A Bitter and Sweet Swallow in Music and Vision 24 luglio

A bitter-sweet 'Swallow' 'La Rondine' at the Puccini Opera Festival impresses GIUSEPPE PENNISI As anticipated here recently in 'A Keen interest', 20 July 2017, the second opera of the 2017 Puccini Opera Festival is La Rondine ('The Swallow'), a rather rarely-performed opera. Its premiere was 27 March 1917 in Monte Carlo, but it reached London's Royal Opera House only in 2002. I was in the audience at Torre del Lago on 15 July 2017. There are many reasons for this lack of popularity. It had been originally conceived as an operetta for the Vienna Carltheater, however the start of World War I compelled the authors to change plans. Also in those years, Puccini had several personal problems and, as a consequence, he was very slow in composing. For instance, his librettist (Giuseppe Adami) had to write three different endings for the third act. Meantime, La Rondine had evolved as a full-fledged opera with no spoken dialogue. Also, Puccini contracted with a different musical firm for the publication of the score — Sonzogo rather than his usual publisher Ricordi. Finally, because of the status of European hostilities, it was decided to launch the opera in what was technically a neutral country: Monte Carlo. The Italian premiere was in Bologna a few months later, but it is indicative that the Metropolitan Opera House in New York (where Puccini had premiered La Fanciulla del West and Il Trittico) staged La Rondine for the first time four years after the composer's death in 1924. Yet some Italian musicologists, such as Fedele D'Amico and Alfredo Mandelli, as well as the late Julian Budden, consider it one of the best and most forward looking of Puccini's operas. The plot revolves around the short love story between Magda, a high level courtesan (sung and acted by Donata D'Annunzio Lombardi), and Ruggiero, a young man from a well-off provincial family (Leonardo Caimi). They leave Paris for the Côte d'Azur but pretty soon Magda realizes that Ruggiero, unaware both of her past and of her present relationship with a wealthy banker, Rambaldo (Davide Mura) wants to marry her and have children. He has written to his family and obtained their blessing, and is about to arrange the wedding ceremony. Thus, like a swallow, she flies back to where she came from. Leonardo Caimi as Ruggiero and Donata D'Annunzio Lombardi as Magda in 'La Rondine' at the Puccini Opera Festival in Torre del Lago. Photo © 2017 Giorgio Andreuccetti. Click on the image for higher resolution There is a parallel sub-plot on the affair between Lisette, Magda's chamber maid (Elisabetta Zizzo) and a poet, Prunier (Alberto Petricca). Elisabetta Zizzo as Lisette (left) and Donata D'Annunzio Lombardi as Magda in 'La Rondine' at the Puccini Opera Festival in Torre del Lago. Photo © 2017 Giorgio Andreuccetti. Click on the image for higher resolution The Puccini Festival production toured three Tuscan theatres a few years ago, but it had to be adjusted to fill the huge Torre del Lago stage. In short, a staircase on a rotating platform and the view onto the lake together with a few props made good the different places of the action — Magda's home in Paris, a ballroom and a hotel near Nice. The stage sets were authored by Giuliano Spinelli and the elegant period costumes by Floridia Benedettini and Diego Fiorini. The stage director is Plamen Kartaloff. A scene from 'La Rondine' at the Puccini Opera Festival in Torre del Lago. Photo © 2017 Giorgio Andreuccetti. Click on the image for higher resolution In the pit a young Italian woman, Beatrice Venezi, handled the complex score very well. Vocally, there are extended melodies, often broken down into recurring motifs. Also, Second Empire Paris is evoked by waltz rhythms of the French model, slower than the Viennese style. There are also hints at more modern (1917) dances such as the one-step and the slow fox-trot. Puccini used a large orchestra for La Rondine which allowed for harmonic audacities worthy of La Fanciulla del West. Beatrice Venezi handled the large orchestra with the required delicate touch and elegance. The main musical weight is in the second act, where two waltz themes are intertwined, and the concertato is the opera's real pinnacle. A scene from 'La Rondine' at the Puccini Opera Festival in Torre del Lago. Photo © 2017 Giorgio Andreuccetti. Click on the image for higher resolution The five principals were all very good in their respective roles, and a dozen singers in minor roles were also quite effective. The audience was enthralled. Copyright © 24 July 2017 Giuseppe Pennisi, Rome, Italy GIACOMO PUCCINI LA RONDINE TORRE DEL LAGO ITALY 1917  << M&V home       Concert reviews        The Fibonacci Sequence >>