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Bellini, I Capuleti e i Montecchi: Soloists, chorus and orchestra of the Royal Opera House. Conductor: Sir Mark Elder. Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 2.3.2009. (JPr)

The Set

In his 1723 essay Observations on the Florid song the Italian castrato, Pier Francesco Tosi, condemned what he considered the excesses in ornamentation that Italian singers were imposing upon Italian music. You can read his discourse on the internet and many of his observations on bel canto singing are as applicable today as they were then. With a little liberty in translation to make it relevant to the female voice here is an extract: ‘Let the singer take care that the higher the notes, the more necessary it is to touch them with softness. Let the singer learn the manner to glide with the vowels and to drag the voice gently from the higher to lower notes. Let the singer take care that the words are uttered in such a manner that they be distinctly understood and no one syllable lost. In repeating the air the singer that does not vary it for better is no great master. Whoever does not know how to steal the time (il rubamento di tempo) in singing is destitute of the best taste and knowledge. The stealing of time is an honourable theft in one that sings better than others provided he makes restitution with ingenuity. Oh how great a master is the heart?’ At Covent Garden two non-Italian singers made a valiant attempt at conveying the spirit of bel canto singing according to Tosi without always being faithful to the detail of note values, ornamentation practise or tonal colour. Is it possible to hear such a rarely-performed work such as I Capuleti e i Montecchi better sung in 2009 than here at Covent Garden?  I doubt it.

Anna Netrebko as Giulietta and Elīna Garanča as Romeo
 

Bellini wrote the opera in a month and a half early in 1830. The librettist Felice Romani’s adaptation of the story of Romeo and Juliet is not based on the Shakespeare play, but on the same sixteenth-century sources that inspired him. The story centres on the tragic love between Romeo and Giulietta amidst the continuing conflict between the Capulet and the Montague families. There is no place for Mercutio, Benvolio, Lady Capulet or the Nurse. However Juliet's betrothed, Tebaldo is given prominence and the plot concentrates on his, and Romeo’s, rivalry for Giulietta. Except for Lorenzo's place as physician and advisor in the Capulet household rather than in a hermitage, the events leading to the deaths of the two lovers are significantly the same as in Shakespeare. This is clearly opera-by-numbers but provides a wonderful showcase for two great principals singers and here, fresh from recording this opera for Deutsche Grammophon, the Latvian Elīna Garanča and the Russian Anna Netrebko provide a standard of vocal performance rarely heard at Covent Garden nowadays.

As this bel canto treasure unfolds, it is all inexorably sprightly, melodic, beautiful and upbeat – well, at least until the final few tragic moments in the tomb (the duet Deserto è il luogo) which anticipates the dénouements in Verdi. It is possible to understand why Wagner denounced this Italian singing style as being merely concerned with ‘whether that G or A will come out roundly’ and brought about his development of a German school of singing to  bring ‘the spiritually energetic and profoundly passionate into the orbit of its matchless Expression’. Nevertheless this opera did have an influence on Wagner because, where the first audiences for Shakespeare's play would have seen male actors as both Romeo and Juliet, here  - as typical of the age in which it was composed - Romeo is a trouser role. Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient  sang Romeo in Leipzig (1834) and Magdeburg (1835) and created a profound impression on the young Wagner. She subsequently created several roles for Wagner himself – Adriano (also a trouser role) in Rienzi, Senta and Venus. If Wagner had  not become embroiled with the Dresden uprising in May 1849, Schröder-Devrient would have also created Elsa in Lohengrin. He continued to laud her stage artistry right up until his 1872 essay ‘On Actors and Singers’ which is dedicated to her memory. This makes for an interesting legacy for this Bellini opera and I believe Wagner would have approved wholeheartedly of Garanča’s feisty portrayal and her excellent sword wielding.

Eric Owens as Capellio

It was interesting after nearly 25 years, to revisit a production I had first seen in 1984 at its 10th Covent Garden performance. That this staging, designed as well as directed by Pier Luigi Pizzi, has only been sparingly revived since,  is confirmed by the fact this performance is still only the 31st at the Royal Opera House. In 1984 the cast included Agnes Baltsa (Romeo), Edita Gruberóva (Giulietta) and John Tomlinson as Lorenzo and Riccardo Muti was the conductor. Now,  revived by Massimo Gasparon, it focuses the drama on Romeo and Giulietta; the chorus basically stand and deliver, resorting to stock gestures, while the other characters are mere ciphers. This is old-school style opera  in a single set that is actually quite serviceable: it is a scena per angolo with steps at the back suggesting either an outdoor courtyard framed by large, round pillars becomes an indoor setting when panels either slide or are lowered into place. There is little else on stage apart from Giulietta’s bed, her father Capellio’s throne and some large statues for the tomb scene.

Anna Netrebko and Elīna Garanča dominate any scene they are in, acting and singing with thrilling commitment and perhaps more expression than Bellini purists would wish. That this was a more ‘modern’ approach was highlighted by Giulietta stabbing herself at the end of the evening rather than dying of a broken heart as the libretto describes. Perhaps this is because Netrebko is very healthy for the supposedly ailing Giulietta. Her Italian diction is not perhaps the best and her trill may not be what it once was, but she sings with unfailing stamina throughout and her aria Oh! quante volte was both affecting and vocally refined. Garanča is outstandingly effective as a noble Romeo and I actually forgot,  as time went on,  that she was  a women. She was at her bravura best in the Act I Se Romeo t'uccise un figli … La tremenda ultrice spada. Her mezzo voice is exceptional with an impressive top and there are no gear changes anywhere that I could discern,  from her dark chest tones and then upwards. Her voice blended particular well with Netrebko’s in their impassioned duets.

The sensitive conductor, Sir Mark Elder, made the tempi accommodate both the needs of the singers and his fine orchestra in the ornamented passages. There is a jaunty and brisk overture, an exquisitely-played cello solo at the start of Act II  - an orchestral highlight  along with the clarinet solo leading to the final Giulietta/Romeo duet  - and overall this was a very refined and elegant account of Bellini’s score. It was difficult to believe this was the same orchestra I had heard mangle Wagner’s Die fliegende Holländer the night before in this theatre. That had been another example where the conductor merely followed the singers’ requirements rather than perhaps the composer’s: entirely justifiable with Bellini but unforgiveable with Wagner.

I thought that just for once, the usually impeccable ROH chorus, though singing out lustily, could have had more attack but perhaps they are being over-worked at the moment. The smaller roles were not cast well – and with Argentinian tenor Dario Schmunck’s Tebaldo, the description ‘smaller’ is appropriate because he was not much taller than his sword; not that he showed himself to be much of a swordfighter anyway. He has a potentially interesting timbre but his Act I cavatina, È serbato, a questo acciaro, exposed his rather tight and nasal voice. The American bass-baritone, Eric Owens was imposing in stature and voice as Giulietta’s obstinate father Capellio, and was the best of the male cast supporting the two female singers in the leading roles. Admittedly,  all the voices merged well for the quintet Soccorso, sostegno accordagli but surely Jette Parker Young Artists past or present, or young British singers, could have been found, if not for Tebaldo or Capellio, then at least for Lorenzo, which was dryly intoned by the Italian bass, Giovanni Battista Parodi. I would  never advocate ‘British jobs for British singers’ but it is important that organisations able  to do so, play their part in giving experience to a new generation British vocalists. This was my only reservation about this exhilarating evening.

Jim Pritchard

Pictures © Bill Cooper

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