Patriot and Terrorist in Music and Vision 14 agosto

Patriot and Terrorist?
New aspects of Rossini
brought to light at the
2011 Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro,
discussed by GIUSEPPE PENNISI

Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868) is generally known for his comic operas, always in repertory even during Romanticism and 'Verismo', his abilities as a cook (as well as an inventor of very special recipes), his attraction for beautiful ladies and his right-to-center political views. Over the last thirty-two years, the Rossini Opera Festival (ROF), certainly the most important opera festival of the Italian summer, has unveiled his mastery in opera seria, tragédie lyrique and even grand opéra. In the first decades of the nineteenth century, he was a tremendously brilliant composer of all genres of musical theatre. Even though he retired from the stage in 1829 at the age of thirty-seven, he composed a lot of operas and other types of music. Now, operas previously unknown like Tancredi, La Donna del Lago, Mosé in Egitto and Maometto Secondo are standard fare of the major opera houses in all continents. They are especially appreciated in the rapidly growing Japanese opera market. This is mostly the outcome of joint work by the Rossini Foundation and the ROF -- they operate hand-in-hand.

Teatro Rossini in Pesaro. Photo © Studio Amati Bacciardi. Click on the image for higher resolution
Rossini lived most of his life in Paris where he moved after the 1848-1849 riots in Italy. In the French capital, he ran an important salon where most of the European musical and political world spent pleasant afternoons and evenings of social and intellectual entertainment. He appeared quite distant from the Italian national unification movement (generally known as Risorgimento), even though several Italians with various roles in the Risorgimento were frequent guests of his Parisian salon. After his death, he was buried in the Père Lachaîse Montmartre cemetery. Only in 1887 did the Italian government request that his remains had to be kept in a monumental tomb in Santa Croce church in Florence.

Inside the Rossini Theatre. Photo © Studio Amati Bacciardi. Click on the image for higher resolution
The ROF 2011 ran the risk of cancellation because of the difficult public financial situation in Italy. Even though 2011 government subsidies to the Festival are half the 2000 level, modern technologies allow for less costly sets, private sponsors have increased their contributions, many artists reduced their fees, a well known stage director worked for free (even at the stage sets, costumes and lighting). So the Festival is on, until 23 August. The program is challenging: five operas including two new fully-staged productions: Adelaide di Borgogna and Mosé in Egitto, two fully staged revivals: Il Viaggio a Reims and La Scala di Seta, and the world premiere (in concert form) of a new critical edition of Il Barbiere di Siviglia, as well as several bel canto concerts and Rossini's full piano production called Les Péchés de Vieillesse ('Old Age Sins'). The ROF works hand in hand with the Rossini Foundation; thus, it produces 'Rossini D O C'. For this reason, tickets are normally fully sold in February, half of the audience and 60% of the accredited music critics are non-Italians. To go to the ROF is a truly international experience, like Salzburg, Bayreuth, Aix-en-Provence, Glyndebourne and a very few others. I spent a week in Pesaro (a beach resort) but this report deals only with the opening nights -- 10 and 11 August -- of the two new productions: Adelaide di Borgogna and Mosé in Egitto.

The Rossini Theatre curtain. Photo © Studio Amati Bacciardi. Click on the image for higher resolution
This thirty second edition of the ROF has a real surprise: the two new productions show Rossini as a patriot and as a freedom fighter, nearly a sympathizer of terrorism. Adelaide di Borgogna is a world première in modern times. It was composed in 1817 for the Teatro Argentina in Rome and toured a few Italian theatres until 1820, after which it disappeared from theater planning. It was revived in concert form in Edinburgh nearly three decades ago (and there is a good Opera Rara CD). It was staged, but not very well, in 1984 at the Martina Franca Valle d'Itria Festival for two evenings. A new concert version was presented not long ago at the ROF. However, all these attempts were not based on a critical edition where singers and conductor would know which aria and which recitative was authored, or at least accepted, by Rossini and which by his assistants or even other musicians. Also, only with a critical edition would the musical direction know the right vocal and orchestral pitch expected by Rossini. For example, one of the protagonist roles -- Emperor Ottone -- was often entrusted to a tenor, whereas it was written for an alto and one of the villains (Adelberto) requires a very high texture, nearly that of a countertenor. Also the Martina Franca staging placed emphasis on the complex -- and hardly believable -- plot of love and power politics, whilst in the music of the twenty-five-year-old Rossini there is much more. Even though the opera had been commissioned by the Papal State, the score was full of patriotic pulses such as the initial populace chorus and the chorus of soldiers in the first act; they anticipate the 1844 patriotic choruses in Verdi's Macbeth. In short, a new Rossini -- still to be discovered.

