Simple and Effective Music and Vision 15 March

Simple and Effective
A new production of Verdi's 'Nabucco' celebrates
the 150th anniversary of Italy's Unification,
reviewed by GIUSEPPE PENNISI

Giuseppe Verdi's Nabucco' (or 'Nabucodonosor' in its original 1842 title) has, over the decades, become an icon of Italian Risorgimento, the unification movement of the nineteenth century that led to the creation of the Kingdom of Italy on 17 March 1861 in Turin. Thus, it was an obvious choice to provide a new production of the opera for the celebration of the anniversary in the Italian capital, Rome since 1870.
The new production was unveiled in a fully packed Teatro dell'Opera on 12 March -- this report is based on that opening night. On 17 March, the performance is scheduled to be held in a special evening with the presence of the Head of State and of the President of the Councils of Ministers; the opera house will be filled by Italian and international authorities (including many foreign delegations); it will be telecast live in Italy, France, Germany and other European countries. On 21 March, a Verdi concert featuring numbers from Nabucco will be performed in the main hall of the Parliament by the Teatro dell'Opera complex. A similar concert will be played in the Vatican for the Pope, the Cardinals, the Bishops and various delegations accredited to the Holy See. After a series of performances in Rome, a concert version of this Nabucco will be staged in St Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre later in the Spring.

A scene from Verdi's 'Nabucco' at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. Photo © 2011 Corrado Falsini. Click on the image for higher resolution
On 10 March the Italian Treasury announced new budgetary cuts overall, in order to keep public deficit and debt in line with the European monetary union guidelines; they hit again the State subsidies to culture in general and to opera houses in particular. Thus the 12 March performance became also an opportunity to ask the Government to give more and higher priority to culture and especially to opera, a truly Italian form of performing arts. The Mayor of Rome made a little speech before the performance and the audience was invited by the conductor to join the chorus in an 'encore' of the well-known Act III choral number Va Pensiero. The performance was often interrupted by open stage applauses followed by real accolades at the end. This was also partly the result of the gala atmosphere surrounding any celebrations as well as of the tension related to the drastic reduction in subsidies to music and opera.
Riccardo Muti has been called in from Chicago, where he is musical director of the Symphony Orchestra, to be in charge of the production. Even though he recently has had health problems, on 12 March he was in marvelous shape. Muti has been closely associated with Nabucco since a milestone production in May 1977 as inaugural performance of that year's Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Festival. (Luca Ronconi was the director of the controversial staging at that time, and the stellar cast included Matteo Manuguerra, Renata Scotto and Veriano Lucchetti.) Muti has conducted Nabucco worldwide several times. He was the mastermind of the Rome 2011 production, not solely the conductor. From the pit he gave a very strong and passionate reading of the opera with an extraordinary rhythmic vitality, an acute sense of dramatic pacing and a dynamic use of the chorus. The orchestra responded very well.
Muti was very successful even though the preparation of the production had been counterpointed by several problems: reportedly, the stage director Jean-Paul Scarpitta had a heart attack during a rehearsal (but on 12 March, he was fit and in splendid form), the soprano selected for the terrific and terrifying role of the protagonist, Abigaille (Elisabette Matos) had a strong flu and was replaced by a young Hungarian singer Csilla Boross (then in Italy because engaged for a Macbeth in nearby Modena).
There are many legends about the composition of Nabucco. They are based to a large extent on hearsay. In 1841-2, Verdi was a loyal subject of the Parma-Piacenza Great-Duchy and was not actually involved in the national unification movement; on the contrary, he showed scorn and disdain for politics (and politicians) throughout his life and depicted it quite vividly in operas like Simon Boccanegra, Don Carlos and Aida. However, Nabucco gradually grew as an icon of Risorgimento because of its subjects (the Jews under the Assyrians); between 1842 and 1861, it had 121 performances only at La Scala but then inexplicably vanished from the repertory of the main Milan opera house until 1912; it disappeared again until 1933-4 when it was revived and, only in the thirties, it acquired its role as the operatic symbol of Italian unification.
Based on a French play, in 1842 Nabucco was only one of the many operas based on Bible subjects. As a matter of fact, the 1842 audience applauded warmly the final chorus to God Almighty Immenso Jehova, not the now acclaimed Va Pensiero. Nabucco is an uneven score with occasional lapses into banality and some unsteady formal experiments that we rarely see in Verdi's future operas. Unusually for Verdi, Nabucco has no major tenor role. The parts of Nabucco and Zaccaria have tremendous opportunities for the baritone and the bass, and Abigaille, always problematic to cast, can prove highly effective for a dramatic coloratura soprano with the agility of ascending to the heights of impervious acute and descending to deep low tonalities. The real protagonist of the opera is the chorus which dominates most of the strongest scenes and which enters with such stirring effect at climactic points. The Rome Teatro dell'Opera chorus did marvels under the guidance of Roberto Gabbiani.

Leo Nucci in the title role of Verdi's 'Nabucco' at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. Photo © 2011 Corrado Falsini. Click on the image for higher resolution
Among the singers, four were key to the success of the performance: Leo Nucci, now around seventy, has been Nabucco hundreds of times. Even though his voice is no longer as powerful as it used to be, the combination of superb technical qualities and very good acting made him an effective protagonist. Next to him, the young Ukrainian bass Dmitry Beloselsky was a powerful Zaccaria; his voice filled the huge opera house and his trait was imposing and forceful (as required for a leader of a Nation, even in captivity); he had already sung the role in Zurich and mastered Italian, thus his diction was quite good.

Csilla Boross as Abigaille in Verdi's 'Nabucco' at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. Photo © 2011 Corrado Falsini. Click on the image for higher resolution
Csilla Boross (Abigaille) had to anticipate, I believe, her début in the role by several months -- she was scheduled for this in Washington later in the Spring. She was a real surprise, both vocally and dramatically, as one of the best Abigailles I have heard and seen in the last few years, but she still needs to work on her diction, especially if the opera is performed, like on 12 March, without supertitles. Antonio Poli (Ismaele) is a very promising lyric tenor and Anna Malavasi (Fenena) a good mezzo. The others in minor roles were also of a high standard, especially Goran Juri as the Assyrian High Priest.
A few words about the staging. In a single set inspired by Gustav Doré paintings, the action was highly stylized with black and white as the dominant colors. It was simple and effective but miles away from the more usual Hollywood colossal chosen to set Nabucco.
The 12 March enthusiasm will, I trust, be carrried forward to this production's future performances. The Rome performances are all sold out, but the production could be revived soon, and several television channels will show it in Italy and abroad.
Copyright © 15 March 2011 Giuseppe Pennisi,
Rome, Italy

GIUSEPPE VERDI
NABUCCO
TEATRO DELL'OPERA
RICCARDO MUTI
ROME
ITALY
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nels will show it in Italy and abroad.