Il Trovatore

 



 

 

 

  The story behind Verdi's opera, Il Trovatore, is in many ways similar in nature to that of the story itself. Both are filled with drama, intensity, struggle, uncertainty, and death. After composing Rigoletto, Verdi who had been considering King Lear as his next project, came across the Spanish drama called, El Trovador, Gutierrez. It is possible that Verdi learned of the work, that had yet to be produced on an Italian stage, from a singer returning from Spain. How ironic... 

 

  Verdi and his librettist, Salvadore Cammarano, exchanged extensive correspondence over the subject of Il Trovatore, which Cammarano may not have taken a liking to. Composition of the opera stalled as Cammarano became ill and Verdi had to wait for his recovery. In July of 1852, Cammarano died and Verdi was forced to find a librettist to assist him. The period of composition of Il Trovatore was wrought with frustration, sadness, loss, and ultimately perseverance for Verdi. Artistic censors, gossip over his personal life, the loss of his mother, and now the death of his colleague and friend undoubtedly inspired him to the intense characters of Il Trovatore to life.

 

Korean tenor, Yonghoon Lee sang the daunting role of Manrico, the troubadour. Lee's voice is impressive to say the least. He possesses a voice that is, as they say, lined up from top to bottom. It is bright, yet has a burnished color to it which makes the upper part of his voice thrilling. Lee had no problem being heard over Verdi's orchestra which at times can be challenging as in the Act 3 aria, Di quella pira which segues in to a large chorus. Mr. Lee never sounded tired or labored. His Italian pronunciation was a bit tight sounding, but it didn't effect the sound itself. Mr. Lee sang not only a beautiful line, but with musical variation and dramatic intensity. His performance was one of the best from a tenor that I have heard at the Lyric Opera in the past 3 years, Jonas Kaufmann's duo recital last March being the other.

 

 

 

  However excited I was by Mr. Lee's performance, I was completely won over by that of American Soprano, Amber Wagner. Ms. Wagner's singing of Leonora, a noble woman in love with Manrico, is the epitome not only of what this role should sound like, but what dramatic operatic singing should like altogether. Ms. Wagner always sang in a beautifully connected line without having to resort to straight tone. Her voice was seamless, flexible and bright, yet still grounded at all times. Her voice carried through the hall whether she sang forte or piano. It was thrilling to hear what her voice is capable of under the demands of Leonora's opening scene. Ms. Wagner sang the cavatina, Tacea la notte placida with melancholy restraint which made the contrasting cabaletta, Di tale amor, all the more exciting with its fast moving phrases and trills which she executed with ease. There was a brief point in Act 4 where Ms. Wagner's voice sounded a bit tired, but hardly noticeable as it didn't effect her range, musicality, or dramatic interpretation.

 

 

  Singing the role of the gypsy Azucena was American Mezzo-soprano, Stephanie Blythe. Like Mr. Lee and Miss. Wagner, Ms. Blythe sang with emotional intensity and was wonderful as the vengeful and tormented Azucena. Ms. Blythe has a beautiful voice that is rich and full of depth. She seemed to have trouble negotiating the vast range of the music and sang flat when the music sat in the cracks of the passaggio.

 

 

  In the role of Count di Luna, Manrico's rival, was Ryan Center alumni, Quinn Kelsey. Mr. Kelsey has quickly made a name for himself as a Verdi baritone, having sung the role of Giorgio Germont in last season's Lyric production of La Traviata as well as Paolo in Verdi's Simon Boccanegra in 2012. Mr. Kelsey, as always, sang with raw energy and dramatic intensity. He has a beautiful voice that is sweet and lyrical as well as round and dark. I have to admit that each time that I have heard Mr. Kelsey, this being the third, that I feel disappointed. When he sings in a connected legato line, his voice is quite beautiful and captivating, yet Mr. Kelsey routinely sang with straight tone which came across at times as  a pop-sound. An additional result of this stylistically incorrect interpretation was that his voice lost the color and projection needed for the role. I had a similar complaint of his interpretation of Germont last season. He consistently broke up the vocal line and barked out the notes which took away from the music as well as made the characterization one-sided as he's done each time I have heard him at the Lyric. I'm curious if this has yet to be addressed or isn't viewed as important by today's standards of singing.

