Sydney opera fans should not miss this rare outing of a minor Rossini
gem. Il Turco in Italia was mounted for
Callas, Sills, Caballe and Bartoli but has never entered the general
repertoire. This ‘Turco’ is a fun romp
for audience and artists alike … however putting opera singers into swimsuits can have its down-side too
(see below).
Turco is probably avoided by opera companies because of serious competition, especially Rossini’s own manifold works. Turco is thirteenth of his forty operas and came on the heels of the very successful L’Italiana in Algeria. Yet despite much early acclaim for these works, only Barber of Seville remained in the repertory until the 1950s.
It is said that Rossini was sitting up in his bed composing and a page of his music dropped to the floor. Rather than going to the trouble of retrieving it, the story goes that he stayed in his bed and just wrote another page of new music to replace it. And so flowed the melodies in Il Turco in Italia … the listener will have to decide how these tunes compare with La Cenerentola, Semiramide or Il Barbiere di Siviglia. There is a charming sextet to end the first act. One of the male arias seems to have been borrowed from the Barber of Seville … or maybe it was the other way around.
It is said that Rossini was sitting up in his bed composing and a page of his music dropped to the floor. Rather than going to the trouble of retrieving it, the story goes that he stayed in his bed and just wrote another page of new music to replace it. And so flowed the melodies in Il Turco in Italia … the listener will have to decide how these tunes compare with La Cenerentola, Semiramide or Il Barbiere di Siviglia. There is a charming sextet to end the first act. One of the male arias seems to have been borrowed from the Barber of Seville … or maybe it was the other way around.
The overture is a glorious and memorable piece of novel orchestration,
full of melodic invention, rhythm and style.
Yet the production took attention away from this concert masterpiece by
presenting a plethora of beach-bum fuss on stage, a comedy routine which led to
applause and laughter interrupting the music.
This magnificent sinfonia should have been showcased … maybe even played again (‘Sam’) for the
second act! The work is long, however,
and if Die Zauberflaute warranted editing so too might Turco.
The translation was very loose, often slap-stick and frankly crude at
times. The laughs sometimes came before
the actual gags due to the titles being visible … but this comes with the
territory and nobody would want to return to the pre-titles days.
In his operas Rossini uses various ‘tricks’ such as a tapping baton, rolling ‘R’ concerted ending and in this opera we have a
narrator, Prosdocimo, who is writing a play and using the opera’s events as inspiration (or plagiarism). And the playwright here is Samuel Dundas,
using great flair and energy. And he
doubles as barman, sommelier and waiter.
Emma Matthews was the star and one can see why other divas have moved to
bring this work out of its long obscurity.
Ms Matthews does the coquettish thing as Fiorilla and flies into the
coloratura stratosphere regularly both on her own and in concert.
Contrary to Turkish mores this production takes place at Geronio’s cocktail bar on a southern Italian beach
resort. Just about everything that could
happen at such a bar does happen.
Wooing and surrender, jealous fights, undressing, mistaken identities,
etc. There is even a kitchen blender,
perhaps for Halal fruit cocktails - as well as to shred banknotes offered by
the Turk to Geronio to purchase his young wife.
The Geronio couple live upstairs, glamorous Fiorilla (Emma Matthews)
with her older portly husband, ably played by Conal Coad. The latter is a fine singer but is perhaps
over-exposed in Sydney of late.
Lover-boy Turk Selim Pasha is played by Italian Paolo Bordogna who is
yet another bass-baritone who is more baritone than bass - but more than
adequate for the part. His devilish sexy
persona would be at home on Broadway as it is in the opera theatre.
As the paramour muse Narciso we heard Brasilian tenor Luciano
Botelho. He sang with accuracy and
poise, having a natural ‘dry’ tenor voice, hitting some risky high notes, most
of which paid off. The opera had a great
deal of dressing and undressing on stage, including a hilarious aria by Narciso
sung in a beach changing box as he morphed into a Memphis man (see below).
Zaida is played by Anna Dowsley, a capable young Australia
mezzo-soprano. She is not (?yet) ideal
for the role which needs a more mature mezzo voice to contrast with Emma
Matthews as well as to be a believable partner to a Pasha.
Breaking with operatic tradition, most of the cast was chosen for
appearances first and voice second.
There were only two singers of a certain imposing stature in this show,
one a male principal singer, the other a Rubenesque chorus member (at the bar
and not in swimming costume).
Experience tells us that larger singers often have the better voices, so
where does that leave the listener?
Frustratingly we may have been deprived of what the opera audience
craves most: big beautiful vocalism, for the sake of a director‘s
peccadillo. One of the best singers of
our day, Stephanie Blythe, would have been eliminated on this basis. Yet wherever she sings the house is usually
sold out as she delights audiences at the Met and elsewhere.
The Turco denouement has the characters dressing up for a masked ball in
which the lovers are meant to catch each other out. Starting with Narciso in the bathing shed,
all the men dress as Elvis Presley while the ladies wear Marilyn Monroe get-ups
to the enormous mirth of the audience.
Conal Coad posed as Selim Pasha despite being double the girth of his
Eastern rival! But this IS opera, after
all! Crazy stories, fat ladies singing
into the night, etcetera.
This brought us to the vocal high point of the evening, a magnificent
performance by Ms Matthews who reads a divorce letter from Geronio and then
laments her ostracism (premature as it happens) from the society of her husband
and the world she is used to … while the other lovers reunited, prepare to sail back to
Turkey. In her five-minute solo, Ms
Matthews’
accuracy and control were sublime, and at the excited response from the
audience well justified. The fact that
she sang this only two nights before (Wednesday then Friday) makes the feat all
the more impressive. However, it does
not do the management much credit, since the vocal cords of a singer are like
the feet of a marathon runner and they need more than one day to recover after
use. And it is upon those cords that the
opera company and this opera’s success or otherwise depends.
While I am pleased to have seen it, Turco pales next to William Tell or Semiramide. Nevertheless, the
Sydney audience gave an enormous ovation to the well rehearsed curtain call à
la Broadway. The company might have done
a greater opera with a similar cast, yet I confess such comparisons
are risky. Let the reader judge,
hopefully after hearing the whole opera, whether it was worth the effort.
The evening had not one but two patrons being our state AND federal vice
regal representatives, plus an extraordinary array of VIPs, lawyers, medical
people, business folk, etc. I spoke so
some subscribers who were surprised to learn that their tickets were for
opening night. Such seats used to be
unobtainable without a long wait and/or a large donation to the company. But the company’s subscriptions have dwindled from about
fifteen operas to less than ten … and lots of performances of musical comedies … which are now the company’s stock in trade rather than grand
opera. But I go on. At least we still HAVE an opera company, even
if much of what it does is ABC (Aida, Boheme and Carmen).
Comments by Andrew Byrne
Andrew's blog http://ajbtravels.blogspot.com/
