Opera on 3 - 5.04.14: The Girl of the Golden West

[CallMePaul]

Opera North's new production of Puccini's La Fanciulla del West has been one of the most talked about new operatic productions in this country over the last 12 months or so, even coming as it does after last year's birthday celebrations for 3 operatic greats. My partner and I will be seeing this in Leeds on Friday and I expect it to be every bit as good as the 4* and 5* reviews in the press. I was surprised not to see any thread about it to date!

Carole (whose opera-going experience is more restricted than mine) asked me why it gets far fewer performances than most other Puccini operas. I ventured that the unconventional, somewhat melodramatic ending may be one reason (I did not give it away as I knew this would spoil Carole's enjoyment of the piece). Another may be the lack of a "big tune" such as is found in earlier works such as Tosca or Madama Butterfly, although the roles of the lovers have attracted singers of the calibre of Renata Tebaldi, Mario del Monaco and Plácido Domingo amongst others.

Does anyone else have any views about this opera? Mine may change when I have seen and heard it complete but would like to know how anyone who has seen the ON or any other recent performance of this opera reacted to it.

[Barbirollians]

Opera North's new production of Puccini's La Fanciulla del West has been one of the most talked about new operatic productions in this country over the last 12 months or so, even coming as it does after last year's birthday celebrations for 3 operatic greats. My partner and I will be seeing this in Leeds on Friday and I expect it to be every bit as good as the 4* and 5* reviews in the press. I was surprised not to see any thread about it to date!

Carole (whose opera-going experience is more restricted than mine) asked me why it gets far fewer performances than most other Puccini operas. I ventured that the unconventional, somewhat melodramatic ending may be one reason (I did not give it away as I knew this would spoil Carole's enjoyment of the piece). Another may be the lack of a "big tune" such as is found in earlier works such as Tosca or Madama Butterfly, although the roles of the lovers have attracted singers of the calibre of Renata Tebaldi, Mario del Monaco and Plácido Domingo amongst others.

Does anyone else have any views about this opera? Mine may change when I have seen and heard it complete but would like to know how anyone who has seen the ON or any other recent performance of this opera reacted to it.

There is a big tune - so good Andrew lloyd webber was so inspired by a phantom of it .

I have never seen it but the Steber/Miropoulos performance on Regis is absolutely sensational.

[pastoralguy]

There is a big tune - so good Andrew lloyd webber was so inspired by a phantom of it .

I have never seen it but the Steber/Miropoulos performance on Regis is absolutely sensational.

I remember, as a 13 year old, seeing the posters in my local record shop for the famous Domingo Lp's being released and thinking it was an odd title for an opera. I do have the CDs now (courtesy of the uncle of a friend of mine who sold all his opera CDs for a £ each when he decided that he would only experience home opera listening and watching on blu-ray. I bought 40 sets from him - very few of which I've actually listened too!)

I must try to hear it soon.

[Stanley Stewart]

The Girl of the Golden West

Twice saw this production at Covent Garden, 1978, when Placido Domingo and particularly Carol Neblett - she literally took her opportunity in Act II and the intensity of the poker game to soar tremendously into the stratosphere with long sustained high notes. The only anti-climax was the setback of a 45 mins interval to construct the huge set for the Act III mine; a short act before Dick Johnson & Minnie ride off into the sunset but the dramatic impetus was still worthwhile. The production was also recorded for R3 on Domingo's 38th birthday! Zubin Mehta conducted. DG used the same cast in their recording except for Sherrill Milnes as Jack Rance.

[David-G]

This http://www.amazon.co.uk/Puccini-Fanc.../dp/B0000C24F6 is what you should watch! La Fanciulla from Covent Garden, with Placido Domingo and Carol Neblett. I have seen this excellent production five times over the years, and always greatly enjoyed it. This is, I think, my favourite Puccini opera - in fact, with the possible exception of Gianni Schicci, the only one that I really like. I like the optimism of the piece, and the sense of community of the miners. And the tension over the card game!

[verismissimo]

Although I've written a good deal about Puccini and his operas over recent years, shamefully I've never yet seen Fanciulla. Looking forward to this (in Nottingham).

[Paul Sherratt]

Truly I keep thinking that you're all discussing those delightful, yodeling Goad Sisters.

[amateur51]

There is a big tune - so good Andrew lloyd webber was so inspired by a phantom of it .

I have never seen it but the Steber/Miropoulos performance on Regis is absolutely sensational.

Does that set come with the words, Barbs?

