Lehnhoff's take on Rigoletto

I'm still not sure of my overall impression of Lehnhoff's staging of Rigoletto in Dresden. Somewhere in between "I liked it" and "I didn't like it" I suppose.

The ideas for this Regietheater approach on Rigoletto are always interesting - on paper.




The first scene with the animalistic chorus and JDF appearing as a modern Don Juan was totally adequate with the libretto - yet the set was ugly as can be (and an all-black set is rarely a good technical idea, as the lightning of such a set is almost impossible to achieve properly), JDF as a 1980s debaucher (improbable haircut & shirt of the time) was so not credible, and the choreography of the chorus was very disturbing and just too much.
As a result, this first scene was more of a failure - just another example of how good ideas don't always translate well on an operatic stage.




The second setting on the other hand (Gilda's room) was superb, powerful, poetic and fascinating (as her room seemed literally to be a TV screen image coming from the stage - I always have been a big fan of the mise en abyme ideas). The lightning was exquisite as well, with nuances to match the progression of the storyline that were both subtle and amazing.


The first act ends with Rigoletto realizing he's helped kidnap his own daughter and rushing back to her room in despair. Lehnhoff added another great image here, as a metallic grid descended from the ceiling to trap him in this TV-screen set (this is definitely the kind of stuff I love - simple yet powerful).








The second act opened with yet again that ugly all-black marble-like set but this time, the chorus had lost their animal heads and gestures to become a bunch of demons with a latex blue face and little red horns. I make it sound like it was not successful, yet it was - relatively (JDF's costume was once again totally wrong).






The last act set was very simple and once again perfectly complemented the libretto. Lehnhoff broke the horizontal floor by adding some stairs up (to the red box representing Sparafucile's tavern) and down (left, back of the stage) and added smoke on the ground, creating an interesting fuzzy atmosphere.
The figures on the back wall of the set were periodically illuminated to match the musical dramaturgy and I must say the painted characters were a perfect match for the Semperoper's ornamentation (this was the only time, really, that I though to myself it was an advantage to see this staging live - that's not taking into account obviously, the fact that the musical performance is always more interesting live than on TV).




Finally, the little touch about Rigoletto.
I loved the way Lehnhoff added duality to the character, and the way he did it with almost nothing. At the very beginning of the opera, while the orchestra was still playing the overture, Rigoletto appeared on the very front of the stage in a traditional suit and started changing clothes - to put on his jester costume, for his show at the duke's party. Then, at the end of the orgiastic night, he changed again into his civil suit; in the second act, it's obviously jester time again, and the last act was normal life suit again. Very simple, yet very appealing.

All and all, as I said in the beginning of this post, I remain sceptical about Lehnhoff's view - definitely some things to remember but then again, some ugly stuff too.

A video with extracts and a short interview (in German) with Nikolaus Lehnhoff can be seen here.

All pictures © Matthias Creutziger for the Semperoper except for the first one that I took on June 30.

Rigoletto in Dresden

Dresden Semperoper
June 30, 2008

N.B. This review only takes into account this performance, not the televised evening on June 21 by Arte.

If it hadn't been for Juan Diego Flórez singing Il Duca di Mantova, I wouldn't have gone to Dresden.
Yet if it hadn't been for Diana Damrau, I would have been quite disappointed by the musical performance (my comments on Lehnhoff's staging are still processing in my brain and will be the subject of another post later on).


First of all, let's face it: Rigoletto being one of my favorite operas, I am very critical about it, especially since a nearly perfect version exists, the one recorded live at La Scala by Riccardo Muti in the mid-1990s and already mentioned several times on this blog (the staging is out of the question, obviously).

And in this constant comparison of mine between any performance and the Muti version, the first thing to completely fall apart was the conduction of Fabio Luisi.
It's not the worse I have ever heard (Kubelik and Giulini put the bar pretty high), but it was uninspired (despite grandiose gestures from Luisi), clumsy at best, sometimes incredibly heavy and slow, and most of the time flat and rough.
On the last part, I can forgive Luisi for making things simple and easy, based on the poor performance of the orchestra. The Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden is obviously not at ease with the Italian repertoire (unless Luisi specifically asked the musicians not to play together, the flute to ruin the whole thing and an unidentified violin to suddenly play a note when nothing was written about it on the score). It was a huge disappointment for me, because I didn't expect the orchestra would be an issue.

