A Triumph
Hans Werner Henze's love for Italy,
and 'Gisella!' in Palermo,
by GIUSEPPE PENNISI
Hans Werner Henze's Gisela! Oder Die merk- und
denkwürdigen Wege des Glücks ('Gisela! Or the strange
and memorable routes to happiness') inaugurated the 2015 opera, ballet
and concert season of
Palermo's Teatro Massimo on
21 January 2015. Henze
(1926-2012)
needs no introduction;
he is the most celebrated and the most performed composer of
the second part of the twentieth century.
Born in Westphalia, he reached Italy in
his mid-twenties and fell in love
with the country:
after a few years shared between Ischia Island and Naples,
he settled in Marino, in the hilly countryside near Rome.
His artistic life
can be divided into three parts. In the first, he brought modern
music (including the twelve note row style)
to large audiences
and based his work on well known literature; in the second, he opted for epic
works with strong political
connotations; in the third, his main theme was the search for Utopia. Within
this third phase, there is Gisela!,
an opera he composed at
the age of eighty-four, to be especially performed and seen by adolescents.
 A scene from Hans Werner Henze's 'Gisella!' at Teatro Massimo di Palermo. Photo © 2015 Rosellina Garbo. Click on the image for higher resolution |
Gisela! was first performed in the
Maschinenhalle of Gladbeck, Germany,
on 25 September 2010 as
part of the Ruhrtriennale music and arts festival by
the contemporary music ensemble in
collaboration with local youth
groups and university students.
It was a major success.
It soon landed in Dresden
Semperoper where it is a repertory
staple. The original commission
was to continue the direction of
Henze's Pollicino
('Growing Up', 30 October 2010). Gisela!'s target performers
are teenagers and young singers,
although the score is
demanding for orchestra, chorus
and soloists.
While at Ruhrtriennale, the performers were mostly in their teens, in Dresden,
and elsewhere in Germany, they are professional
singers. In Palermo, two of the three protagonists
were in their late twenties, but one (the baritone)
in his fifties (though made up to look like a youngster).
 Rosolino Claudio Cardile, Maria Chiara Pavone, Patrizia Gentile and Giuseppe Esposito as four tourists in Hans Werner Henze's 'Gisella!' at Teatro Massimo di Palermo. Photo © 2015 Rosellina Garbo. Click on the image for higher resolution |
Gisela! was Hans Werner Henze's last
opera. It is a parable to Henze's own life, namely of a person from the north
of Germany falling in love with Italy. The two acts tell the story of
a young student's love triangle, the choice
Gisela has to make between her German boyfriend and the Italian
alternative, as well as the difficulty of the Italian Gennaro to come to terms
with life in northern Germany. It is interesting
that Gisela's nightmares are based on Bach's
music, eerily transformed. Gennaro chooses to express himself by singing
'Aggio Saputo', a Neapolitan song.
The first act (forty minutes) develops in Naples; The thirty minute second act
in Oberhausen. The final scene is
the explosion of Mount Vesuvius to celebrate the everlasting love between
Gisela and Gennaro.
 Roberto De Biasio as Gennarino and Vanessa Goikoetxea as Gisela in Hans Werner Henze's 'Gisella!' at Teatro Massimo di Palermo. Photo © 2015 Rosellina Garbo. Click on the image for higher resolution |
Henze provides a delightful score: a tapestry of quotations (not only
Bach and Neapolitan songs,
but Hindemith, Stravinsky,
many other important
twentieth century composers, jazz,
afro-Cuban rhythms
and even Scarlatti
and Pergolesi).
The quotations are so skillfully intertwined that only specialists can catch
them. The tapestry is light
and fascinating.
The vocal part follows canonic operatic
conventions such as recitatives and arias, duets,
trios, sextets, ensembles
and is, of course, to fit young voices
like an eighteenth century
light opera.
 From left to right: Giuseppe Esposito and Rosolino Claudio Cardile as tourists, Lucio Gallo as Hanspeter and Salvatore Grigoli as another tourist in Hans Werner Henze's 'Gisella!' at Teatro Massimo di Palermo. Photo © 2015 Rosellina Garbo. Click on the image for higher resolution |
The orchestra and chorus, with young conductor
Constantin Trinks, render the score to perfection. The three main singers
(Vanessa Goikoetxea, Roberto De Biasio and Lucio Gallo) handle their roles very
well in a performance
where, along with other singers in less important roles, there are actors
and mimes from the stage theatre
Compagnia Sud Costa Occidentale, all directed by Emma Dante
with elegance,
tact and affection.
 Roberto De Biasio as Gennarino and Vanessa Goikoetxea as Gisela in Hans Werner Henze's 'Gisella!' at Teatro Massimo di Palermo. Photo © 2015 Rosellina Garbo. Click on the image for higher resolution |
A triumph.
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