Drama and Comedy Music and Vision 6 Febbraio

Drama and Comedy British humour under the Neapolitan sun, in 'L'Elisir d'Amore' in Rome and San Francisco, by GIUSEPPE PENNISI When, on 3 November 2010, I reviewed the Venice production of L'Elisir d'Amore, I thought it was useful to recall that several opera guidebooks treat this specific work by Gaetano Donizetti and Felice Romani as a comic opera or even an opera buffa on the grounds that, during the decades when Donizetti and his operas were nearly forgotten, L'Elisir never left the repertory because it is pure comedy with two hilarious characters (Dulcamara and Belcore) and a gentle young couple in love (even though, almost until the end, she pretends not to be interested in the fellow); also the orchestration seems to be comparatively easy, as it used to be in the opera buffa canon. Nonetheless, L'Elisir is called by its own authors a 'melodramma giocoso', which means an opera semiseria like Rossini's La Gazza Ladra, Paisiello's Nina Pazza per Amore, Mayr's Lodoiska or Bellini's La Sonnambula. It was a category of musical theatre very popular at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Donizetti composed several semiseria operas, eg Linda di Chamonix and Il Furioso nell'Isola di San Domingo. The genre pleased the audience during difficult times (wars, revolutions, social and political turmoil) because it combines drama with comic relief. It is a very hard balance to reach for all the stakeholders involved in staging L'Elisir because the dramatic and comic elements are carefully mixed, indeed intertwined.
Adriana Kucerová as Adina and Saimir Pirgu as Nemorino in 'L'Elisir d'Amore' at Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. Photo © 2011 Corrado Falsini. Click on the image for higher resolution I dare say that I was somewhat concerned when I learned that this brand new production of the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma (in a joint venture with the San Francisco Opera) had been entrusted to Ruggero Capuccio (stage direction), Nicola Rubertelli (stage sets) and Carlo Poggioli (costumes), not unfamiliar with opera staging but especially known for experimental and highly dramatic theatre (such as Shakespeare, King of Naples) or social-political theatre (Paolo Borsellino, essendo stato). I felt comfortably sure with the musical direction: Bruno Campanella is not only a Donizetti veteran -- our readers may remember the review of his recent conducting of Roberto Devereux in Rome -- but more specifically is highly professional in 'bel canto' and 'semiseria' operas, where the orchestra's primary function is to support the singers. This may appear to be simple but it is quite sophisticated, especially because of the need to deal with the temperamental prima donnas of that time.
Fabio Maria Capitanucci as Belcore and the chorus in 'L'Elisir d'Amore' at Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. Photo © 2011 Corrado Falsini. Click on the image for higher resolution Nonetheless, an important feature of L'Elisir seen and listened to in Rome on 4 February 2011 (the new production's opening night) is that both the musical and the stage direction keep the proper balance between drama and comedy required in a melodramma giocoso. However, it appears that Ruggero Cappuccio and his colleagues have moved the action from the a Basque village (as originally conceived) to a village around Naples with acrobats and jumpers, a very blue sky, a shining sun and a simple stage set that with a few props can show the different locations where the plot evolves. Because of his previous long work with Shakespeare, Cappuccio captures the irony of the libretto and of the music better than others, including his Venetian counterparts. There is indeed a British sense of humour under the Neapolitan sun from the very start: Belcore's cavatina, or entrance aria, Come Paride Vezzoso, acted and sung by Fabio Maria Capitanucci is a parody of the Metastasian opera seria still being performed, at that time, in several Italian theatres. There is also irony in presenting Adina (Adriana Kucerová) and Nemorino (Saimir Pirgu) as 'comédie larmoyante' stereotypes with their charming, and relatively easy, opening arias Quanto è bella and Chiedi all'Aura Lusinghiera and their more elaborate duet (Per guarir di tal pazzia / Ah! Te sola io vedo, io sento) before their progressive escalation to the two final heights -- Nemorino's terrific Una furtiva lacrima and Adina's short but very dense rondo Il mio rigor dimentica. As a matter of fact, among the characters, the only clear-cut buffo is the pompous Dulcamara (Alex Esposito) from his cavatina (when he is made up as a dwarf) to his final march (Prediletti dalle stelle). Obviously, Campanella's experienced conducting catches the nuances of the score better than the young Matteo Beltrami did a few months ago in Venice.
From left to right: Saimir Pirgu as Nemorino, Erika Pagan as Giannetta, Fabio Maria Capitanucci as Belcore and Adriana Kucerová as Adina in 'L'Elisir d'Amore' at Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. Photo © 2011 Corrado Falsini. Click on the image for higher resolution Adriana Kucerová is young and attractive and has a well-educated lyric soprano voice with a good coloratura; she had a real triumph as Adina at Glyndebourne in 2009. Her volume, though, is not as powerful as the huge Teatro dell'Opera auditorium requires. Also because, next to her, there is Saimir Pirgu who married a clear lyric tenor timbre and a generous volume which fills the full auditorium. His Una furtiva lacrima was up to young Luciano Pavarotti's standard since the initial B flat in the first stanza, then the D flat in the second stanza to the High C in 'm'ama, lo vedo m'ama') back to the B flat of 'Cielo si può morir'. The theater exploded in accolades and requests of encore. Fabio Maria Capitanucci and Alex Esposito are young but very experienced in their respective roles. Adriana Kucerová as Adina and Saimir Pirgu as Nemorino in 'L'Elisir d'Amore' at Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. Photo © 2011 Corrado Falsini. Click on the image for higher resolution There was much applause, both open stage and at the end of the
performance. Copyright © 7 February 2011 Giuseppe Pennisi, Rome, Italy GAETANO DONIZETTI SAIMIR PIRGU ROME NAPLES ITALY << M&V home Concert reviews Turandot >>