 

 

  Singing the role of Ferrando, Di Luna's main officer was Lyric veteran, Andrea Silvestrelli who sang the role of the Commendatore in this season's Lyric production of Don Giovanni. Mr. Silvestrelli appears to be running on vocal fumes and in my opinion, has been for some time. Each time I have heard him sing live, it has been successively lazy and lacking in energy. In this production upon hearing the first sung lines by Ferrando, I had the impression that Mr. Silvestrelli had just been woken up a few minutes before the curtain was to rise. He lumbered around the stage and was vocally uninspiring. Because Mr. Silvestrelli has access to such a large instrument he has no trouble being heard, but his voice no longer has the beauty it had in the early 2000's. It's gruff and unfocused much like his performance on this night.  

 

 

  The comprimario roles of Inez, Leonora's confidante and Ruiz, Manrico's assistant were sung by Ryan Center members, J'nai Bridges and Jonathan Johnson who sang well with the few moments they had, but juxtaposed with the heavy hitters in the main roles, their voices fell in to the proverbial background.

 

  The Lyric Opera Chorus sounded beautiful, lush, and articulate. My only criticism which is nitpicking on my part, would've been to bring out the Bass voices in the lower echoing passages. Their voices tended to be lost in piano sections.

 

 

  Looking back on past reviews I have been more critical than complimentary when it comes the conducting at Lyric,  specifically with respect to the balance between the orchestra and the singers. I was ecstatic with the conducting and sensitivity by conductor, Asher Fisch. At no time did I worry about hearing the singers or whether or not the orchestra would drown them out in a wall of sound. Maestro Fisch restrained them when needed which not only allowed for us to hear the singers, but supported the dramatic and musical devices employed by Verdi. Hopefully Maestro Fisch will be more of a main stay at the Lyric if this is his normal practice.

 

 

  Compared with past reviews, I haven't commented too much on the acting and stage direction of this production because there wasn't a great deal of action to take note of. In an opera such as Il Trovatore, we're there to hear great singing, beautiful orchestration, and let the drama and story wash over us. There isn't much need for great acting other than a commitment on the part of the singers to what it is they're conveying to the audience which, with a few exceptions was done in an exceptional way. With that being said, the direction by Sir David McVicar and revival director, Leah Hausman was direct and without superfluous flair.

 

  The set design by Charles Edward was beautifully dark and simple with a rotating center piece which efficiently brought us to the center of action without breaking the dramatic action, which is what Verdi called for. The costume design by Brigitte Reiffenstuel was updated from the original 15th century to early 19th century Napoleon-era military garb for Di Luna's force and peasant dress for the opposing side.

 

 

  Il Trovatore was by far and away, Lyric's best production this season from a musical and dramatic standpoint. They didn't try to mess around with kitsch or hyper-sexuality and let the wonderful singers speak for this great work. 

More like this please... 

Basta! Per carità!

  This blog was originally intended to review operatic productions at the Chicago Lyric Opera, more specifically the singing within operatic productions. As I listened to more and more opera singers that came through the Civic Opera house, I was increasingly alarmed at the lackluster casting decisions. Tenors who could not be heard above F#, consistently warbly vibrato, straight-tone pop sounds, young singers not ready for a large hall, and veterans way past their prime. I am, as I have always been, confused as to why these casting decisions have become the norm.

  I have gone back and forth on whether I should add a more pointed facet to this blog or maintain the form of being purely a critical Op Ed. Today was what I consider to be the final straw, although having nothing to do with the Lyric Opera, directly.

