Opera North's La Rondine

[CallMePaul]

My partner and I are going to this production tomorrow (25/10). I have never seen nor heard any of one of Puccini'd least well-known operas. Has anyone seen it yet and what are your impressions if the answer is "yes"? I will give my thoughts after I have seen it. According to the ON website, it is set in Paris in 1930. At least this is not too radical an update as it is only 6 years after Puccini's death.

[Ein Heldenleben]

My partner and I are going to this production tomorrow (25/10). I have never seen nor heard any of one of Puccini'd least well-known operas. Has anyone seen it yet and what are your impressions if the answer is "yes"? I will give my thoughts after I have seen it. According to the ON website, it is set in Paris in 1930. At least this is not too radical an update as it is only 6 years after Puccini's death.

I’ve seen it live twice at Covent Garden. Both times with Angela Gheorghiu singing Magda with Kaufman and Alagna opposite her as Ruggero. It’s a slight piece but with wonderful tunes - not least Chi Il Bel Sogno in Act One which I am sure you will recognise. Act 2 is the most substantial act. I watched the Met ( same as the ROH ) production off their streaming site during lockdown and I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to be on an opera stage more. Act 2 is set in Paris Brasserie and with the whole cast drinking Champagne and dancing …well you can see why. I am sure you will enjoy it.

[Nick Armstrong]

My partner and I are going to this production tomorrow (25/10). I have never seen nor heard any of one of Puccini'd least well-known operas. Has anyone seen it yet and what are your impressions if the answer is "yes"? I will give my thoughts after I have seen it. According to the ON website, it is set in Paris in 1930. At least this is not too radical an update as it is only 6 years after Puccini's death.

I really love this piece. It seems to me to be the closest Puccini came to Richard Strauss in his later, conversational style. Actually I reckon there’s an explicit, brief Strauss quote in La Rondine… See if you can spot it

[Maclintick]

I’ve seen it live twice at Covent Garden. Both times with Angela Gheorghiu singing Magda with Kaufman and Alagna opposite her as Ruggero. It’s a slight piece but with wonderful tunes - not least Chi Il Bel Sogno in Act One which I am sure you will recognise. Act 2 is the most substantial act. I watched the Met ( same as the ROH ) production off their streaming site during lockdown and I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to be on an opera stage more. Act 2 is set in Paris Brasserie and with the whole cast drinking Champagne and dancing …well you can see why. I am sure you will enjoy it.

It's a lovely, underrated piece. The Georghiu/Alagna production at ROH was memorable -- the gradually swelling ensemble with chorus after Ruggero's toast to Magda in Act 2 (Bevo al tuo fresco sorriso) especially affecting.

[CallMePaul]

We enjoyed the production very much, but I would criticise the casting of two tenors with very similar voices - if I were listening rather than watching I would have found it difficult to tell which singer was singing what! The sopranos too were not differntiated enough vocally for my taste. Act 2 with its well-choreographed dance scene was for me the highlight.

Obviously, Opera North cannot afford singers of the quality available to the ROH but the standard of singing was good for a provincial opera house. With regard to the ROH production, which I neither saw nor heard, I am surprised that they engaged Jonas Kaufman, to my ears a dramatic tenor more suited to Florestan or Tristan, for a lyric role such as Ruggero.

[Ein Heldenleben]

We enjoyed the production very much, but I would criticise the casting of two tenors with very similar voices - if I were listening rather than watching I would have found it difficult to tell which singer was singing what! The sopranos too were not differntiated enough vocally for my taste. Act 2 with its well-choreographed dance scene was for me the highlight.

Obviously, Opera North cannot afford singers of the quality available to the ROH but the standard of singing was good for a provincial opera house. With regard to the ROH production, which I neither saw nor heard, I am surprised that they engaged Jonas Kaufman, to my ears a dramatic tenor more suited to Florestan or Tristan, for a lyric role such as Ruggero.

It was Kaufman’s debut at the house. He was young and sung it very well. I’m not sure he’s up to Tristan . I don’t think of him asa true Heldentenor. What sticks in my mind is the 30 second snog he and Angela Georghiu had in Act 2 . To be fair she had a similar duration onstage kiss with her then husband Roberto Alagna in a different performance,This was before they started throwing the crockery at each other obviously,

[Simon Biazeck]

It was Kaufman’s debut at the house. He was young and sung it very well. I’m not sure he’s up to Tristan. I don’t think of him as true Heldentenor. What sticks in my mind is the 30 second snog he and Angela Georghiu had in Act 2 . To be fair she had a similar duration onstage kiss with her then husband Roberto Alagna in a different performance,This was before they started throwing the crockery at each other obviously,

I agree entirely. I was there onstage at the ROH La Rondine, and when he entered (we didn't rehearse with him) you could almost hear a collective gasp of admiration from the cast as art was momentarily in sync with real life and most didn't need to act.

~SBz.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I agree entirely. I was there onstage at the ROH La Rondine, and when he came entered (we didn't rehearse with him) you could almost hear a collective gasp of admiration from the cast as art was momentarily in sync with real life and most didn't need to act.

~SBz.

So you lived my lockdown dream as in post #2? Wish I’d stuck at singing. Went to a Prunier * style brasserie in Paris this year - ordered champagne obviously. There was a full on street riot outside - so much for romance .
That role suited Kaufman better than Otello. Alagna also sang it superbly. Georghiu is of course peerless as Magda though the second time I saw her the voice had lost power.

Prunier is a character of course . Bullier is the Brasserie , confusingly there is a restaurant in Paris called Prunier!

[Simon Biazeck]

So you lived my lockdown dream as in post #2? Wish I’d stuck at singing. Went to a Prunier style brasserie in Paris this year - ordered champagne obviously. There was a full on street riot outside - so much for romance .
That role suited Kaufman better than Otello. Alagna also sang it superbly. Georghiu is of course peerless as Magda though the second time I saw her the voice had lost power.

I guess I did! (I read your post after writing my reply.) I long to return to Paris, but it seems a long way off with post-pandemic financial difficulties. I hope to see Nôtre-Dame fully restored - it will worth the wait and it will undoubtedly break me. Back to La Rondine - I adore it, and alongside La Fanciulla del West (possibly my favourite) it's the closest he came to writing a musical. I've done a few runs of Fagioni's production at the ROH - now dropped, I think. A pity.

[mikealdren]

I'm currently rehearsing it with Midsummer Opera in London (shameless plug), it's wonderful piece to play, full of glorious music including, of course, Chi Il Bel Sogno.
As to the role of Doretta, Gheorghiu recording is marvellous but it was also one of Kiri's finest recordings, never heard either sing it on stage.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I'm currently rehearsing it with Midsummer Opera in London (shameless plug), it's wonderful piece to play, full of glorious music including, of course, Chi Il Bel Sogno.
As to the role of Doretta, Gheorghiu recording is marvellous but it was also one of Kiri's finest recordings, never heard either sing it on stage.

Magda is the Georghiu role , Doretta is the person she’s singing about I think. I agree that Kiri is magnificent in the role.

[mikealdren]

Magda is the Georghiu role , Doretta is the person she’s singing about I think. I agree that Kiri is magnificent in the role.

Too true, my mistake.....