The Staatsopernchores also had some major issues: specifically the Italian diction and the unison. Living in a city whose Opera House, if nothing else, has a fantastic chorus I always emphasize, the landing was harsh and unforgiving.

To get over with the bad news, both Sofi Lorentzen (Maddalena) and Matthias Henneberg (Monterone) were weak; the first being inaudible and inexpressive, the later having too weak a technique (but it should be noted the program clearly states he was a late subtitute for scheduled Rainer Büsching).

Stauffenbergall, Dresden
July 1, 2008

As for my dear JDF, I must admit all my love did not prevent a bit of a let down. Of course his voice is gorgeous and all, but the thing I was afraid of turned out to be true; and that is, he is too bad an actor to own a character full of villainy (at least that's how Lehnhoff tried to picture him).
He has neither the facial expressions nor the body language to successfully portray Mantova, and his singing is too bel-cantoish to fully explore the dark side of the character (of course I'm absolutely devastated by this conclusion). But I had prepared myself for that, so the fall is less painful, let's say (see how self-persuasion works?).

The thing I was definitely not expecting was a more technical problem; when JDF arrived on stage (having seen him live already two times this season and numerous others on DVDs and TV broadcasts), I immediately though to myself how tired he looked, hoping this fact would have little impact on his singing. Well, if all the notes were spot on, the tempo was not. On several occasions, there was a noticeable shift with the orchestra (most of the time he was late, as if he had trouble remembering the notes), that was more and more recurrent and culminated in the last act. This reminded me of his run at the Met of La Fille du Régiment when, by the end of the run, this cloud shadowed his performances on one or two occasions. In Dresden, the ones and twos became more like tens and twenties.
So all and all, I must admit I was disappointed by my dearest tenor.


On the other hand, Željko Lučić as Rigoletto was a pleasant surprise. I would have liked his voice to be a bit more expressive, but his stage presence was pretty good and his singing quite memorable (slightly less though than Renato Bruson in the Muti version).

Stauffenbergall, Dresden
July 1, 2008

Undoubtedly the real star of the night was Diana Damrau.
I was sceptical about her acting for about two minutes and then, I was simply blown away by her stage presence. Absolutely blown away.
She owned the stage and the character, with her entire body, with her entire soul. Her eyes were so expressive it was unbelievable, her movements were so fluid and natural, her hands were perfectly complementing the whole body.
The end of Scene 12 (Act I) when she faces Mantova alone was the turning point for me. From that time on, it seemed like she was the only one on the stage.
During the Tempesta scene in Act III (with the wonderful quartet Verdi wrote), which theatrically is one of the biggest challenges of the role (because you have to stand there for an awful long time so it's hard to make it believable), she also was extraordinary and I just couldn't get my eyes off of her.
The last scene, the bag thing was totally surreal (but Lehnhoff is also responsible for that). Instead of the usual girl dying on the floor and whispering the last replicas, she got up, very slowly. At first, I though "Now, what is that?" but then, I was completely fascinated by her portrayal - the image was so reminiscent of Lucia di Lammermoor and so powerful. What a magical way to end the opera...

In other words, she was perfect, nothing less.

Oh, and did I mention her singing was exquisite, too?