  I was having my morning coffee and reading the Arts & Leisure section of the New York Times (all the News that's fit to print) and saw an advertisement for the Metropolitan Opera's latest production for Rossini's, The Barber of Seville, starring Isabel Leonard, Lawrence Brownlee, and Christopher Maltman (in the role of Figaro). This struck me as odd, although I have never had the chance to hear Mr. Maltman in a live setting, whenever I've listened to his recordings there is an obvious lack of technique in his singing which, I can only assume, is glossed over by the average audience member due to the innate beauty of his voice.  I went on to YouTube and searched for him singing the aria, Largo al factotum and came across this clip below which was posted a few days back by the Metropolitan Opera House.

 

 

  I was, to say the least, pissed off. This performance, albeit during a dress rehearsal (with an audience), was amateur. You can easily find graduate students who can sing that aria far better than the clip above which makes the fact that the MET found this to be acceptable, all the worse. Below is a clip a clip of Thomas Hampson singing the same aria from 1986. Yes, he's on 31 and much younger than Mr. Maltman above (and Mr. Hampson has a couple of squeaks here as well), but these performances, side by side, are night and day.

 

 

 

 

 

Soon after working myself through the 7 stages of grief upon listening to the dress rehearsal clip, I read a tweet from the Teatro alla Scala (clip provided with link is Leo Nucci from 2013-14 season) that Placido Domingo would be performing the title role of Simon Boccanegra.

 

This is completely unacceptable!

 

  Yes, Mr. Domingo can sing the part and has done so many times for over 5 years, but anyone who is an opera enthusiast will tell you that being able to sing the part is not the only reason to do so. Even though Mr. Domingo has declared himself a Verdi baritone, has released a CD of Verdi Baritone arias, and performs at some of the leading opera houses around the world, does not mean that he is a Verdi baritone. It doesn't make him a baritone for that matter given that he still has the color and timbre of a tenor. Verdi, like most operatic composers, had specific vocal colors in mind when composing for the different voices. If Verdi had wanted a tenor to sing in the baritone range, he would've done so.

 

Below is a clip of Domingo singing  "Plebe! patrizi!", from Simon Boccanegra with a clip of the Verdi baritone, Piero Cappuccilli singing the same aria to illustrate my point.  

 

 

The color of the voice is that of a tenor.

 

 

 

  Once again, as in the case of Maltman and Hampson, albeit for different reasons, the contrast is night and day. The voice of Cappuccilli carries a weight and dramatic intensity that is not heard in that of Domingo's voice, not because he can't sing or isn't artistic. It is just not the type and classification of voice that Verdi had intended.

 

  Then why is Mr. Domingo still going on with his baritone experiment? Only he can answer that, but I can tell you for sure that it is doing irreparable damage to the operatic world and tradition. I can only hope that more music critics start pointing out these inequities despite possible retribution from the institutionalized bulwark of major opera houses, like the Met and La Scala.  

 

  As an addendum which I feel is related to this concern is a 5 minute section on Verdi tuning with some clips featuring Verdi baritone, Piero Cappuccilli talking about the colors of the voice and its importance.

 

Click on this link or view below.

 







Capriccio

  Capriccio, an operatic discussion on opera in an opera, delves in to the never ending debate of what is most important. Words or music. This chamber opera by Richard Strauss, premiered in 1942, was originally set in a mid 18th century French salon made legend by the likes of Mme Geoffrin. It has been updated in this production to a large drawing room of Countess Madeleine and her brother in the mid 1920's. The Countess is entertaining a small group of people which includes two hopeful suitors for her hand in marriage, Flamand a composer and Olivier a poet. The love triangle serves as a metaphor over the battle of importance in opera, highlighted by references to Gluck and his operas which serve as a springboard. Gluck was constantly striving to find an artistic balance between music and words. The composer wrote in a preface to the published form of the opera Alceste,

  "When I undertook to write the music for Alceste, I resolved to divest it entirely of all those abuses....which have so long disfigured Italian Opera....I have striven to restrict music to its true office of serving poetry by means of expression, and by following the situations of the story, without interrupting the action or stifling it with useless superfluity of comments."

