Living at the Opera

Barcelona Rarity: Damrau and Flórez can’t Salvage Linda di Chamounix

Administrator — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 18:28:30 +0000

Linda di Chamounix is an opera of full-blown maturity Donizetti. When it premiered in Vienna in 1842, Donizetti’s greatest hits were already well established. Only Don Pasquale (1844), among his best known operas, came later. Although Linda di Chamounix was a major success at its premiere and at its revival in Paris (revised and with the addition of its best-known aria), it is now one of the least performed operas by Donizetti. In Spain it was last performed in Bilbao in 1998 with Edita Gruberova in the title role. In major opera houses it was seen last season at London’s Covent Garden, but only in a concert version. Now the Liceu in Barcelona has decided to bring it back on stage, and with an exceptional cast. Is the presence of two exceptional singers like Diana Damrau and Juan Diego Flórez enough for Linda di Chamounix to succeed? Alas, no. Linda belongs among the semi-serious melodramas, which might have had its day, but not nowadays. There are exceptional lyrical pages in some Donizetti buffo operas, but no particularly successful lightheartedness in his lyrical or dramatic operas. Especially the quality of the music that Donizetti wrote for the buffo scenes of Marquis Boisfleury is poor. The libretto by Gaetano Rossi is weak enough to stand out even among other Rossini libretti and the music is very uneven, with outstanding moments (among them several of the main duets) right next to , but at times the music that does not go above oompah-pah. At three hours, nearly 3 hours of opera can get rather long.

A ‘Publicity Stunt’ Mars a Thrilling Opera Performance

Administrator — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 17:59:39 +0000

Posted in Articles

I saw the great performance at LA Opera on Saturday afternoon, November 26th, of Romeo and Juliet. Nino Machaizde and Vittorio Grigolo were a wonderful pair of lovers, with an intense showing of their dramatic and vocal powers. Their final [...]

The U of A’s Opera Theater–Potent Vocals and Incisive Dramatics Bring Veracity to G. Menotti’s Consul

Administrator — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 23:45:30 +0000

Posted in Articles

More than half a century has passed since Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Consul* premiered at the Shubert Theater in Philadelpia in 1950. The opera, called his finest lyrical composition, ran in New York for eight months on Broadway picking up [...]

2011 Rossini Opera FestivalA Turning Point Part One Adelaide di Borgogna

Administrator — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 19:55:09 +0000

Posted in Articles

For Rossini lovers, ROF’s commitment to stage Rossini’s operas using the most recent critical editions has been the unmistakable selling point for their yearly pilgrimage to Pesaro, Italy, regardless of August’s oppressive heat. Since 1999, the first year I attended [...]