A Delicate Balance in Music & Vision 11 agosto

A Delicate Balance
GIUSEPPE PENNISI has mixed feelings about
'Aida' at the Baths of Caracalla

Verdi's Aida is one of the most performed operas, especially in the summer and in large open-air theatres. It lends itself as a colossal production, especially due to the Triumphal March, the ballet and the outstanding concertato at the end of the second act. Since 1937, Rome's Teatro dell'Opera has had a summer season in the breath-taking ruins of the Baths of Caracalla. Aida has been a standing feature of such summer seasons: on 2 August 2011, the fiftieth production of the opera, especially tailored to the huge stage, was unveiled, and a book was being sold with photographs of many of the previous stagings. It is very interesting to see how tastes have changed over the years.

A scene from 'Aida' at the Baths of Caracalla. Photo © 2011 Corrado Maria Falsini. Click on the image for higher resolution
Everybody knows that Aida was commissioned for the inauguration of the Cairo Opera House by the Egyptian Khedive (ie ruler) and that Verdi was paid a fabulous fee for composing it -- the Khedive had also contacted Gounod and Wagner, as he intended to have a world-wide event. More importantly, the inauguration of the Cairo Opera House had to be simultaneous with the start of the navigation through the Suez Canal. However, the devil put his fingers on the program. The Franco-Prussian war exploded. Thus, it was not safe to ship stage sets and costumes on the Mediterranean sea from Paris where they had been manufactured in the laboratories of the Opéra. As a consequence, the Cairo Opera House was inaugurated with a 'ready-made' Rigoletto. Aida landed in Cairo on 24 December 1871 and reached La Scala on 8 February 1872; from La Scala, Aida sailed all over and became one of the most popular operas.

Giovanna Casolla as Amneris in Verdi's 'Aida' at the Baths of Caracalla. Photo © 2011 Corrado Maria Falsini. Click on the image for higher resolution
The Cairo Opera House, where Aida was staged for several seasons at the turn of the century and also in the 1950s, burned down in 1972, and was replaced by a brand new and modern theatre. I was very fortunate to be in Cairo for several weeks in January-February 1969 and to visit the opera house for a ballet performance of an East German touring company. The building was patterned after smaller Italian opera houses (eg the Teatro Valle in Rome); it could contain an audience of no more than seven or eight hundred, had a comparatively small and not very deep stage but, most likely at Verdi's request, a rather large orchestra pit.

Hui He in the title role of Verdi's 'Aida' at the Baths of Caracalla. Photo © 2011 Corrado Maria Falsini. Click on the image for higher resolution
These details may seem irrelevant but are useful to understand the challenge of producing Aida: on the one hand, there is the tendency to build up a Hollywood colossal with even camels and elephants on stage; on the other, it is a very intimate work, constructed mostly on a series of duets and trios (with the exception of the second scene of the second act). Practically, each scene is a musical number by itself. Also, even though at the time of its composition Verdi had not yet experienced any Wagner opera, a strong symphonic approach pervades the entire work. Even those musicologists like Roger Parker, who consider Aida a step backward from 'experimental' to 'conservative' musical theatre, do concede that the ceremonial scenes are 'magnificently controlled' and that Verdi is 'radical' and 'modern' in 'the use of local color, constantly alluding to its ambience in harmony and instrumentation' as well as in 'the delicacy and control with which this color can be applied to the standard forms and expressive conventions of Italian operas'.

Walter Fraccaro as Radames and Hui He in the title role of Verdi's 'Aida' at the Baths of Caracalla. Photo © 2011 Corrado Maria Falsini. Click on the image for higher resolution
Browsing through the book on the forty-nine previous productions of Aida at the Baths of Caracalla, the impression left is that the delicate balance is seldom reached and that for several years elephants, camels and horses tended to make open-air Aida a Cecil B De Mille 'greatest show on earth'. In my opinion, only two of the many productions I have seen in nearly fifty-five years have achieved the right equilibrium between the colossal and the intimate: a) the John Dexter production unveiled at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1978 and staged until well into the 1990s in New York and in tour; b) the Franco Zeffirelli production conceived in 2001 for the small (four-hundred seat) theatre at Busseto (Verdi's birthplace) which toured all over continental Europe.

A scene from 'Aida' at the Baths of Caracalla. Photo © 2011 Corrado Maria Falsini. Click on the image for higher resolution
The most significant aspect of the production I saw on 2 August 2011 at the Baths of Caracalla is that it achieved such a delicate balance because it was entrusted to a well-known choreographer, Micha van Hoecke, and wholly produced by the staff of the Teatro del'Opera, in order to save on costs. The stage was almost bare with only a few quite elegant props to indicate the different locations; the costumes were simple but beautiful: stage sets and costumes were the work of Carlo Savi. Very skillful lighting of the ruins by Agostino Angelini made the night marvelous.

Giovanna Casolla as Amneris and Hui He in the title role of Verdi's 'Aida' at the Baths of Caracalla. Photo © 2011 Corrado Maria Falsini. Click on the image for higher resolution
The Baths of Caracalla are amplified. Thus, any judgment on the musical aspects is to be taken with a grain of salt. I was on row fourteen, just in front of the stage, and could appreciate Asher Fisch's careful baton in handling the wholesome symphonic approach and providing the colors. Hui Hue was a high level Aida and had open stage applause after Numi Pietà and Oh Patria Mia. Her Radames was Walter Fraccaro: either he was having a bad night or there are very few tenori spinti for such a role. His troubles started in his opening aria Celeste Aida. However, he did an honest job in the third act, which is generally killing for the poor tenor. He received part of the applause addressed to Hue Hui in the final lyrical duet O Terra Addio. Alberto Mastromarino was a solid Amonasro, very effective in Su Dunque Sorgete. Amneris was Giovanna Casolla, a dramatic soprano now attempting to become a mezzo: she screamed her way through the performance. Rafal Siwek was a good Ramfis, and Luca Dell'Amico a rather ordinary King of Egypt.

A scene from 'Aida' at the Baths of Caracalla. Photo © 2011 Corrado Maria Falsini. Click on the image for higher resolution
In short, my eyes appreciated this fiftieth production of Aida at the Baths of Caracalla more than my ears.
Copyright © 11 August 2011 Giuseppe Pennisi,
Rome, Italy

GIUSEPPE VERDI
AIDA
ROME
ITALY
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