Ermione’s Searing Drama Comes Late but is Worth the Wait
Rossini Opera Festival 2008
When ROF announced Ermione as its second new production for 2008, many Rossini fans couldn’t have been happier. This was only the second time ROF mounted the work since it flopped at its 1819 premiere at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. After the opera was withdrawn, the composer took a philosophical view of its failure. In the Escudier Brothers’ 1854 Rossini biography, the composer was quoted as saying, “Sooner or later you will see this (Ermione) again and then maybe the Neapolitan audience will acknowledge its mistake.” Still later, Rossini was asked if he would not like to have the work translated for the French stage, he replied, ” No…this is my little Italian William Tell, and it will only see the light of day again after I am dead.” It took until the 20th century for Rossini’s prophecy to be fulfilled.
The opera’s bad luck even seemed to infiltrate ROF’s 1987 production. The reader can learn all about the production’s troubles in Philip Gossett’s Divas and Scholars. The author relates a juicy behind-the-scenes story, one that opera lovers thrive on.
The reason for the Ermione‘s initial failure had nothing to do with its incisive libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola. As Giovanni Carli Ballola points out in his article in ROF’s 2008 program, Tottola derived the plot from Racine’s Andromaque (1667,) and his “libretto evolves faithful to the spirit and quite often to the letter of the original, with the sole difference that Ermione instead of killing herself over the body of Pirro, as Racine has us learn from the lips of Pilade, faints on stage while Oreste, haunted by the Furies, is carried off by his companions.” Perhaps the strongest clue to the opera’s failure is given by Rossini himself. In his 1819 letter to his mother on January 19th, he admits, “I am fairly well on with my Ermione I’m afraid the plot is too tragic, but I couldn’t care less now I can say that the job’s nearly done.” But it’s certainly not too tragic for 21st century opera audiences.
The 2008 production was not without it flaws and really didn’t fulfill its dramatic promise until the last performance on August 21st. One would think the relentless emotional core which Rossini and Tottola created for this opera, would have exploded sooner in the run considering the talented line up of singers aided by conductor Roberto Abbado and director Daniele Abbado.
Ermione‘s story is basically about four people who are in love with the wrong person. Briefly, the story is as follows: Pirro, son of Achilles and King of Epirus has promised to marry Ermione, the daughter of Menelaus, but as the opera opens he has fallen in love with Andromaca, daughter of Hector. Ermione, wild with rage and tormented with jealousy, learns that Oreste was sent by the Greeks to convince Pirro to kill Andromaca’s son, Astianate, in order to prevent Troy’s resurgence. Ermione, recognizing Oreste’s deep love for her, convinces him to kill Pirro. Ermione, in one of opera’s great confrontational scenes, curses Oreste for carrying out her wishes. As he is being dragged away by his companions, Ermione, totally grief-stricken, collapes in agony.
In 2004, Abbado’s direction of Elizabetta regina d’Inghilterra, fit smoothly into Giovanni Carluccio’s set of a three-tiered chrome enclosure, but this time the director wasn’t able to move his performers as easily in Graziano Gregori’s spacious set. Outfitted with trap doors held up by cable, a revolving panel which got the leads and chorus on and off the set and a light green and a smoky white back wall brought a feeling of detachment to Rossini and Tottola’s emotionally charged opera. This atmosphere affected the singers also.
At the 16th and the 21st performances, Sonia Ganassi’s Ermione played out the same way. The mezzo seemed to be saving her voice for her Gran Scena which comes midway through the second act. Ironically, while waiting for that moment, she had to keep adjusting her pitch and breath control which detracted from the tormented character she later displayed. Antonino’s Siragusa’s Oreste had fire and commitment, but his voice takes on a nasal quality when forced. In his first act entrance, he handled his difficult cavatina, “Che sordo al mesto pianto,” with finesse, but obviously forgot that he was singing a duet with Ferdinand Von Bothmer’s Pilade and immediately broke character at its close with a big smile leaving Von Bothmer to acquiesce in silence. Gregory Kunde established Pirro’s royal privileges from the start, but the reach for high notes and the numerous runs in the role were too demanding for his present vocal state. Marianna Pizzolato’s Andromaca was vocally even and pleasing, but she lacked the character’s regal deportment. Roberto Abbado’s conducting didn’t have the necessary fire and involvement for Rossini’s abundantly rich orchestration.
But on the 21st, at the finale of Act One, in the short, reflective duet between Ermione and Oreste where the two souls commiserate over their unhappy fate, Ganassi and Siragusa brought a fervor to their singing that had been missing up to that point. This shift in intensity brought the opera to an explosive level in Act Two that started with Ermione’s Gran Scena and continued right through to the end. Without sacrificing any vocal quality, Ganassi and Siragusa threw caution to the wind and to everyone’s surprise and delight gave performances that were truly extraordinary. Even Abaddo was affected by this turn of events and whipped the Orchestra Del Teatro Comunale Di Bologna into a frenzied finale Rossini would have loved.
