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Music
Vencenzo Bellini
Lyrics
Felice Romani
Lighting
igi Sceola
Conductor
Richard Bonynge
Cast
Romeo
Sarah Connolly
Giulietta
Dina Kuznetzova
Capellio
Brindley Sherratt
Tebaldo
Rhys Meirion
Lorenzo
Graeme Danby
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English
National Opera
at The Barbican
8
- 10 October 2003 |
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It might be a
bit strong to assert that the omnipresent
eminence of Shakespeare in the English
theatre is both a great blessing and
a little curse, but other dramatizations
of the stories of his plays are almost
always compared unfavourably. Maybe
that's one reason why Bellini's beautiful
I
Capuleti e I Montecchi
is so seldom performed in Britain. Another
maybe our lingering mistrust of Italian
opera seria between Mozart and middle
Verdi. Bellini's dramatisation of the
Romeo
and Juliet
story is a classic of the genre and
time, and contains examples of the strengths,
and, it has to be said, some of the
weaknesses.
The opera
was first performed in Venice on 11
March 1830 only a few months before
its equally unknown companion piece
by Donizetti, Imelda
de' Lambertazzi.
Both operas show their composers discovering
and fully exploiting their innate lyrical
gifts, though Donizetti's concern for
the historical ambience of his two ill-fated
lovers stands in contrast to Bellini's
focus on the characterization and emotions
of the principal protagonists, Romeo
and Juliet. All except them have elements
of the formulaic in their portrayal,
especially the chorus which is invariably
two-dimensional and ready-made, usually
being either being hearty or belligerent.
Even here, however, Bellini could turn
their rumty-tumty musical characterization
to good use, in Act 2 Scene Two when
the ominous bickering between Romeo
and Tebaldo (Tybalt) is interrupted
by distant voices mourning over Juliet's
cortËge. The news of Juliet's demise
pulls both characters up sharp with
its different impact on their hopes
and lives, and is made the more poignant
by the fact that the choral 'messengers'
can neither see nor know the impact
of their message. This scene is dramatically
reminiscent of Berlioz's wonderful (and
almost contemporary) love scene from
his dramatic symphony RomÈo
et Juliette,
and the powerful scene credal statement
by Peter Grimes set against the formulaic
morning service of the Aldeburgh villagers
in Britten's opera, though we can be
certain that at least Berlioz would
have been much upset by the comparison!
Musically Bellini may have had another
echo in his mind, namely Act 3 Scene
1 of Rossini's Otello,
since the key (G minor), musical character
and context of the incident is not dissimilar.
In Rossini's earlier opera, the distantly
heard gondolier, singing Dante to himself
as he returns home seems, like Bellini's
chorus, as an unwittingly participant
in the tragedy unfolding in the immediate
gaze of the audience.
The veteran
Italian bel canto conductor Richard
Bonynge made his ENO dÈbut as the maestro
in this performance, and though applause
was warm for him, it was at least as
warm, though briefer, for the appearance
of his wife, Dame Joan Sutherland, in
the audience at the start of the second
act. Bonynge is a master of the rumbustuous,
excelling in the energy of Bellini's
simple 'um-cha' accompaniments. Sometimes
these were a little too crude and some
refinement would have off-set the nuances
of the singers' melodic lines better.
His style was best in this respect with
the chorus.
Brindley
Sherratt as Capellio was suitably outraged
and Graeme Danby conciliatory as the
ever-wise Lorenzo. Rhys Merion glittered,
especially in his bravura high register,
as the angry Tebaldo. Diana Kuznetsova,
making her ENO dÈbut as Juliet Giulietta
conveyed much of the pathos of her role,
which contains inevitably a good deal
less of the teenage innocence of Shakespeare's
Juliet than the maturer dramatic heroines
more familiar in contemporary Italian
operas. Sometimes her vocal technique
let her down and she slipped slightly
flat, but for the most part she brought
off the elaborate coloratura and conveyed
convincingly her fear in taking Lorenzo's
potion and her desperation when she
discovers that Romeo, mistaking her
for dead, has taken poison and only
moments remain for their now doomed
young love.
The star
of the evening, as Bellini's writing
for Romeo seems to make inevitable,
was the Sarah Connolly singing the travesty
role of the hero, originally composed
Giuditta Grisi. It's a strange custom
for a woman to sing the role of principal
boy, and Sarah Connolly's choice of
high heels to accompany her sexually
ambivalent costume conveyed rather mixed
messages. But her vocal characterisation
did not. She found pathos, anger, frustration
and despair and brought these all off
with magnificent vocal and verbal aplomb.
She melted in Romeo's gorgeous Act 1
'Ah! crudel d'onor ragioni', she scorched
in her second act dialogue with Tebaldo
and broke hearts when she thought she
found Juliet dead.
Two other
outstanding performances need credit:
the principal clarinetist's limpidly
beautiful playing of his obbligato to
Romeo's second act aria "Deserto Ë il
luogo" and the briefer appearance of
the principal cellist's (John Chillingworth)
obbligato, likewise in the second act.
Both these epitomised Bellini's frequent
imaginative use of instrumental colour
to underline his dramatic portrayals.
I
Capuletti e I Montecchi
will be performed again on 10 October
and broadcast by the BBC on 8 November.
Both the work and the performance are
well worth hearing, either in the slightly
acted concert performance in the Barbican
or on the radio.
Roddy Swanston |
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