YouTube extracts (from the June 21 performance broadcast by Arte):

- "Pari siamo!.....Figlia! Mio padre!", Željko Lučić & Diana Damrau
- "T'amo ripetilo!", JDF & Diana Damrau
- "Addio, addio", Diana Damrau & JDF
- "Caro Nome", Diana Damrau
- "Si, Vendetta", Željko Lučić & Diana Damrau
- Last 10 minutes of the opera, Željko Lučić & Diana Damrau

[Rigoletto] III. The score

Act I

I'll easily admit that the first 15 minutes of the score are forgettable and basically not an ideal way to get hooked to this overall admirable piece.
The main reason is the obvious similarity with the beginning of La Traviata: same context, same structure and same harmonies. Yet, let's remember the plagiarism is on La Traviata's side, composed after Rigoletto, although it has become through the years Verdi's most performed opera; obviously a decadent young woman is more appealing to the masses then a bipolar hunchbacked jester whose stupidity is literally bigger than life.

Anyway, after the first frivolous scene, the score gets more and more interesting as the action unfolds.

The first jewel is undoubtedly Monterone's maledizione (Act I, scene 6) when the score suddenly looses all foolishness and switches to fit the dramatic appearance of this deceived father. The violins' line when he sings is a wonderful preview of the end of the act, when Rigoletto realizes he contributed to his own daughter's kidnapping.
The dichotomy of the score, constantly oscillating between easy-listening bars and dramatic intensity is I believe, its biggest asset throughout the entire opera and certainly one of the main reasons for my unconditional love for it.

The only aria of Rigoletto (Act I scene 8), though libretto-wise especially irritating and condescending, is musically full of dark emotions briefly lightened by the flute line and acts as the perfect introduction for the exquisite duet between him and his daughter Gilda.
This duet (also pretty dumb libretto-wise) is unforgettable and the highlight of the first act, especially the part below:

"Solo, difforme, povero,
Per compassion mi amo.
Ah! moria... le zolle coprano
Lievi quel capo amato.
Sola or tu resti al misero...
Dio, sii ringraziato! ..."

Act I middle of Scene 9, Rigoletto, Sony live recording, 1994
Renato Bruson as Rigoletto, Andrea Rost as Gilda,
Riccardo Muti conducting the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala.



Act I finale, Rigoletto, Sony live recording, 1994
Riccardo Muti conducting the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala
Listen to the extraordinary breath of the orchestra at 2:38 min.


Acts II & III

The second act opens on the Duke's aria "Parmi veder le lagrime" and is overall the less compelling of the three.

The last act on the other hand is fantastically well-balanced and a marvel of orchestration on Verdi's part.
The highlights are the magnificent 2-movement quartet "Ebben, osserva dunque" that starts with the mega hit "La donna è mobile" and especially the second part "Bella figlia dell' amore", the Tempesta scene, and of course the finale where the theme from the end of Act I is modified, ending with Rigoletto's heart-breaking last shout, "La maledizione!".




YouTube extracts

- "Parmi veder le lagrime" Jussi Björling
- "Bella figlia dell'amore" Siepi, Peters, Valletti, Thebom
- same aria, Filippeschi, Gobbi, Pagliughi

[Rigoletto] II.Synopsis

Not that I have forgotten about my previous commitments, but work is eating me alive right now. Yet, I have to find some time for Rigoletto if I want my series to end with my journey to Dresden.
Today is synopsis time, obviously.

Enrico Caruso as Il Duca di Mantova

PREMIER ACTE - La scène représente un bal animé, dans les magnifiques salles du palais ducal.

Le duc et ses familiers se promènent, en causant de leurs aventures galantes.
Un courtisan raconte, en riant, que Rigoletto, l'horrible bouffon, possède une maîtresse et qu'il l'a vu pénétrer, la nuit, en se cachant, dans la demeure de la belle. Pour se venger des railleries de Rigoletto, les courtisans complotent l'enlèvement de sa bien-aimée et se donnent rendez-vous pour la nuit suivante.
La fête est interrompue par l'apparition de Monterone, qui vient demander compte au duc de l'honneur de sa fille. L'indignation et les plaintes du vieillard sont accueillies par les plaisanteries des courtisans et les quolibets moqueurs de Rigoletto. Le duc, enfin lassé des objurgations de Monterone, le fait arrêter par ses hallebardiers. Le vieillard jette, en partant, sa malédiction au bouffon.


