patrikpen: A Thin Connection in Music and Vision 28 settembre

martedì 4 novembre 2014

A Thin Connection in Music and Vision 28 settembre

A Thin Connection

Purcell's 'King Arthur' travels to Italy,
and is experienced by Giuseppe Pennisi

There is a fatal attraction between avant-garde and experimental theatre, on the one hand, and baroque music theatre, on the other. Both genres make use of improvisation and deal with fantastic stylized plots with a good dose of symbolism, and also avoid any form of realism. They also employ extreme registers in their vocal aspects: castrati, altos and countertenors.

Almost every year, Rimini's Sagra Musicale Malatestiana presents a baroque opera entrusted to some Central Italy experimental group. This year, the chosen piece of music theatre was King Arthur by Henry Purcell on a text by John Dryden — a very bold choice. The production will travel to Pesaro, Rome and other Italian towns, and may also visit Belgium.

King Arthur is a 'semi-opera', mostly in verse, with some twenty-five musical numbers. The protagonists have spoken roles, but the characters from the outer worlds sing while helping them; there are also lengthy dances. It is considered nearly impossible to perform at today's costs. The last European staging of the full text and music was in 1995: a joint production by the Châtelet Theatre in Paris and the Royal Opera House in London, with Graham Vick as stage director and Les Arts Florissants conducted by William Christie in the pit. It was a titanic enterprise involving twenty actors, nine singers (many in several parts), twelve dancers and a chorus of thirty five. It lasted five and a half hours including two intermissions. It toured several cities in concert form. In 1995, an abridged version (three and a half hours) was shown in the Palazzo Pitti courtyard in Florence. To the best of my knowledge, King Arthur is quite often shown (more or less abridged) in the theatres of American Universities: it provides a reason for collaboration between the Drama School and the Music School (baroque is quite suited to young voices). More significantly, it depicts the birth of a nation — Great Britain.

Silvia Calderoli (left) as Emmeline with Yuliya Poleshchuk, soprano, in Purcell's 'King Arthur' at Sagra Musicale Malatestiana di Rimini. Photo © 2014 Viterbo Fotocine. Click on the image for higher resolution

As a matter of fact, its 1691 premiere was a tremendous success, followed by a hundred performances that very year and several revivals in the following years not only for artistic but also for political reasons. It was read as a representation of the political and religious war through which Great Britain was born — a major allegoric pageantry where fighting occurs on earth and also in heaven (between Latin/Catholic and Germanic divinities).

Carlo Vistoli, countertenor (top left), Yuliya Poleshchuk, soprano (top right) Silvia Calderoli as Emmeline (bottom right) and Glen Çaçi in the title role of Purcell's 'King Arthur' at Sagra Musicale Malatestiana di Rimini. Photo © 2014 Viterbo Fotocine. Click on the image for higher resolution

This political-religious concept is missing in the current production. Text and music are reduced to less than an hour and a half. About half of Purcell's musical numbers remain, and some five per cent of Dryden's text is presented. In short, the plot no longer deals with the birth of a nation but revolves around the love of two youngsters (King Arthur and Princess Emmeline) in the midst of war — quite a wild conflict without clear determinants (at least to the audience).

Glen Çaçi (King Arthur) and Silvia Calderoni (Emmeline) speak in Italian, while the singers (an excellent countertenor Carlo Vistoli and good quality sopranos Laura Catrani and Yuliya Poleshchuk) perform with an English diction that leaves something to be desired. There is little or no connection between the action and the arias. Ensemble Sezione Aurea and conductor Luca Giardini are quite effective in their instrumental contributions. Luca Scarlini's dramaturgy, videos from the Aqua Micans Group and stage direction by Enrico Casagrande and Daniela Nicolò all depict well the rough environment where what is left of the plot evolves.