Giovanni Battista Pergolesi has been
credited with the origination of the
Opera buffa or comic opera, of
which "Lo frate 'nnamorata" is an example.
Written in 1732 at the age of 22 in
his short life, this shows all the characteristics
of the late baroque in a style which
was to become very popular, particularly
with Rossini and Mozart. Pergolesi was
a contemporary of Vivaldi, and the composition
of the arias and recitatives obviously
owes a great deal to his influence.
This was the second of Pergolesi's operas,
and in fact lay forgotten until rediscovered
and produced by Riccardo Muti himself.
This production is in its second incarnation,
having been produced by RAI television
and previously issued on DVD by a company
whose abbreviation in the RED catalogue
is not listed, but in exactly the same
performance.
The plot is a typically implausible
and tangled tale of three girls (Nena,
Nina and Luggrezia) resisiting their
arranged marriages whilst all in pursuit
of the same young man, Ascanio. The
scheming men in the marriages are Marcaniello,
Carlo and a foppish Don Pietro. Needless
to say, their plans come to nought by
a contrived stratagem, which at the
end of the opera leaves them still in
their single state.
The singers are all of high quality,
with possibly Nuccia Focile outstanding
as Ascanio, the adopted heir of Marcaniello;
the casting of a female in this part
possibly reflects the common practice
of the use of a castrati for
these parts in the eighteenth century.
The three ladies are well suited to
their parts, the dresses are rich and
extravagant, and each one conveys a
sense of somewhat haughty condescension
to their situation. The male parts are
well differentiated, with Marcianello
as an old roué who suffers
the pangs of old age and the gout, Carlo
as a Roman bourgeois who fancies
himself as a swordsman, and the extraordinary
Don Pietro as the one who is made the
figure of ridicule. The other two female
parts are of Vanella and Cardella, maids
to Carlo and Marccaniello repectively,
who give witty, bright and coquettish
performances.
The sets, as is usual nowadays, are
minimalistic, and suffice to change
by the simple expedient of a revolving
stage. One drawback of a live performance
however is the stage lighting, and the
whole opera is set at a low, even dim
level of illumination. Another recurring
problem which I should have thought
more easily surmountable, is the correlation
between the sound and lip movements;
this is not as marked in this production
as some I have seen, but is nevertheless
still noticeable. The music is of course
repetitive and after a time becomes
almost banal in its similar style. There
is no chorus, the opera is divided into
arias and recitatives, with the obligatory
harpsichord continuo, and apart from
two duettos, and one terzetto
and one quintetto the arias
are all solo items. The finale involves
the whole cast, but again this form
of presentation is wearing; I had to
break up my viewing and listening into
the separate acts, otherwise my attention
would have wandered. These points apart.
Riccardo Muti is to be congratulated
in bringing to light a quite important
work, previously neglected. The performance
by the orchestra of La Scala is excellent,
with well sprung rythms and plenty of
bite to the strings.
One serious drawback is the booklet;
the numbers of the arias bear no relation
to the chapters of the items on screen,
so to find a previously viewed item
requires a feat of track hopping. Also,
although the libretto is given in Italian,
an English translation would have been
a useful adjunct; true there are subtitles
on screen available, but these by no
means give the whole story.
Despite these criticisms the production
is welcome as a musically historical
document, and gives an insight into
the development of opera as an art form.
John Portwood