DEUXIEME ACTE - Un carrefour désert, la nuit; à droite, les murs très élevés d'un jardin; à gauche, la maison de Gilda.

C'est dans cette demeure isolée que Rigoletto cache son trésor le plus cher, non pas sa maîtresse, ainsi que le croient les courtisans, mais sa fille Gilda. Lui, homme sans moeurs, âme vile et conseiller pervers, il aime son enfant avec idolâtrie et il veut la conserver pure de toute souillure.
Au moment où il va pénétrer chez Gilda, Rigoletto est accosté par un spadassin, Sparafucile, qui lui offre ses services; quelqu'un rôde souvent autour de la maison et l'épée du bandit délivrerait Rigoletto des importuns.
Le bouffon entre dans la maison, interroge avec anxiété Gilda et sa gouvernante. Rassuré par leurs réponses, il sort bientôt, tandis que le Duc, qui s'est introduit dans la cour, se met aux genoux de la jeune fille et lui dit son amour. Le Duc se fait passer, auprès de Gilda, pour un étudiant pauvre nommé Carlo Baldi, il la suit depuis longtemps, lui a parlé plusieurs fois, et Gilda l'aime de toute son âme.
Pendant la causerie des deux amoureux, les courtisans surviennent, pour mettre à exécution leur projet d'enlèvement. Le Duc se sauve. Par un stratagème infernal, les courtisans amènenent Rigoletto, qu'ils ont rencontré, à se laisser bander les yeux et à tenir l'échelle aux ravisseurs de son enfant. Le crime accompli, le bouffon s'aperçoit qu'on s'est cruellement joué de lui; mais il est trop tard, sa fille a disparu.



TROISIEME ACTE - Le théâtre est séparé en deux; à gauche une place déserte; à droite, l'intérieur du cabaret tenu par Sparafucile.

Le Duc et la courtisane Maddalena, soeur du spadassin, sont dans la salle basse de l'auberge, visible pour le spectateur. Une lézarde dans la muraille permet aussi aux passants de voir ce qui se passe à l'intérieur du bouge; c'est ainsi que Rigoletto et Gilda voient le Duc, déguisé, se livrer à une orgie au plus bas étage, qui le révèle tel qu'il est à la fille du bouffon.
Cette situation, une des plus fortes qu'on ait produites au théâtre, donne lieu à un magnifique quatuor, qui est sans contredit la plus merveilleuse page musicale qu'on ait jamais conçue.
La galanterie du Duc, la coquetterie de Maddalena, l'horreur et le désespoir qu'éprouve Gilda à ce spectacle, les sentiments de compassion de Rigoletto pour sa fille et de vengeance à l'égard du Duc, tout cela est coordonné dans une conception d'une force, d'une hardiesse et d'un effet admirables.
Rigoletto renvoie sa fille, en lui enjoignant de prendre un habit d'homme et de se rendre à Vérone; il concerte ensuite, avec Sparafucile, la mort du Duc, moyennant une somme de vingt écus, et sort à son tour.
Maddalena implore la pitié de son frère en faveur de leur hôte, dont la jeunesse et la grâce l'intéressent vivement.
Un violent orage éclate.
Gilda, poussée par un funeste pressentiment, revient, habillée en homme, et reprend son poste devant la fente de la muraille. Elle apprend ainsi le coup qui menace le Duc, et entend Sparafucile promettre à sa soeur d'épargner le jeune homme, si un autre voyageur se présente et s'il peut livrer un autre cadavre au client qui l'a payé.
La pensée de mourir, à la place du séducteur qui la trahit, vient à l'esprit de Gilda; elle frappe à la porte, elle entre; Sparafucile l'assassine et met son cadavre dans un sac.
Rigoletto se présente, afin de s'assurer par ses propres yeux que l'oeuvre de sa vengeance est consommée. Il ouvre le sac, voit les traits inanimés de sa fille chérie, et tombe presque sans vie sur le corps de la malheureuse, tandis que le Duc s'éloigne tranquillement, aux premières lueurs de l'aurore, accompagné par Maddalena, et chantant gaiement sa chanson favorite:

Comme la plume au vent,
Femme est volage,
Et bien peu sage
Qui s'y fie un instant.

