The Quality of the Cooks Music & Vision 4 febbraio

The Quality of the Cooks




Verdi comic operas on stage,
tasted by GIUSEPPE PENNISI



Verdi composed two 'comic' operas, fifty years apart: Un Giorno di Regno', the second opera of his long career, and Falstaff, his last masterpiece and farewell to life. This January they could be seen, and listened to, in Italy, within the span of a week: the latter inaugurated the 'season' of Rome's Teatro dell'Opera on 23 January 2010, and the former that of Parma's Teatro Regio on 29 January. This unique coincidence gives the opportunity to appraise Verdi as a 'comic' composer. Well, although he tried to be funny (especially in Un Giorno di Regno), his talents clearly lay elsewhere. Un Giorno di Regno is mediocre, and Falstaff, an absolute milestone in the history of opera, is not a 'comic' opera but a reflection on life by an eighty-year-old artist who has seen an entire century ripe with events that changed the world. The main conclusion is that, in setting Verdi's 'comic' operas for the stage, the quality of the cooks is fundamental: good cooks can do marvels even with poor ingredients (like those of Un Giorno di Regno), whilst poor cooks or cooks who've lost the flair for high level cuisine make a middling quality meal even when the raw material is excellent and the recipe superb (as in Falstaff).

Alessandra Marianelli as Giulietta di Kelbar in 'Il signor La R
Alessandra Marianelli as Giulietta di Kelbar in 'Il signor La Rocca' at Teatro Regio di Parma. Photo © 2010 Roberto Ricci

Un Giorno di Regno is based on a rather poor French farce about a Polish would-be-king in the castle of a penniless aristocrat, attempting to marry his daughter off to someone wealthy and powerful. The intrigues are rather customary for 'comic' theatre of the period (around 1830-1845). At this time, the French bourgeoisie used to make fun of the Polish as much as they now do with the Belgians. The libretto by Felice Romani and Temistocle Solera was most likely written hastily and with neither effort nor wit.

Paolo Bordogna in 'Il signor La Rocca' at Teatro Regio di Parma
Paolo Bordogna in 'Il signor La Rocca' at Teatro Regio di Parma. Photo © 2010 Roberto Ricci

Giuseppe Verdi was twenty seven when La Scala impresario Merelli commissioned him to set it to music. His first opera, Oberto Conte di San Bonifacio, had been rather successful; thus, the composer seemed to be a young promise to bet on. Verdi did not have much flair for a melodramma giocoso (as the work is labeled). He accepted the commission because he needed the money badly: he was embarrassed to live on subsidies from his father-in-law. The period when he was composing Un Giorno di Regno was one of the worst of his life: in those months, he lost his two children, Virginia and Icilio, as well his wife Margherita. Verdi's world, so full of joy and promise, had fallen into ruins. He had also lost the faith in God with which he had been raised.

Alessandra Marianelli as Giulietta di Kelbar in 'Il signor La R
Alessandra Marianelli as Giulietta di Kelbar in 'Il signor La Rocca' at Teatro Regio di Parma. Photo © 2010 Roberto Ricci

Under the circumstances, it was, in any event, very hard to attempt to be funny. In short, the melodramma giocoso was a dismal fiasco: only one evening at La Scala. In the nineteenth century, attempts to revive it -- such as at the San Carlo in Naples -- were not successful. Only in the 1960s did Italian musicologists such as Massimo Mila and Gabriele Baldini try to show the very hidden qualities of the score. Now it is performed in music schools at American universities, especially because the simple orchestral and vocal writing makes it a good training device, but it is very seldom performed in major theatres.

A scene from Act I of 'Il signor La Rocca' at Teatro Regio di P
A scene from Act I of 'Il signor La Rocca' at Teatro Regio di Parma. Photo © 2010 Roberto Ricci

In fact, the quality of the score is rather poor: it echoes that of some Donizetti's operas recently revived (like Don Gregorio on stage in Bergamo and Catania a couple of years ago) without much success. The best parts of Un Giorno di Regno are two duettini for bassi buffi and the concertatos at the end of each of the two acts.

Alessandra Marianelli as Giulietta di Kelbar in 'Il signor La R
Alessandra Marianelli as Giulietta di Kelbar in 'Il signor La Rocca' at Teatro Regio di Parma. Photo © 2010 Roberto Ricci

Nonetheless, Pierluigi Pizzi and Donato Renzetti have been able to cook up an elegant and delightful production. Pizzi is responsible for the sets, costumes and stage direction, and Renzetti for the musical direction. In the production, the melodramma giocoso is set in Parma's best known Palace and its surroundings. The pace of the action is fast but not swift. The cast is good, especially Anna Caterina Antonacci. In short, the production holds quite well in spite of the modest and insipid raw material.

The Rome production of Falstaff is authored by Franco Zeffirelli, now eighty seven years old. In Zeffirelli's catalogue, this would be his ninth Falstaff . They all look similar to his first staging in Tel Avìv in 1956 (with Serafin in the pit). In Zeffirelli's view, Verdi's true intention was to make the audience laugh. Within the rich sets and costumes, there is a lot of action on stage, and as many gags as feasible. However, Boito and Verdi did label Falstaff 'lyric comedy in three acts', not 'opera buffa'. In my opinion, Falstaff is a serious opera upside down or reversed: the ageing protagonist is looking at the intrigues of life with melancholy, irony and detachment. On the opening night, Renato Bruson (now seventy four) was the protagonist; in the other performances Bruson alternated with two old timers (Ruggero Raimondi and Juan Pons) and an experienced Alberto Mastromarino. Your reviewer went to the 23 January and 28 January 2010 performances with, respectively, Bruson and Raimondi in the title role.

Bruson's voice, especially the volume, is no longer what it used to be. Ascher Fisch, the conductor, did not seem to manage to balance Bruson's voice with the orchestra and the other soloists. Even more complicated was the performance of Raimondi (now sixty nine). He is a veteran of the role, too, but now he talks rather than sings.

Among the baritones and tenors, two interpreters deserve to be singled out: Carlos Álvarez, a high-level Ford with a round and agile voice, and the young Taylor Stayton, a perfect Fenton both vocally and scenically. Good also was the group of women: Myrtò Papatanasiu was a sexy Alice, Elisabetta Fiorillo a foxy Quickly, Laura Giordano an exquisite Nannete, and Francesca Franci a sparkly Meg. But a Verdi masterpiece like Falstaff requires an excellent protagonist. Otherwise, it has the taste of an overcooked dish of fettuccine or frozen food just out of the microwave oven.

Copyright © 4 February 2010 Giuseppe Pennisi,
Rome, Italy