing trio: Nadine Sierra, Jaho, and Angel Blue, however I by no means made it to any of them, however this season I adopted by way of. I had thought that Lisette Oropesa had sung extra Violettas on the Met than she truly had. Her 2020 run was lower quick by the pandemic closure, whereas extra performances had been scheduled then canceled for 2020-21. By her return this previous March, her Violetta had advanced into a completely realized portrayal, absolutely one of many best earlier than the general public at the moment. As I’ve stated earlier than, I don’t at all times reply to her singing on recordings or broadcasts, however in-person Oropesa’s soprano takes on a particular magnificence and amplitude that had been additionally obvious in her splendid Elvira on this season’s new I Puritani.
Her Violetta was immeasurably helped by the immensely supportive and curiously detailed conducting of Antonello Manacorda, a frequent Oropesa collaborator. Luca Salsi, who sang Germont at her 2020 performances and was additionally her over-protective dad in 2022’s Rigolettos, made a significantly better impression this season than he had along with his superficial, blustery jester. Each performers deserved a greater lover/son than Piotr Buszewski, miscast in a romantic Italian function.
Amartuvshin Enkhbat as Germont and Rosa Feola as Violetta in Verdi’s “La Traviata.” Picture: Marty Sohl / Met Opera
At solely her second Met Violetta, Rosa Feola, too, supplied an almost preferrred portrayal of Verdi’s misplaced one, proving she’s as adept at tragedy as she had been with comedy together with her scrumptious Figaro Susanna final 12 months. Her sound has grown in dimension and richness and stuffed the home with seemingly easy ease. Violetta’s early conversational strains within the first-act celebration had been concerningly under-voiced, however by the top of “Libiamo” she was in excellent kind. One positively wished greater than a single verse of “Ah, fors’è lui,” and if “Sempre libera” didn’t characteristic the coloratura dazzle that some have dropped at it, she did cap it with a stunning, strongly sustained excessive E-flat!
Her riveting duet with the immense and implacable Germont of Amartuvshin Enkhbat did full justice to probably the most wrenching pages of Verdi’s rating, as did Feola’s poignantly ardent “Amami Alfredo.” Mayer’s erratic route did Feola no favors after intermission when she needed to wander round aimlessly through the concluding pages of the massive gambling-scene finale after which needed to silently endure Alfredo’s utterly extraneous sister crossing the complete width of the stage dressed as a bride through the third-act prelude. Nevertheless, each verses of “Addio del passato” had been delicately spun out with touching sensitivity and simply the best diploma of desperation.
She was fortunate to be partnered by Liparit Avetisyan with whom she shared palpable romantic chemistry. The Armenian tenor, who was imagined to make his Met debut through the canceled 2020-21 season, channeled eager-otter vitality into an Alfredo as unabashedly enamored of Violetta within the first and final acts as he was devastatingly merciless within the playing scene. An unlucky stab at an interpolated excessive C on the finish of his cabaletta reportedly marred his debut the earlier efficiency, so he correctly carried out it as written for the second. His beautiful tenor could be barely small for the Met and his topmost notes required some effort, however he will surely be welcome to return.
After Antonello Manacorda’s often-revelatory studying, Marco Armiliato, conductor for each Feola and Jaho, returned to his regular protected routinier mode and drew polished enjoying from his orchestra and significantly vigorous singing from the refrain for Feola. Lindsay Martin as a very vibrant Flora and Eve Gigliotti in Valkyrie-manqué kind as Annina stood out among the many smaller roles which as a unit had been far stronger for Feola than was the crew supporting Jaho the next night.
Ermonela Jaho in La traviata on the Metropolitan Opera, 2023 / Picture: Jonathan Tichler
When the Armenian soprano returned to the Met in 2018 after a one-night stand as Violetta a decade earlier, I discovered Jaho’s intensely transferring Butterfly sometimes undercut by her slender voice. The intervening eight years have solely additional diminished its effectiveness. A lot of the primary Act sounded very tough with the tone fairly uncooked. There have been some robust excessive notes all through, and whereas each she and Feola selected to take the second verse of “Sempre libera” softly and slowly, I might have been stunned if Jaho’s could possibly be heard by listeners seated above the Grand Tier. She nonetheless employs a haunting pianissimo, however most of the time it was performed fairly self-consciously for “impact.” Not like my night with Feola the place I felt I used to be experiencing Violetta, with Jaho I used to be at all times aware of a practiced diva rigorously negotiating a long-familiar, now-challenging function.
Her portrayal of Violetta had many novel touches, little doubt the results of having sung Violetta over three-hundred occasions! That astonishing bit of knowledge comes from an enchanting duo-interview of Feola and Jaho included within the Met’s Might/June program. Her older, refined, and world-weary courtesan exuded little chemistry with Kang Wang’s enthusiastic if gauche Alfredo sung with forthright earnestness and straightforward excessive notes. His properly performed aria and cabaletta (throughout which he dropped out for measures to organize for his excessive C) had been undercut by shallow semaphore gestures.
Whereas Enkhbat stays a monumentally stolid stage presence, Lucas Meachem additionally made Germont extra of an emotionless stick than is critical: he displayed virtually no concern for the dying Violetta within the closing Act. He stiffly lacked Enkhbat’s simple legato and gave the impression to be biding time till he may come out startling excessive notes that rang near-tenorial ease. Solely veteran Dwayne Croft as Douphol stood out amongst that solid’s many smaller roles.
Whereas subsequent season’s casts for lengthy runs of Aida and La Bohème on the Met don’t initially look all that thrilling, twenty-six performances of Tosca will characteristic 5 (!) intriguing sopranos: Saoia Hernández, Aleksandra Kurzak, Eleonora Buratto, Natalya Romaniw, and Sondra Radvanovsky, together with 4 Cavaradossis and Scarpias—a range unseen because the Bing years!
Christopher Corwin
Christopher Corwin started writing for parterre field in 2011 underneath the pen identify “DeCaffarrelli.” His work has additionally appeared in , The New York Instances, Musical America, The Observer, San Francisco Classical Voice and BAMNotes. Like many, he got here to opera through the Saturday Met Opera broadcasts which he started listening to at age 11. His specific enthusiasm is seventeenth and 18th century opera. Since 2015 he has curated the weekly podcast Trove Thursday on parterre field presenting stay recordings.
