Yesterday I went to Cardiff to see the second opera in WNO's autumn "Liberty or Death!" season, another Rossini opera and like Guillaume Tell directed by David Pountney.
[spoiler alert for anyone intending to see this production and who does not want to know details about it]
That Rossini should compose an opera on a Biblical theme is perhaps surprising, though at least part of the reason may be that it was composed for performance during the Lent season in Naples, a period when the performance of comic operas would have been thought unsuitable. The libretto was based on the Book of Exodus and a 1760 story by Ringhieri (L'Osiride) and deals with the Israelites' escape from slavery in Egypt, some of the plagues visited on the Egyptians, and the parting of the Red Sea. Within this there is a love story between Osiride the son of the Pharaoh and a Jewish woman, Elcia, which ends when Osiride is struck dead with a thunderbolt after threatening Moses with death.
Pountney's production is simple but I thought effective, with two large panels in primary colours representing the Israelites (blue) and the Egyptians (red), with the individual and crowd Israelites/Egyptians dressed in various shades of those colours. Behind the panels are the three-tier fortress like structures which were used in Guillaume Tell and here are deployed in the second Act for Osiride's and Elcia's failed escape from their respective tribes - the metal enclosures suggesting the sense that the two are imprisoned by birth and fate. The lighting used in the production also resulted in some striking effects. I have never been to an opera before in which, although there is no overture, the first ten minutes or so are spent in a quite Stygian darkness (even the lights on the orchestra's stands seemed to be out - surely they were not playing from memory!). And the illumination in the finale to the opera was powerfully done. Still, one of the couple sitting next to me exclaimed at the interval that the production was "hideous to look at" and they did not return to their seats for the second half!
The music has many interesting features, though ultimately I found it less compelling than that of Guillaume Tell. The opening of the opera owes much to Haydn's Creation, opening in C minor though here with the chorus almost immediately involved, lamenting the plague of darkness visited on the people. Soloists then join the chorus and only after an extended lament does Moses' prayer result in the return of light (as with Haydn, in C major). As with Guillaume Tell, the WNO chorus, portraying both Israelites and Egyptians, play a central part in the drama rather than being peripherally involved as with many earlier operas - how the WNO chorus must love being involved in these Rossini works! As mentioned in the WNO programme, and also in Rian Evans' review here, musically this opera has echoes of Mozart as well as looking forward to C19 bel canto works - and it must be a particular influence for Verdi's Nabucco. For me, Rossini cannot sustain depth and intensity of feeling in solo arias in this opera but is most effective in ensemble writing, either with or without chorus, for instance in the duet between Elcia and Osiride in Act Two (a duet which eventually becomes a quartet). Some of the orchestral colour is striking, for instance the combination of harp and brass alone or a harp solo accompaniment. I was interested to hear the theme later used in Rossini's Introduction, Theme and Variations for Clarinet and Orchestra used as an introduction to one of the Act Two arias (beautifully played by the WNO's principal clarinet).
The singing I thought generally very good, especially that of Claire Booth as Elcia. David Alegret as Osiride I found had rather a light voice to carry in the auditorium, but his duets with Elcia were fine. Moses, despite having significant parts of the action - invoking and removing plagues, parting the Red Sea, etc - was a somewhat peripheral contributor to the music, but Miklos Sebestyen's voice was impressive. The orchestra and chorus of the WNO (conducted by Carlo Rizzi) were again excellent - an especial mention for the harp-playing of Katherine Thomas and the clarinet-playing of Lesley Craven.
Another successful effort by WNO, introducing a work to me of which I had known nothing
[spoiler alert for anyone intending to see this production and who does not want to know details about it]
That Rossini should compose an opera on a Biblical theme is perhaps surprising, though at least part of the reason may be that it was composed for performance during the Lent season in Naples, a period when the performance of comic operas would have been thought unsuitable. The libretto was based on the Book of Exodus and a 1760 story by Ringhieri (L'Osiride) and deals with the Israelites' escape from slavery in Egypt, some of the plagues visited on the Egyptians, and the parting of the Red Sea. Within this there is a love story between Osiride the son of the Pharaoh and a Jewish woman, Elcia, which ends when Osiride is struck dead with a thunderbolt after threatening Moses with death.
Pountney's production is simple but I thought effective, with two large panels in primary colours representing the Israelites (blue) and the Egyptians (red), with the individual and crowd Israelites/Egyptians dressed in various shades of those colours. Behind the panels are the three-tier fortress like structures which were used in Guillaume Tell and here are deployed in the second Act for Osiride's and Elcia's failed escape from their respective tribes - the metal enclosures suggesting the sense that the two are imprisoned by birth and fate. The lighting used in the production also resulted in some striking effects. I have never been to an opera before in which, although there is no overture, the first ten minutes or so are spent in a quite Stygian darkness (even the lights on the orchestra's stands seemed to be out - surely they were not playing from memory!). And the illumination in the finale to the opera was powerfully done. Still, one of the couple sitting next to me exclaimed at the interval that the production was "hideous to look at" and they did not return to their seats for the second half!
The music has many interesting features, though ultimately I found it less compelling than that of Guillaume Tell. The opening of the opera owes much to Haydn's Creation, opening in C minor though here with the chorus almost immediately involved, lamenting the plague of darkness visited on the people. Soloists then join the chorus and only after an extended lament does Moses' prayer result in the return of light (as with Haydn, in C major). As with Guillaume Tell, the WNO chorus, portraying both Israelites and Egyptians, play a central part in the drama rather than being peripherally involved as with many earlier operas - how the WNO chorus must love being involved in these Rossini works! As mentioned in the WNO programme, and also in Rian Evans' review here, musically this opera has echoes of Mozart as well as looking forward to C19 bel canto works - and it must be a particular influence for Verdi's Nabucco. For me, Rossini cannot sustain depth and intensity of feeling in solo arias in this opera but is most effective in ensemble writing, either with or without chorus, for instance in the duet between Elcia and Osiride in Act Two (a duet which eventually becomes a quartet). Some of the orchestral colour is striking, for instance the combination of harp and brass alone or a harp solo accompaniment. I was interested to hear the theme later used in Rossini's Introduction, Theme and Variations for Clarinet and Orchestra used as an introduction to one of the Act Two arias (beautifully played by the WNO's principal clarinet).
The singing I thought generally very good, especially that of Claire Booth as Elcia. David Alegret as Osiride I found had rather a light voice to carry in the auditorium, but his duets with Elcia were fine. Moses, despite having significant parts of the action - invoking and removing plagues, parting the Red Sea, etc - was a somewhat peripheral contributor to the music, but Miklos Sebestyen's voice was impressive. The orchestra and chorus of the WNO (conducted by Carlo Rizzi) were again excellent - an especial mention for the harp-playing of Katherine Thomas and the clarinet-playing of Lesley Craven.
Another successful effort by WNO, introducing a work to me of which I had known nothing
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