  This is the heart of the tongue in cheek debate of Strauss' characters with the underlying dramatic question of which suitor the Countess will choose.

  The part of Countess Madeleine was sung by world-renowned soprano, Renée Fleming, a role like so many that is identified with her. I was fortunate enough to have heard Ms. Fleming sing the role of the Countess in Mozart's, Le Nozze di Figaro in the late 90's at the Lyric Opera and was blown away, not only by the volume and beauty of her voice, but perhaps more so by the control. That control was seldom heard in the same way during this performance of Capriccio.  It gives me no pleasure whatsoever to say that I believe Ms. Fleming is at the ending point of her long and illustrious career. This performance was the third time that I have been able to hear Ms. Fleming in a live setting. As I mentioned, the first being in the late 90's and the second, this past March again at the Lyric Opera in a special recital alongside the great German tenor, Jonas Kaufmann. Ms. Fleming still sounded wonderful at that recital, but I could tell that time had taken its toll on her voice, as it does with everyone at some point. From the start, her singing in Capriccio seemed to be slightly uneasy. Given the time of year I thought that weather and possible illness could be a reason for this, but as the night went on it was clear that Miss Fleming's singing was more of a permanent adjustment rather than one related to a temporary setback. Her voice was consistently wobbly and lacking warmth when sitting in the passaggio and Ms. Fleming sang with much more straight tone and scoop than she has in the past. She seemed timid about sustaining notes in the higher part of her range and would quickly portamento down to the next note in the line when possible, although the true beauty and artistry of her voice came through in many places in the final scene in which the Countess contemplates her choice between words and music. Ms. Fleming sang with line in a shimmering piano easily moving throughout her range without having to maneuver the large intervals with straight-tone. It should come as no surprise that she looked beautiful as ever despite having a teal green dress with muffs that looked like it was more for the Dowager of Downton Abbey, rather than Renée Fleming.

  American tenor, William Burden sang the role of Flamand the composer, one of the two suitors vying for the Countess' hand in marriage. Mr. Burden has a sweet bright tone that sounded easily produced and well-connected. There were many times throughout the opera when it was difficult to hear Mr. Burden or make out his diction, which I don't necessarily fault him or any of the other artists for given talkative nature of the opera and the fact that the Civic Opera House is in my opinion, too big a venue for this piece. Mr. Burden's acting was confident and subtle. He was believable as the character he portrayed and one of the better tenors that the Lyric has engaged in recent years.

  The other half of this dueling duo, Olivier the poet, was sung by Norwegian baritone, Audun Iversen. Mr. Iversen has a deeply rich tone that has dramatic qualities with a rolling vibrato that maintains the lyrical aspects of his voice. Mr. Iversen's voice sounded easily produced, much like Mr. Burden's, and succeeded in giving the listener the impression of dialogue in the word heavy exchanges. Unlike his tenor counterpart, Mr. Iversen's acting was not the highlight of his evening. His ever frantic and redundant gestures meant to portray Olivier as an uptight worry wart only distracted from the quick change of sung dialogue. I think it would've been prudent for Mr. Iversen to employ the "less is more" school of acting, especially given the 4 screens that the Lyric Opera had up in order to give the audience a cinematic perspective via closely framed shots.

  The role of La Roche the theater director, was sung by British bass, Peter Rose. Mr. Rose, like Ms. Fleming, is known for his interpretations of Strauss characters, especially this one. Mr. Rose had been sick earlier in the run which did have a slight lingering effect on his performance, but one could tell that even at less than 100%, he was at home in this role both vocally and dramatically. Mr. Rose, a bass, has a more lyrical quality to his voice than what one would expect. He seems to be a true example of a
basso-cantante. Mr. Rose combined nuance and dynamic variation in both his singing and acting without overdoing either. He did have some difficulty with the top of his voice during La Roche's long aria, but once again, I can only assume without having heard him before that this was due to the residual effects of his throat infection.