Extrait de L'album-guide parisien, 1889, p74
" Portraits des principaux artistes des théâtres de Paris
Analyse et distribution des rôles des ouvrages du Répertoire de l'Opéra."

Jussi Björling as Il Duca di Mantova
Copenhagen, 1942

Synopsis in English by the Met here.

[Rigoletto] I. Le roi s'amuse

Victor Hugo
© Bibliothèque de l'Assemblée nationale

Le livret de l'opéra de Verdi, mis en forme par l'habituel compère Francesco Maria Piave dès 1850, est une adaptation "autorisée" de la pièce controversée de Victor Hugo, Le Roi s'amuse, dont la première eut lieu le 22 novembre 1832 au Théâtre Français (ancienne dénomination de la Comédie Française).

Le lendemain de la première, Armand-François Jouslin de La Salle, directeur gérant du Théâtre Français (1833-37), est sommé par le baron Taylor, commissaire royal du théâtre (1825-30, 1831-38), qui est parallèlement en train de ramener l'obélisque de Louxor à Paris (place de la Concorde), d'arrêter les représentations du Roi s'amuse.
"Il est dix heures et demie, et je reçois à l'instant l'ordre de suspendre les représentations du Roi s'amuse. C'est M. Taylor qui me communique cet ordre de la part du ministre.
Ce 23 novembre.", écrit Jouslin de La Salle à Hugo.
Les choses s'aggravent encore le lendemain, puisque de "suspendue", la pièce passe au statut de "défendue". Un procès sera même intenté au théâtre, fin 1852, au cours duquel Hugo lui-même plaidera la cause de la liberté d'expression.

Les principaux reproches faits à la pièce sont que les moeurs y sont outragées et la figure du roi de France offensée ; en 1832, Louis-Philippe (cousin de feu Louis XVI) a rétabli la monarchie depuis deux ans.
Face aux mêmes critiques de la censure autrichienne* dès 1844, puis à nouveau début décembre 1850 (bien qu'un contrat ait été signé avec la Fenice) avec la 1ère version officielle du livret (La Maledizione), Verdi et Piave se voient dans l'obligation de refondre l'histoire.
Piave et la direction de la Fenice proposent quelques mois plus tard Le Duc de Vendôme, version acceptée par la censure mais violemment rejetée par Verdi. Dans cette version en effet, plus de souverain débauché, plus de bossu, plus de malédiction, pas plus que de cadavre dans un sac à la scène finale.
Piave et Marzari, un des directeurs de la Fenice, retravaillent l'intrigue et proposent enfin la version définitive du livret en janvier 1851, dans laquelle l'action a été déplacée de la cour de France vers un duché indépendant, avec modification du nom des personnages (François 1er devient le duc de Mantoue, son bouffon Triboulet Rigoletto, et la fille de ce dernier, Blanche, sera Gilda; enfin Saint-Vallier devient Monterone).
Toute référence à Victor Hugo, trop révolutionnaire, est ainsi bannie, jusqu'au titre de l'ouvrage, Rigoletto, que Piave a récupéré d'une parodie de la pièce de Hugo.

La partition sera achevée une semaine plus tard.

Drawing of Triboulet by Victor Hugo himself
Triboulet (1479-1536) actually existed for real.
He is described by Rabelais as "Proprement fol et totalement fol, fol fatal, de nature, céleste, jovial, mercuriel, lunatique, erratique, excentrique, éthéré et junonien, arctique, héroïque, génial"
Rabelais refers to him in his masterpiece, Pantagruel (1532)
A French satiric paper was named after him in the XIXth century (1878-1893)

The libretto of Rigoletto, written by Verdi's usual fellow Francesco Maria Piave in 1850, is an "authorized" adaptation of Victor Hugo's play Le Roi s'amuse which premiered on Nov.22 1832 at the Théâtre Français (now known as the Comédie Française).

