'Un Ballo' Returns Home

GIUSEPPE PENNISI reviews
Verdi in Rome

Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera on a libretto by Antonio Somma based on a drama by Eugène Scribe had a long and complicated history before being staged at Rome's Teatro Apollo in 1859: its plot is based on the actual stabbing of the King of Sweden, Gustav III, during a masked ball in 1792. This was a difficult and tricky topic in a country like Italy divided into many different kingdoms, especially after an Italian conspirator had tried to throw a bomb on the carriage of the Emperor of France, Napoleon III, in Paris in 1856. As a matter of fact, before then, Scribe's drama had been set to music by Auber, Mercadante and others without too many problems.
After trying several theatres, Rome accepted the opera but requested that the plot be set on a different continent (in Boston, America) and that the King be downgraded to a Governor. This implied, of course, a few changes to the libretto and very minor modifications to the score. Since then, on the one hand, the opera is normally presented in the 1859 Rome version (ie in Boston at the end of the seventeenth century) but stage directors have also shown the action in other places and times, including Dallas during the days of President J F Kennedy's assassination. (See 'A Stage Direction to Forget', 16 January 2015 and 'A Real Triumph', 14 August 2011).
The original 1792 Swedish setting is restored for this new staging, co-produced with Malmö Opera House, and I attended its premiere in Rome on 16 October 2016. In Nordic Countries the opera is often titled Gustav III, as the King is known as one of the main personalities of enlightenment in a rather conservative, even bigoted Sweden. Stage director Leo Muscato and his team (Federica Parolini, stage sets, Sylvia Aymonino, sets and Alessandro Verazzi, lighting) depict a Sweden where even the Royal Palace is quite simple (with the exception of the paintings in the King's private parlor). There is, of course, a dark and bleak atmosphere in the second scene of Act I (the fortune teller's den) and in Act II (the desolate and dismal field). Thus, the sets are essential, but effective, and can easily be moved across Europe. Also, a lot of care and attention has been taken with the acting.

A scene from Opera Roma's 'Un Ballo in Maschera'. Photo © 2016 Yasuko Kageyama

Un Ballo in Maschera is, above all, music. For the first time, Verdi successfully develops a rich and complex orchestration with skillful use of counterpoint and thematic motifs (to recall situations and places — quite different from the leitmotif technique that Richard Wagner was working with during the same period). Conductor Jesús López Cobos and the orchestra delved quite well into the score. The chorus is one of the protagonists in Act I and Act III. Under the guidance of Roberto Gabbiani, they acted and sang very effectively.

A feature of Un Ballo in Maschera is the juxtaposition of the principal characters' voices: the King and his page have different coloratura voices (the page is a soprano en travesti), Amelia (the woman the King is in love with) is a dramatic soprano and the fortune teller is a mezzo descending to an alto register. The King's best friend and the husband of Amelia (Anckaström) is a typical Verdi melodramatic baritone.
Francesco Meli (as the King) was often applauded open stage for his coloratura and legato. The page, Serena Gamberoni, is extremely agile (vocally and physically).