  The role of Clarion the actress was sung by internationally renowned mezzo-soprano, Anne Sofie Von Otter. I read in the Lyric program notes that Ms. Von Otter had not sung at the Lyric since the 1989-90 season and after hearing this performance, I think it should have stayed that way. Ms. Von Otter did not sound to be in good voice. I can't say for certain that this is a result of years spent singing in various styles which may have had a detrimental effect on her operatic technique, but her voice was consistently disconnected and at times warbly. I enjoyed her easy acting and the few moments in which she recited a monologue in spoken voice. I wonder if the Lyric Opera couldn't have found a singer with a stronger technique who could have given more to this role which seems to be a recurring question each time I visit the Civic Opera House.

  The role of the Count was sung by Danish baritone and Chicago favorite, Bo Skovhus. Despite my criticisms of aspects of his performances, including this one, I happily admit that he makes me smile as a result giving the impression that he whole-heartedly enjoys being on stage. His acting was over the top and contrived much like my criticism of his performance in last season's Die Fledermaus, but still it was hard to stay angry because of the positive energy he exudes. Mr. Skovus' voice hasn't changed as far as color and tone go, but it's not as vibrant as it once was and he tends to sound a bit nasal when in the upper part of his range. To be fair, perhaps this part doesn't really give Mr. Skovus a chance to show what his voice is able to do at this point in his career.

  The comprimario parts of the Italian singers were performed by soprano, Emily Birsan and tenor, Juan Jose De Leon. The couple's voices blended well together and they were a nice injection of humor when needed. The men from "downstairs", consisting of current and past members of the Ryan Center young artist program, helped to add comedy and an additional perspective to the opera in an opera concept. A highlight being the brief exchange between the American tenor, Keith Jameson as Monsieur Taupe and American bass-baritone, David Govertsen in the role of Majordomo.

  Strauss rightfully included a moment for a pair of ballet dancers to be introduced and perform at the small gathering which was apropos for the time period of the mid 18th century in which the composer had originally set the piece in. Not only was the respite of dance enjoyable, but it added to the already complex debate on music, art, and poetry. The parts were split between the pair of Jennifer Goodman and Randy Herrera and Jeffrey B. Hover Jr. and Abigail Simon.

  The orchestra was once again led by international conductor, Sir Andrew Davis. Although the orchestra sounded as professional and top notch as they normally do, I was quite disappointed by the lack of dynamic variety and color which, in my opinion, is the direct responsibility of the conductor, especially one that is closely associated with the piece almost as much as Renée Fleming. This opera is already a challenge to singers given the talkative nature of the long recitative sections in addition to being performed in a large hall like the Civic House, so it was with great disappointment, but hardly surprising that Sir Davis did not restrain the volume of the orchestra as to not cover the singers. One would have thought that Sir Andrew Davis would've taken the clue given by the character, La Roche when he sings,

"The fundamental defect in every opera is the deafening noise of the orchestra.  Its roaring and raging swallows the voices. The singers are simply forced into yelling."

  Alas, he did not.

  Peter McClintock was the director for this revival, originally by John Cox which has been produced in opera houses the world over. The time period, originally set in mid 18th century French salon, was updated to an early 20th century drawing room. The set, by designer Mauro Pagano was quite beautiful and warm which was wonderfully supported by the interior décor and costumes by Robert Perdziola.

  Capriccio is a wonderful concept of a piece that for me personally was an hour too long, which is not all that different from the complaints made about opera by the average novice audience member. This opera is would be best produced in a much smaller theater so that the audience can take in the nuances which the composer dictated. When an opera house like the Lyric has to have four screens in simulcast of the production being performed on stage, which was quite a distraction, that may be a sign that the venue is too big for a character piece like this one.