Blog 20 December 2015
Immerso nell’Opera
During the month of December 2015 I became immersed in Italian opera that began at the Oratorio degli Angeli Custodi in Lucca where my friend Yasko Sato, a Japanese soprano, sung arias from Puccini’s Madama Butterfly together with members of LuccaOperaFestival. On the 8th December LuccaOperaFestival again staged scenes of a Puccini opera, this time Yasko took the role of Tosca. Previously, in late November my friend Mattia and I drove to the Teatro Comunale Luciano Pavarotti in Modena to see a new opera Il Labbro Della Lady by Carlo Galante. On the 28th November I saw a version of Giacomo Puccini’s first opera Le Villi (The Witches) performed with a ballet in two acts by the Comune di Porcari not far from Lucca.
Yasko as Butterfly (Ciocio-san) Mattia as Sharpless Yasko as Tosca
On the 10th December the double operas Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni and Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo, that took place in London’s Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, were transmitted live and I was able to see the operas in Lucca’s Astra cinema.
Two days later I met friends Mattia and Michelle in Verona where we saw La Forza del Destino by Giuseppe Verdi at the Teatro Filarmonico. Verdi’s four act opera is based on a Spanish drama Don Alvaro set in Spain and Italy and the “standard” version after several revisions was premiered at La Scala, Milan in February 1869. With dramatic staging and effects it was an enjoyable experience since I have never seen this opera before and my ticket was given free by Mattia’s friend Carlo Cigni who sang the role of the Marchese di Calatrava.
Our next opera was another work by Verdi (his seventh opera) Giovanna d’Arco or Joan of Arc which partly reflects her story and was based loosely on the play by the German playwright Friedrich von Schiller. Verdi’s opera, with a prologue and three acts, had its first performance one hundred and seventy years ago in 1845 at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan and it had been a long-held ambition of mine to see an opera at La Scala. On our journey to Milan from Verona Mattia, Michelle and I visited the Teatro Verdi in Parma and also Verdi’s birthplace just outside Parma at Roncole di Busseto but this will be the subject of another journal entry.
Front entrance of La Scala Billboard design
My month of opera ended appropriately at New Year’s Eve when I journeyed by train from Lucca to Trieste spending three days there with the intention of seeing my friend Michelle sing the role of Adina in Gaetano Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore (Elixir of Love) which is a comic opera in two acts that premiered in May 1832 at the Teatro della Canibbiana (now known as Teatro Lirico) in Milan. The opera in Trieste was held at the beautiful Teatro Verdi just off the main piazza close to the harbour. Due to very last-minute cast changes Michelle was denied the opportunity to perform even after attending extensive rehearsals during the previous fortnight. Fortunately I had the great pleasure of seeing her perform the role of Adina in scenes from the opera in Lucca in the open-air on a warm barmy summer evening.
In total, my experience ‘took in’ nine operas by six different composers, all Italian, but my favourite remains Puccini even though I am slowly learning to appreciate the others, particularly Verdi.