On the very day next after the premiere, Armand-François Jouslin de La Salle, administrative director of the Théâtre Français (1833-37) is ordered by the royal commissioner of the theater baron Taylor (1825-30, 1831-38) to stop the performances of Le Roi s'amuse (the baron is preparing in the same period the transport of the obelisk from Louxor to Paris - place Concorde -).
Jouslin de La Salle writes to Hugo: "It is half past ten, and I just received the order to suspend the performances of Le Roi s'amuse. Mister Taylor has provided me with that order, that comes directly from the minister. On this 23rd of November."
Things worsen on the next day, as the status of the play is upgraded from "suspended" to "forbidden". A trial will eventually be carried on against the theater, at the end of the year 1852, during which Hugo himself will plead for the freedom of expression.

The main concerns are that the play describes depraved manners and insults the king of France ; in 1832, France is a monarchy again since 1830, under Louis-Philippe (cousin of decapitated Louis XVI - I admit the turmoil after the French revolution is a part of history not easy to follow - especially outside of Napoléon -); Louis-Philippe is the last king ever to rule this country, by the way.
Facing the same exact issues with the Austrian* censorship as early as 1844 and then again in december of 1850 (although a contract has been signed with Il Teatro La Fenice) with the first "official" version of the libretto (La Maledizione), Verdi and Piave have no choice but to change the story.

Piave and the directors of La Fenice introduce a few months later Il Duca di Vendome, a version that has been approved by the censorship but that Verdi violently rejects, arguing nothing is left from the initial story: no more flagitious king, no more hunchbacked jester, no more curse, and no more corpse in a bag at the end of the opera.

Piave and Marzari, one of the directors of la Fenice, work on the story again and introduce the final version of the libretto in January 1851. The story was moved from the French royal court to an independent duchy and the characters renamed (François 1er is now Il Duca di Mantova, his jester Triboulet becomes Rigoletto, Saint-Vallier Monterone and the daughter of Triboulet, Blanche, will be known as Gilda).
Every reference to Victor Hugo, whose name still carries too many revolutionary ideas in 1850, had to be removed, especially the title of the piece, that is now called Rigoletto (a name Piave first saw in a parody of Hugo's play and that comes from the French word "rigolo", funny).

The score will be finished one week later.

Francesco Maria Piave

Le Roi s'amuse
Drame en 5 actes et en vers, 1832
Victor Hugo

Synopsis simplifié: un père ultra-protectif (Triboulet / Rigoletto) cache sa fille (Blanche / Gilda) des mauvais garçons.
Un de ces mauvais garçons (François 1er / Il duca di Mantova) la séduit.
Le père crie vengeance mais tue sa fille à la place du mauvais garçon.

Over-protective father hides daughter from bad guys.
Bad guy seduces naive daughter.
Father wants revenge but ends up killing daughter while bad guy lives happily ever after


Reproduction complète de la préface du Roi s'amuse (édition 1832) ici, préface et texte intégral numérisés par la BNF là (ainsi qu'une note ajoutée à la 5e édition en 1852 décrivant le procès et reproduisant la plaidorie de Victor Hugo).

Further reading (in English): "Hugo and Le roi s'amuse".


* Venise est sous contrôle autrichien à l'époque
* Venice is under Austrian ruling at that time

From Pensée Libre
Nothing to do with the present post, but very funny indeed, on the place of Victor Hugo in today's French culture

Rigoletto Prelude

Lorsque je m'étais lancée, naguère, dans ma pléthorique série de billets autour des Pêcheurs de Perles, je ne me doutais pas du succès que cette section de ce blog remporterait. Pleine d'enthousiasme, je me lance donc dans pareille entreprise mais avec cette fois-ci, un opéra si connu que la simple tache de vouloir s'en entretenir sans paraître redondant apparaît comme pure folie.
Pourquoi vouloir en effet, s'ajouter ainsi à l'infinité de pages web concernant l'un des piliers de la trilogie de Verdi, Rigoletto?

Parce que cet opéra est magique, rien de moins.

