|
A Philological 'Tosca'
GIUSEPPE PENNISI reports from Rome
Tosca needs
no introduction. The opera is
one of Giacomo Puccini's war horses as well as one of the most
performed music dramas worldwide. Indeed, Tosca is the first Italian music
drama. The
date of its debut in the Rome Opera House, 14
January 1900, is
considered as the turning point in Italian music — the real start of the
musical twentieth century. The plot is
based on a single day and on a precise date (14 June 1800) around the
misleading information reaching Rome on the outcome of the Marengo battle
during a Napoleonic campaign to conquer Italy.
However, the events are
often moved by stage directors to other times, especially to that of
Fascism (ie in the Jonathan Miller, Peter Sellars, Robert Carsen, and
Pierluigi Pizzi productions).
There's nothing of that in this new production which
is a philological Tosca, exactly as it was performed on 14 January
1900.
Oksana Dyka as Tosca and Stefano La Colla as Cavaradossi in Puccini's
'Tosca' (Act I) at Opera di Roma. Photo © 2015 Yasuko Kageyama. Click on the
image for higher resolution
|
Oksana Dyka in the title role of Puccini's 'Tosca' (Act I) at Opera di
Roma. Photo © 2015 Yasuko Kageyama. Click on the image for higher
resolution
|
It is
understandable that the then Queen of
Italy was enthralled by the costume worn
by the title role in the first act and demanded that similar attire be
tailored for her.
The Act I finale of Puccini's 'Tosca' at Opera di Roma. Photo © 2015
Yasuko Kageyama. Click on the image for higher resolution
|
An
issue is that in the Italy of 1900, there was no stage direction as we understand it now. The South African-Italian
stage director, Alessandro
Talevi, has shown considerable imagination on
various occasions (eg 'Champagne not Orange Juice', 8 June 2014) but for this production his wits were
constrained by the need to scrupulously follow the scenic indications
written by Puccini and
the two authors of
the libretto (Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica) for
the debut. They are no more than notes with little attention to acting. As a
result, Oksana Dyka (in the title role), who been an effective
actress under Franco Zeffirelli and others, seemed a bit clumsy on 1
March 2015, the
opening night, on
which this review is based. She has, no doubt, a powerful dramatic voice but
could have had a more gentle
modulation, most likely a result of the little attention to careful
acting.
From left to right: Robert Frontali as Scarpia, Stefano La Colla as
Cavaradossi and Oksana Dyka in the title role of Puccini's 'Tosca' (Act
II) at Opera di Roma. Photo © 2015 Yasuko Kageyama. Click on the image
for higher resolution
|
Oksana Dyka as Tosca and Robert Frontali as Scarpia in the final scene
of Act II of Puccini's 'Tosca' at Opera di Roma. Photo © 2015 Yasuko
Kageyama. Click on the image for higher resolution
|
The tenor
Stefano La Colla was a coup de théâtre himself. He was scheduled
to sing only
two of the fifteen performances,
almost a consolation prize for a
'cover'. However, he had to step in because the 'star', Yonghoon Lee, was
ill. In the first act, the audience was
quite cold as he sang Recondite Armonie in a decent way,
a difficult
opening aria based
entirely on the centre register. As the opera went on, La Colla seemed to
grow and in the third act E Lucevan Le Stelle, the sold out theatre
seemed to explode with accolades, ovations and requests for an encore. La Colla is a name to
remember.
Oksana Dyka as Tosca and Robert Frontali as Scarpia in Act III of
Puccini's 'Tosca' at Opera di Roma. Photo © 2015 Yasuko Kageyama. Click
on the image for higher resolution
|
|
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento