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Director
David McVicar
Conductor
Edward Gardner
Design
Yannis Thavoris
Choreographer
Leah Hausman
Translation
Amanda Holden
Sesto
Alice Coote
Vitellia
Emma Bell
Tito
Paul Nilon
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London
Coliseum
English
National Opera
8
- 23 June 2007 |
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It was
hard not to come out of last
night's performance bursting
with superlatives. So, as
Oscar Wilde suggested, I am
not going to resist.
Although there is little evidence
that Mozart actively sought
a commission for an "old-style"
opera
seria
it cannot be assumed, as some
biographers have done, that
he had lost interest in the
genre. It could be that with
Joseph II's preference for
comic and German operas made
such a commission unlikely
in Vienna, and that Mozart's
efforts to become successful
in all fields but church music
in the city meant there was
little time for trying to
find interest in projects
that were unlikely to succeed.
Mozart was a pragmatist, and
even his last symphonies from
1788 were put in a drawer
not for prosperity as some
dreamy-eyed pseudo-historians
but as a stand-by in case
needed for a new commission.
Given the fact that the last
opera seria Mozart had composed
had been Idomeneo for Munich
in 1781, these same starry-eyed
chroniclers have asserted
that Tito was a hurriedly
(and by implication carelessly
tossed off) commission for
the Prague celebrations of
the coronation of the new
Habsburg emperor, Leopold
II, as King of Bohemia (one
of his multiple titles. Like
his predecessors and successors
he gave the phrase "points
mean prizes" a new meaning!)
A better informed view suggests
that Mozart took composing
Tito
as seriously as The
Magic Flute,
on which he was working in
1791 when he broke off to
compose Tito
for Prague, in a very short
time, so short that he did
not complete ordinary recitatives
himself. It seems he was advised
(if that is the right word
for a royal command that is
not a royal command) that
brevity and simplicity were
to be the order of the day,
the former to be shown in
not having long arias in the
old Italian da capo form of
the newer sonata-style arias,
the latter to be demonstrated
in not indulging in his famous
harmonic escapades as in Don
Giovanni,
which had proved enduringly
popular in Prague.
In fact such commands pushed,
as they as say, at an open
door. Mozart was already concentrating
his musical argument, and
often simplifying at least
the melodies to achieve a
new 'simplicity', in inverted
commas because there is nothing
simple about such simplicity.
Some, who perhaps should know
better, have tried to argue
that this showed a new 'bourgeois'
sympathy in Mozart, but given
his aristocratic dependency
this seems unlikely, even
though the great success of
the Magic
Flute
outside Vienna's city walls
might imply otherwise.
What is certain that Mozart
seems to have welcomed the
opportunity to compose
La
Clemenza di Tito
not only on financial grounds
but also on social and musical
grounds. A royal commission
might lead in Vienna to other
things, though at first this
seemed harder than Mozart
deserved as the new Empress
quickly demonstrated her long
descendency from the House
of Philistine (actually of
course she was daughter of
the King of Spain, so despite
her mother did not like German
music, and she and her husband
had been rulers in Tuscany,
so may be thought a German
work was not the 'real thing'.
Part of ruling is to think
clichÈ ), but, it is said,
describing the work as un
poco tedeschino
(A little German thing, and
she is supposed to have further
by adding the word 'pigswill'
to her critical agenda). Socially
it was an opera about forgiveness,
a topic given special treatment
in Mozart's operas, such as
that by the Pasha in Entführung
or the Countess in Figaro.
Though the Pasha does not
sing, the Countess does, and
Mozart clothes her gracious
forgiveness of the debauching
Count is a peak amongst peaks
in the magical score of Figaro.
More recently Mozart had dealt
with the reconciliation (if
such it was in full) in Cosi
(1790). Mozart probably had
little choice in the subject
of the opera as he was offered
by the court impresario Domenico
Guardasoni after it had been
decided by the Bohemian Estates
as well after it had been
turned down by Salieri. But
when he found out what it
was it seems he set to work
with some enthusiasm to give,
as headmasters are wont to
urge, his best, or in USA
"of his best".
There were a number of things
in favour of the success of
La
Clemenza.
First, the castrato, Domenico
Bedini, allocated Sesto was
very good, as was the soprano
with an exceptionally wide
vocal range, Maria Machetti-Fantozzi,
for whom Mozart wrote Vitellia.
Second, the Viennese court
orchestra came to Vienna for
the opera so Mozart was able
to compose some brilliant
instrumental obbligati for
his friend the magnificent
Anton Stadler, both for his
clarinet and his basset-horn.