Il est de bon ton, ces temps, parmi les amateurs d'opéra, de fustiger les opéras populaires. Rien ne vaut des livrets intelligents (Berg, Janacek, Stravinsky...) ou tout du moins une musique "évoluée" (Tchaïkovski, Wagner, Strauss...).
Comment le baroque et Mozart échappent à cet autodafé élististe est un des grands mystères de ce siècle.

Toujours est-il que quiconque ose aujourd'hui avouer que Rigoletto recèle de qualités profondes n'est perçu que comme un vil manant inculte.
Alors soit. J'en suis.
Et pour le prouver, j'entame une série de billets sur cet opéra.


When I started my series of posts about Les Pêcheurs de Perles, I wasn't expecting that this section of the blog would be so successful. So, full of enthusiasm, I intend to start another series but this time with an opera so famous, thinking of not being redundant can be seen as presumptuous, at best.
Why add anything to the zillion web pages already existing about Rigoletto?

Simply because this opera is magical, nothing less.

It is indeed trendy these days, among opera goers, to despise popular operas. After all, there's nothing like an intelligent libretto (Berg, Janacek, Stravinsky...) or at least an evolved score (Tchaïkovski, Wagner, Strauss...). How on Earth are baroque and mozartian operas spare that rejection is one of the great mysteries of the XXIth century.

Anybody who's foolish enough to admit that Rigoletto is full of qualities is somehow seen as barbaric and tasteless. So be it. I am one of those ignorant barbarians.
And to prove it, I'm starting a series about this opera.

Early news from Lima

Update #2: some new videos have been posted: "La donna e mobile" and one of my favorite arias from Rigoletto, "Bella figlia dell´amore". See the links on the blog of our Peruvian friend.

Update: The review from Lima is now also available in English (see at the end of the column in Spanish). Thanks for the translation, Gonzalo!

So... Our new best friend, the now well-known Peruvian blogger, has posted his review from yesterday's premiere of Rigoletto in Lima. Only in Spanish for now, but he has promised to translate it in a few hours... I am so not fluent in Spanish though... Yet, thanks to Google for the translation, you can have a glimpse of his feelings about the evening and the performance of JDF [I swear this blog is not becoming a tribute exclusively dedicated to Juan Diego Florez, it just happens that it's the only thing I really care about at the moment]. As accurately noted by our friend, the timbre of JDF's voice is very different from the usual one, in that role (I too, suspect I will be a bit out of my comfort zone here - as a matter of fact, listening to the extracts he posted, I already noticed that). Also, JDF seems to lack the fluidity that comes when you know your role to perfection. With a crazy schedule and these appearances in Lima added to it only a few months back, therefore pushing his role debut (originally scheduled for Dresden in June), it's no surprise JDF understudied the piece. Evidently, all those details were forgotten when he sang “Parmi veder le lagrime”, and the end of the performance seems to have overwhelmed our Peruvian blogger. He then writes a little about the other aspects of the performance (this I will read carefully when the translation is completed).

More news from JDF

March 28 update:
Don't look for the link anymore, the Peruvian blogger must have been overwhelmed by all the visits from here - or simply was contacted by the Teatro Municipal in Lima, and deleted all files.

March 30 update:
Video on YouTube here, "Questa e quella" during the dress rehearsal (the orchestra is in desperate need of help there); photographs here.

Photograph by Carlos Guerrero

Of course you must know I'm interested in the role debut of Juan Diego Florez as Il Duca di Mantova (Rigoletto) in Lima in a few days (March 31). Especially since I'm going to attend the next run of JDF performances in June in Dresden.

Well, some extracts from the dress rehearsal (audio + one video) have been posted by a Peruvian blogger.
The sound is not very good and the conducting of Michele Mariotti has more to do with Kubelik than Muti (which is definitely not a compliment coming from me). I'm yet to be convinced that JDF's voice is not too light to sing the role, though things are looking brighter for me with the "Possente amor mi chiama" extract where he sounds really... interesting.

