A Posthumous Debut
Giorgio Strehler's 'Marriage of Figaro'
finally reaches Rome,
enjoyed by GIUSEPPE PENNISI
finally reaches Rome,
enjoyed by GIUSEPPE PENNISI
The world famous stage and opera director Giorgio Strehler had a belated, and much awaited debut in Rome's Opera House on 21 May 2015. Strehler died on Christmas night 1997. He staged several plays in Rome, but his operatic career evolved mostly in Milan, Paris and Florence. He was also an actor and a member of the Italian Parliament. His opera productions can often be seen on French, German and Italian cultural television channels. Yet during his lifetime, none of his stagings had either been
programmed for Rome or had travelled from Milan, Paris or Florence to Rome.
Thus, the Rome Opera House was filled in every category of seats and tickets
are hard to get for the nine performances of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro.
 Rosa Feola as Susanna and Markus Werba as Figaro at the beginning of Act I of Mozart's 'The Marriage of Figaro' in Rome. Photo © 2015 Yasuko Kageyama. Click on the image for higher resolution |
The opera needs no presentation: with Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Verdi's Falstaff and Wagner's Die Meistersinger von
Nürnberg, Le Nozze di Figaro is
among the four best and most often performed eighteenth century musical comedies. Neither is the production new or poorly known. I saw it in Washington DC (where I lived and worked at that time) at the Kennedy Center Opera House
in 1976. For the bicentenary of the Independence of the United States, several European opera companies visited Washington with a sample of their best
productions. At that time, in the bag of the Paris Opéra, there was this very
production of Nozze.
 Michaela Selinger as Cherubino and Markus Werba as Figaro at the end of Act I of Mozart's 'The Marriage of Figaro' in Rome. Photo © 2015 Yasuko Kageyama. Click on the image for higher resolution |
As a matter of fact, the production had been originally conceived for the
small (five-hundred seat) Versailles Palace baroque theatre in 1973. It had been expanded to meet the requirements of the Palais
Garnier, then the Paris Opera House's main stage. Sometime in the nineteen
eighties, the Paris Opéra sold it to la Scala, where it was staged for several seasons. Both Paris Opéra and La Scala featured this Nozze in their tours.
 Rosa Feola as Susanna (left) and Eleonora Buratto as the Contessa in Act II of Mozart's 'The Marriage of Figaro' in Rome. Photo © 2015 Yasuko Kageyama. Click on the image for higher resolution |
The stage set (by Ezio Frigerio) and the costumes (by the then very young Franca Squarciapino) are very elegant and also very easy to transport. In short, La folle journée — as
Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais named the play on which Lorenzo Da Ponte based the libretto for Mozart — starts in the attic (the servants' quarters) of an
aristocratic palace; in the second act, with the changes of just a few props, the action moves to the Count and Countess' apartment; in the third act, again a few props change the set into a
grand ballroom; and finally in the fourth act in the palace's garden.
Strehler's longtime assistant, Marina Bianchi, carefully reproduced the very sophisticated acting, closely linked with the music.
 Damiana Mizzi as Barbarina in Mozart's 'The Marriage of Figaro' in Rome. Photo © 2015 Yasuko Kageyama. Click on the image for higher resolution |
After more than forty years from its creation, the production was warmly
applauded. The merit, of course, was not only in the elegant sets, the precious high quality materials, costumes and skillful acting. Way back in 1976 in Washington, Georg Solti was in the pit. This time the conductor was Roland Boër, who also played the forte piano during the recitatives. He gave Nozze the touch of a sophisticated
timeless comedy; from the initial symphony the whole audience felt that they were listening not to eighteenth century music but to something timeless (on a universal plot).
 The concertato at the end of Act III of Mozart's 'The Marriage of Figaro' in Rome. Photo © 2015 Yasuko Kageyama. Click on the image for higher resolution |
The cast was young but well-experienced. Eleonora Buratto was an excellent Countess
who filled the huge theatre with Dove sono i bei moment. Rosa Feola exploded as a magnificent
Susanna in Deh, vieni non tardar.
 The end of Act IV of Mozart's 'The Marriage of Figaro' in Rome. Photo © 2015 Yasuko Kageyama. Click on the image for higher resolution |
Michaela Selinger was a very lyrical Cherubino and Isabel De Paoli a tricky Marcellina, not to
mention Damiana Mizzi as a charming Barbarina. In the men's group, Markus
Werba (Figaro) and Carlo Lepore (Bartolo) were a span above the others. All,
however, were of good quality.
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