A scene from Act I of 'Adelaide di Borgogna' at the Rossini Opera Festival. Photo © 2011 Studio Amati Bacciardi. Click on the image for higher resolution
The plot revolves around a family power struggle to conquer the 'Iron Crown' of the Kingdom of Italy in Medieval 950 or there abouts. The villains are beaten up at the end by the intervention of the Sacred Roman Emperor himself who destroys the traitors, marries the widow of the King of Italy (who had been poisoned by his own relatives) and establishes a 'personal union' between the Empire and the independent Kingdom. In short, plenty of material for patriotic choruses, marches, arias full of nostalgia and love duets. This is material the young Rossini exploited so well to circumvent the stiff Board of Censors of the Papal State. If the libretto (by Giovanni Federico Schmidt) is weak, the musical score is uneven. Rossini was fatigued at the end of 1817 after twelve months composing La Cenerentola for the Teatro Valle in Rome, La Gazza Ladra for La Scala in Milan and Armida for Teatro San Carlo in Naples. He had looked after their premieres and also after several revivals of Il Barbiere di Siviglia. He made extensive use of his collaborators to help him out with Adelaide; he also 'borrowed' musical numbers from some of his previous operas. The outcome is patchy: a rather cohesive first act and a second act where good musical numbers alternate with trivial sections. The musical director and conductor, Dmitri Jurowski, did quite well in smoothing out the score. He was helped by an excellent company of singers. Daniela Barcellona was a top-notch Ottone with a sparkling entry aria and rapturous love duets, but the real surprise was the young Australian soprano Jessica Pratt (Adelaide) with a perfect emission as well as the vocal agility for a complex rondo. Good phrasing was the main suit of Nicola Ulivieri (one of the two villains) whilst the high texture tenor Bogdan Mihai (Adelberto, the other villain) has still to fully grow up. The others in minor roles were all good.

Nicola Ulivieri as Berengario in Act I of 'Adelaide di Borgogna' at the Rossini Opera Festival. Photo © 2011 Studio Amati Bacciardi. Click on the image for higher resolution
The real crux of the production was the attempt of Pier'Alli (stage director, set and costumes designer and also in charge of lighting) to make some sense of the libretto. With the help of projections and with a-temporal costumes, he made Adelaide into a patriotic opera centered around the crown of Italy and freedom and independence for the Italians. The costumes may have been a-temporal, but the acting was rather confused. Only part of the audience appreciated Pier'Alli's work. Even though he had to deal with an incredible libretto, a possibility would have been to read it in the same way that an 1817 audience in Rome would have interpreted such a disconnected plot: ie like a puppet show about in-fighting in Medieval times as perceived by the upper middle class in Napoleonic times -- this would have meant painted stage sets, highly stylized acting and alike. The overall outcome could have been full of irony whilst after the initial interest in the projections, the Pier'Alli staging was quite boring.

Daniela Barcellona as Ottone and Jessica Pratt as Adelaide in Act I of 'Adelaide di Borgogna' at the Rossini Opera Festival. Photo © 2011 Studio Amati Bacciardi. Click on the image for higher resolution
Most of the audience was shocked by the staging of Mosé in Egitto, called in 1818 'a tragic-sacred action', in short an oratorio which could be performed during Lent when operas (both comic and serious) were not normally allowed. The libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola follows the Bible quite closely. Normally, staging is inspired by some Hollywood movie like The Ten Commandments. Nothing like in this Graham Vick production (with sets and costumes by Stuart Nunn; lighting by Giuseppe Di Iorio). We are in Palestine today. Or rather in any of the last fifty years. With a major difference: the King of the Egyptians, his family and his armies are the Israelis and Moses is the head of guerilla movement of freedom fighters. In addition, the baritone in the title role is made up to look like Osama bin Laden. Thus, he does not carry a staff but a machine gun. His followers are ready to become kamikaze to get their freedom. The ending is open. After the great D major section concluding the chorus and the partition of the Red Sea waters, a huge Israeli tank advances; it is confronted by a young Palestinian child, full of explosive under his vest. The soldier offers a chocolate bar to the little boy. But at that point, Maestro Roberto Abbado puts his baton down and the theatre becomes deeply dark. We do not know whether the driver of the tank and the child will smile at each other and shake each other's hand or if they will explode together. It is left to the audience to discuss and debate it -- a primary function of any form of performing art and especially of music. But this is very distant from Rossini's concept and music, even though not a single word of Tottola's libretto is modified. Naturally, the Jewish community organizations delivered a protest even before the opening night -- just on the news provided by the press attending the dress rehearsal. On 11 August, there was some fuss in the theatre but applause and even accolades did overcome the boos (to the stage direction and setting).

A scene from Act I of 'Mosé in Egitto' at the Rossini Opera Festival. Photo © 2011 Studio Amati Bacciardi. Click on the image for higher resolution
It is quite normal that some of the audience prefer a more traditional, eg Biblical, interpretation but others appreciate a politically incorrect version like that presented. In short, the production is enthralling but quite far away from the original work: it is a call for peace where God is never present, even though some key points of the opera are prayers to the Almighty (eg In Moses' Eterno, Immenso, Incomptensible Dio! in Act I and the chorus Dal Tuo Stellato Soglio in Act III, added for a 1819 revival always in Naples). In my view, this is not the most significant shortcoming. Actually, I liked the performance. The key weakness is that the elaborate setting and acting prevent the production from being exported to other theatres. In Pesaro it was staged in the Adriatic Arena, a huge building originally conceived for sporting events. Nowadays, if opera is to survive, performances must travel and their costs must be shared by several theatres, as we have seen, eg, when discussing the Puccini Festival in M&V on 11 August.

Dmitry Korchak as Osiride and Alex Esposito as the King of the Egyptians in Act I of 'Mosé in Egitto' at the Rossini Opera Festival. Photo © 2011 Studio Amati Bacciardi. Click on the image for higher resolution
The orchestra and the chorus (from the Teatro Comunale di Bologna) are highly professional. I felt it from the very beginning: the darkness scene where, after three summoning chords, a semiquaver figure in G minor ushers in the chorus of distraught Egyptians.

Sonia Ganassi as Elcia and Riccarda Zenellato as Moses with the chorus in Act II of 'Mosé in Egitto' at the Rossini Opera Festival. Photo © 2011 Studio Amati Bacciardi. Click on the image for higher resolution
Alex Esposito (the King of the Egyptians) and Riccardo Zanellato (Moses) are two strong baritones in a fierce confrontation: on 11 August, Esposito was stronger than Zanellato who, also because of the staging, was not sufficiently solemn in the first act prayer, while Roberto Abbado and the orchestra gave the right emphasis to the trumpets, the horns and the woodwind and the brilliant C major (for the return of the light to the Egyptians) -- a tribute Rossini intended to pay to Haydn's Creation. Sonia Ganassi is a superb Elcia and Dmitri Korchak an effective Osiride -- the two unlucky lovers separated by a wall of racial hatred. They emphasize sensual love in the duet sliding, when discovered, into the well-known masterly quartet Mi Manca la Voce. Yijie Shi as Aaron handles the high texture and the series of acutes quite well. As already said, on 11 August, at the end of the performance, there were a few boos to the stage directions, but standing ovations for the musical direction and accolades to Esposito, Ganassi and Korchak.
Copyright © 14 August 2011 Giuseppe Pennisi,
Rome, Italy

GIOACCHINO ROSSINI
ITALY
GRAHAM VICK
EGYPT
PALESTINE
ISRAEL
FRANCE
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