Back in the Lagoon
GIUSEPPE PENNISI visits La Fenice
for Verdi's 'Simon Boccanegra'
for Verdi's 'Simon Boccanegra'
Just a few weeks ago ('Human Tragedy', 5
November 2014) I reviewed Verdi's Simon Boccanegra as the last opera in La Scala's 2013-14 season; there I discussed the long and complex process to reach the
opera's third (and normally performed) version in 1881. Now the opera
returns to the location of its first version's premiere — La Fenice in Venice on 12 March 1857, this
time as the inaugural opera of the 2014-2015 season. As usual,
the 1881 third version is being performed. To the best of my memory, the 1857 and 1858
versions have recently had only concert broadcasts, by the BBC in 2001 for the centenary of Verdi's death.
La Fenice is Italy's best managed opera house in terms of efficiency
and effectiveness. In a city with only about 55,000
permanent residents but 27 million tourists every year, it is the only Italian opera house running as
a semi-repertory theatre with some 220 performances of operas, ballets and concerts every year. It caters
mostly to tourists, who, in the evenings, have a choice between overpriced
restaurants and good music.
Even though Simon
Boccanegra began its performing life in nineteenth century Venice, the opera only
made a trip back to the lagoon in 1885 for just three performances. After that,
Simon had to wait until 21 January 1950 to see Venice again.
This is the seventh La Fenice production since then, and some of
these have been quite successful, travelling as far as Japan.
I discussed the opera's background in my 5 November
review, so I'll now focus on the specifics of the
performance I saw and heard on the
22 November 2014 gala inaugural night. It is quite different from the recent La
Scala production in terms of dramaturgy (stage directions, sets and lighting), musical direction and
singing.
 Maria Agresta as Maria Boccanegra and Francesco Mieli as Gabriele Adorno in Act I scene 1 of Verdi's 'Simon Boccanegra' at La Fenice. Photo © 2014 Michele Crosera. Click on the image for higher resolution |
Firstly, La Fenice seats
about a thousand, has a comparatively small stage, and is listed by Unesco as
'a bequest to humanity'. Thus, it cannot be
modernized with complex stage machinery. This does not imply that the
production team (Andrea De Rosa as director and set designer, Alessandro Lai as costume designer and Pasquale
Mari as video designer) had to follow
nineteenth century painted backdrops.
Instead, they made use of computerized projections and a single set. The
projections show the sea and the Liguria coastline at different moments of the
day (dawn, sunset and night). As I explained on 5 November, the protagonist is a seaman and, after
a long journey in politics, yearns to return to
the sea. The single set keeps the sea present on both sides of the stage but
transforms the center stage into the Fiesco Palace in Genoa, the Grimaldi Villa on
the shore, the Council Chamber in the Government Palace, and a terrace
overlooking the Genoa harbor.
 Maria Agresta as Maria Boccanegra and Simone Piazzola as Simon Boccanegra in Act I scene 1 of Verdi's 'Simon Boccanegra' at La Fenice. Photo © 2014 Michele Crosera. Click on the image for higher resolution |
According to the libretto, Simon is about
twenty-five years old in the Prologue and about fifty during the rest of the
opera. Elderly baritones are often chosen for the role; at La Scala a
seventy-three-year-old star was alternating with a nearly eighty-year-old
former tenor turned baritone. As a
result, the drama was more credible in
Venice, with its young cast, than in Milan.
 Maria Agresta as Maria Boccanegra and Simone Piazzola as Simon Boccanegra in Act II of Verdi's 'Simon Boccanegra' at La Fenice. Photo © 2014 Michele Crosera. Click on the image for higher resolution |
Korean conductor Myung-Whun Chung grasps
the score's ambiguity very well.
On the one hand, Verdi looks backward at traditional melodrama forms, but on the
other, he travels towards later music dramas such as Otello. We feel this right
from the opening E major of the introduction to an opera dominated
by minor tonality. The tint is dark as required but with
ample room for melodic excursions (such as the two duets in Act I scene 1). Chung's
baton is
terse, placing emphasis on
the woodwind.
 Julian Kim as Paolo Albiani and Giacomo Prestìa as Jacopo Fiesco plus extras in Act 3 of Verdi's 'Simon Boccanegra' at La Fenice. Photo © 2014 Michele Crosera. Click on the image for higher resolution |
Of the vocal cast, the surprise is the
not-yet-thirty-year-old Simone Piazzola. At his debut in the title role he
offers a very credible 'Simon' both as a young man from the sea and as an
imposing ruler of Genoa. He is powerful in the Council Chamber
scene and very tender in the duets with his daughter; his diminuendo and pianissimo in the death scene are
marvelous. Another pleasant surprise is Julian Kim,
whose 'Paolo' is a real precursor of Jago in Otello. Giacomo
Prestìa (Fiesco/Grimaldi), Maria Agresta (Amelia/Maria)
and Francesco
Meli (Gabriele Adorno) are veterans of their respective parts.
 Maria Agresta as Maria Boccanegra, Francesco Mieli as Gabriele Adorno, Simone Piazzola as Simon Boccanegra and an extra (the woman in white) in the finale of Verdi's 'Simon Boccanegra' at La Fenice. Photo © 2014 Michele Crosera. Click on the image for higher resolution |
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