All was set for a brilliant
first night, but the fire
took time to glow. As time
went by Prague took as much
to this opera as Don
Giovanni
and the work was popularly
performed well into the 19th
century. Only the 20th century
with its love of irony and
thus the seriousness behind
comedy that pervades the da
Ponte operas found La Clemenza
problematic, and last night
the audience laughed as some
of the twists and turns of
the plot, forgetting that
stylized as this may appear
in opera is par for the course
in such much less admirable
settings as the American series
24.
If La
Clemenza
needed advocacy today (which
fortunately it usually does
not) it has got it in vast
quantities in the revival
by StÈphane Marlot of David's
McVicar's award-winning 2005
production. It is a triumph
on many fronts.
First, the set is deft and
suggestive. Admirably unfussy
it allows the singers room
to act and characterize their
parts. It does not get in
the way, as it should not
in opera
seria,
which is opera about psychological
reactions not about stage-business.
Secondly, the chorus, which
is sometimes prone to over-action,
was off-stage, and sounding
better than usual from the
pit. Thirdly, Edward Gardner
is more than continuing to
justify his appointment by
adding another successfully
realized score after his excellent
Death
in Venice,
which was his debut last month.
He elicited some beautiful
ensemble and colour from the
orchestra, and opened the
way for the dazzling clarinet
playing of Anthony Lamb and
the basset-horn of Robert
Ault. They both should have
been allowed to take a bow
on stage, but perhaps they
had pressing engagements at
the bar! In the Berlin Staatsoper
the orchestra takes a bow
on stage and this might have
been a way to allow the audience
to show its appreciation to
two more stars of the evening's
performance.
Amongst the singers it is
almost invidious to select
any in particular. Though
suffering from a chest infection
Alice Coote gave a moving
and wonderfully articulate
and intelligent of the love-tossed,
duty-confused Sesto. As one
person in the row behind me
commented: "If that is
what she is like with a chest
infection, what is she like
without!" It was a magnificent
performance, as was that of
Vitellia by Emma Bell. Vitellia,
the daughter of the Emperor
Vitellius, who was deposed
by Vespasian, is in love with
Sesto, just one in the many
obstacles preventing her becoming
Empress (and thus acquiring
power and hearing the rift
between her family and that
of Titus) another one of which
was Titus's affair with the
Jewish princess Berenice.
In the end, she plans to assassinate
Titus and solicits Sesto's
help. Mozart exulted in this
role giving her all the evil-implying
magic vocal arts of the Queen
of the Night. Vocally Vitellia
tears her hair out especially
in the magnificent aria "Non
pi˜ di fiore' (with basset-horn
obbligato). Emma Bell's furious
characterization almost went
over the top, both in vocal
coloratura and in her frantic
actions. But this is the moment
when Vitellia realizes she
has lost. On stage it was
gripping, as was her performance
throughout.
The title role was sung by
Paul Nilon. In a way his is
not the most interesting role
till he has to wrestle (as
by metaphor all rulers, including
Leopold II, will have to do)
between personal affections,
Sesto, and his public duty
to uphold the interests of
Rome against seditions. In
the end he risks his authority
to show mercy in the public
games in the Colosseum which
he had been responsible for
completing, and move whose
dangers were underlined, slightly
incongruously and counter
to the text, by the guards
closing in on him at the end.
The words at that point emphasize
the 'civilizing' significance
of Titus upholding the best
interests of Rome by showing
clemency. No need for homeland
security here, mercy was its
own reward and the best defence
of the realm ‚ a lesson largely
forgotten today! Paul Nilon
was vocally and theatrically
suitably regal in public and
troubled in private. He was
an ideal backdrop the main
interests of the story: Sesto
and Vitellia, to whom Mozart
gave much of the characterful
music, though he did reserve
some for Sesto's sister Servilia
dressed in a 50s frock (slightly
odd here), but beautifully
sung and characterized by
the outstanding young Welsh
soprano, Sarah-Jane Davies.
Mozart apparently planned
to change the role of Sesto
to a tenor-role, thereby running
the risk of having two voices
too similar in the leading
roles: Sesto and Tito. However,
there is still a problem in
casting La
Clemenza
as so many roles are for high
voices, and in modern productions
usually high soprano roles.
Once again, ENO triumphed
in having so well contrasted
voices that each could characterize
their roles clearly without
making the plot vocally clouded.
All in all this was a very
welcome revival and a triumph
on all counts. It is, as they
say, a must-see (just as such
a phrase is a must-not-use!)
Roderick
Swanston |
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