The director must be a child of Franco Zeffirelli, and that's one of the reasons why the upcoming performances in Dresden are so promising (let alone JDF and Damrau): Nikolaus Lehnhoff will be in charge.

Photograph by Carlos Guerrero

Nuit d'ivresse et d'extase infinie

[Les Troyens Acte IV, Hector Berlioz] Thanks to those guys, and probably to Operabase not being updated, I was able to purchase a ticket for the June 2008 Rigoletto in Dresden. With a truly amazing cast; Diana Damrau as Gilda and Juan Diego Florez in Il Duca di Mantova (role debut), with Fabio Luisi conducting and Nikolaus Lenhoff directing. I might be slightly over excited, but I couldn't sleep much because of that last night. I'm gonna see Juan Diego Florez in Rigoletto, I'm gonna see Juan Diego Florez in Rigoletto, I'm gonna see Juan Diego Florez in Rigoletto ...

La donna è mobile

There are very few operas that have such an effect on me ; wherever I am, as soon as I listen to a few notes from Verdi’s Rigoletto, it’s as if my world stopped, and I have to do nothing else but listen to the music, as long as it goes on.


Sunday evening, as I was programming my Hi-Fi system for my Monday morning wake up, I discovered that this week’s opera broadcast of Radio Classique was indeed Rigoletto (since, for no apparent reason, Radio Classique seems unwilling to share this kind of info at the moment, either on its site or on Operacast).


So naturally I rushed into my armchair and didn’t get up until the opera was over.


The version I got to listen was the famous Kubelik’s recording from La Scala, with a cast that can only make your head spin;

Rigoletto: Carlo Bergonzi
Il duca di Mantova : Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Gilda: Renata Scotto
Sparafucile : Ivo Vinco
Maddalena : Fiorenza Cossotto
Il Conte di Monterone : Lorenzo Testi








This recording is believed to be, by many, the best Rigoletto you’ll ever find.
Not everybody agrees with that statement, though.
I certainly don’t.

And the main reason is that, however great the singers might be, the success of a version over another mostly lies with the conductor.


People too often underestimate the role of this buffoon gesticulating in front of the orchestra with awkward movements and a baton that seems to enhance his craziness.


Yet, a bad orchestration can ruin any fantastic performance a singer can have.

It certainly can prevent me from listening to some recordings; take the Giulini’s Traviata featuring Maria Callas for instance ; or the Plasson’s Pêcheurs de Perles.



Well, the Kubelik’s Rigoletto rather falls in that category; too slow, too heavy, too rigid, not Italian enough. Not a great performance from the conductor, for sure.
Especially if you compare it with the recording Riccardo Muti made in the mid 90s (live performance from La Scala).




That’s why the perfect recording is almost impossible to get; the conductor has to be perfect, the orchestra, the chorus, all the cast members… and I’m not even talking about a performance on stage, where you can add the director, the dramaturge, the choreographer, the setting director, the costume design director, the lighting director, the make-up artist…



YouTube extracts from Muti’s Rigoletto ;
NB. Notice how Roberto Alagna was young and thin, then


- « Questa o quella » (Act I, sc1) Il duca di Mantova
- « Addio, addio, speranza ed anima » (Act I sc.12) duet Gilda / Il duca di Mantova
- « Caro nome » (Act I sc.14) Gilda / Coro
- « Ella mi fu rapita! » (Act II sc.1) Il duca di Mantova
- « Ei vien! Silenzio! » (Act II sc.3) Coro / Il duca/Rigoletto
- « Ciel! Damni corragio! » (Act II sc.6) duet Gilda / Rigoletto
- « La donna è mobile » (Act III) Il duca di Mantova
- end of the opera (Act III) duet Rigoletto / Gilda

Obsessions

As I was reading the other day about synesthesia (here in French), I was wondering. How do you call the "condition" in which emotions are coupled with music?
If anyone knows, please share. I would love to put a name on it.
So here's the aria my brain is obsessed with at the moment; the beginning of "Bella figlia dell'amore" from Rigoletto (Act III):

Extract of the magnificent Muti's version.