[Stanley Stewart]

I've been sampling the Decca ADRM - there's a memory in itself - CD sets of La Fanciulla; Tebaldi, Del Monaco, MacNeil and Tozzi/...Accademia di Santa Cecilia/ Franco Capuana; and the EMI Classics set; Nilsson, Joao Gibin, Andrea Mongelli/Scala di Milano/Lovro von Matacic and both are potent recordings with full libretto. Spoilt for choice, too with the Opus Arte DVD, Domingo, Mara Zampieri, Juan Pons, Teatro alla Scala/ Lorin Mazel which like the Covent Garden DVD have English subtitles. Overall, an embarrassment of riches but the latter remains my particular favourite with its memories of Faggioni's sumptuous production. Right from the start, the arrival of the miners and the offstage voices provides the same magic as Madama Butterfly's stage entry, too.

[CallMePaul]

Sadly, in the event I was unable to go to the opera. My partner's mother died suddenly on 18 Feb and we had to go to the Isle of Wight to make arrangements. As the last comment was 2 days before the performance we had hoped to see I guess that no-one else looking at this thread went, although there were earlier performances and the tour has yet to come. I have not yet decided whether or not to see it at the Lowry. Unfortunately Mancunians' operatic tastes seem to be very safe so there are likely to be more performances of La Boheme than of La Fanciulla del Westor Macbeth. An alternative may be a DVD of a decent production.

[french frank]

Commiserations and condolences, CallMePaul.

I think the WNO must think that Bristolians' operatic tastes are also 'safe' - we don't seem to get the more off-the-beaten-track repertoire which places like Milton Keynes get

[Stanley Stewart]

My sympathies, too, CallMePaul.

I wrote about seeing GOTGW in an earlier posting. However, this thread encouraged me to revisit four productions on DVD during the past week. I am now a natural to tackle Jake Wallace's Act I entrance which, I'm confident, sounds glorious in a bathroom acoustic!

Finally, it is Minnie's opera providing she has the vocal range to sustain Act II beyond the richness of the orchestration. An efficacy test IMV is a singer's proficiency to cope with the demanding range of the role by concealing the presence of a diva in her performance. I enjoyed the work of Eva-Maria Westbroek in the Opus Arte/Netherland Opera production of 2010; Nina Stemme at the Royal Swedish Opera House, 2012, but disliked the tricksy concept. Willingly accepted the filmed opening in which Minnie rides towards her saloon in a John Ford/ Monument Valley background but felt despondent when, at the end of the overture, she broke through a canvas drum, pistol in hand! This, of course, wrecked her traditional Act I entrance between the twin doors when a gunshot has been fired in the bar. This theatrical 'moment' is equivalent of Scarpia's entrance in "Tosca". Best avoided here.

The Opus Arte label also has the 2004 Teatro alla Scala production in the safe hands of Mara Zampieri and Placido Domingo. Fine chorus work, too, but my final choice lies with Carol Neblett and Domingo in Piero Faggioni's ROH production filmed in the early 80s. I saw it a couple of times with this pairing in 1978 and marvelled at the detailed nuances in the design and lighting which enhanced the splendour of the singing and orchestral playing/Nello Santi. Neblett brought a touching simplicity, a degree of humanity to her Minnie which put her head and shoulders above her competitors and, after many viewings, I still get a tingle from her arias - the quality of that little something extra. This production is on NVC Arts, Warners Music Division, 5050466-8356-2-8

[verismissimo]

It's curious that Fanciulla should be so far behind other operas of Puccini in the popularity stakes. Is not the story, which is dramatically gripping. And the music seems to fit it like a glove.

Verdi talked about the necessity to leave "something for the organ grinder", passages that would build the popularity of a work, but Fanciulla has next to nothing of that sort, while nearly all of Puccini's others have lots. It's significant that none of the starry cast at the premiere at the Met in 1910 - Destinn, Caruso and Amato in the lead roles (Toscanini conducted) - made any recordings from it.

Looking forward to ON in Nottingham next Friday.

[Simon B]

The relative obscurity of it is almost baffling to me. Can it really just be that it's the most through-composed of Puccini's operas, and lacks much in the way of set-pieces that would stand alone?

It is apparently difficult to cast since it requires a soprano who brings both plentiful decibels at the same time as a sympathetic stage presence, but they can't be in that short a supply surely? There is, I suppose, the circular problem of it being a relatively obscure opera, therefore no-one has it in her repertoire, therefore it makes it less likely to be done, etc.

The plot is a bit ludicrous, but then if that was a defining objection that's pretty much the whole of opera in big trouble...

I went to see it in Newcastle on Friday, and was (substitute your own cliché where preferred) blown away. Not just by the gunfire - or just by Alwyn Mellor's wonderfully sung Minnie. The set looked like it must have cost at least £150 to build, but a) it doesn't really matter and b) it's understandable given the constraints Opera North operate under. At least the production hadn't been relocated to, say, the Vietnam War for no apparent reason - or an airport railway station with sadomasochistic tendencies per the recent destructively perverse WNO production of Manon Lescaut.

[David-G]

Has anyone explained where the "Golden" came from in the English title?