Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Met Opera: Diana Damrau in La Sonnambula

Yesterday evening was the final performance at the Met this season of La Sonnambula, the great bel canto opera by Vincenzo Bellini.  It turned out to be one of the most exciting evenings of the season.  Here was some of the composer's best music sung incredibly well by a fine cast and chorus.

Composed in 1831 with a libretto by the composer's long time collaborator Felice Romani, the work was one of the last four operas Bellini completed before his premature death in 1835.  (A phrase from the heroine Amina's final aria is inscribed on his tomb in Sicily.)  It's a much different work from the tragic Norma which I saw in another fine production at the beginning of the season.  La Sonnambula is instead a playful opera which, if not truly comic, at least holds its darker elements in abeyance.  If the use of sleepwalking as a plot device seems at times a bit contrived, that is of no great impediment in a work the audience knows all along is headed to a happy ending where the betrothed couple eventually resolve their dispute and reunite.  The entire plot, in fact, seems little more than an excuse to employ the time honored operatic tradition in which two lovers, not really knowing one another at first, must pass a test of mutual trust before they are allowed to live their lives together.  If the opera is about anything, it is about this passage to maturity and self knowledge by its two main characters.  All this was summed up in the finale's joyous dance - in which an athletic Amina actually turned cartwheels onstage - that also revealed the opera's balletic source as taken from the pantomime by Eugène Scribe.  

The role of Amina, originally created for Giuditta Pasta, the legendary nineteenth century singer for whom Bellini also composed the difficult role of Norma, was performed wonderfully by soprano Diana Damrau.   Her beautiful voice triumphed in aria after aria as she effortlessly hit one high note after another.  But Ms. Damrau was not alone.  Tenor Taylor Stayton was extremely effective as Elvino as he sang the virtuoso arias Bellini originally wrote for the nineteenth century superstar Giovanni Rubini.  Both soprano and tenor were ably assisted by a strong supporting cast that included Rachelle Durkin as Lisa, Elizabeth Bishop as Teresa and Michele Pertusi as Rodolfo.  The conductor was Marco Armiliato whose work on the podium was satisfactory if not particularly distinguished.

One of the surprises for me in this opera was Bellini's excellent use of the chorus.  The ensemble singing subtly reinforced the beauty of the principals' arias and gave them greater depth than they would otherwise have had.  In this, the composer was really a precursor of Verdi.  The Met's chorus here did their usual fine work as their singing blended seamlessly with that of the cast.

The 2009 production was by Mary Zimmerman with sets by Daniel Ostling.  This was another example of the Met's irritating habit of putting on contrived stagings simply for the sake of doing something new.  The concept of having an opera rehearsal within an opera never really worked.  And it was hardly necessary for a runway to extend over the orchestra pit for Amina's final aria.  On the other hand, the sets were pleasant enough to look at and, more importantly, the staging never really got in the way of the music.  In the end, that was really all that mattered.

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