By the time of the
composition of ‘Ballo’, Verdi was a
rich and powerful man. He had purchased
an estate at Sant’Agata near his birthplace
and found peace and great pleasure in
its development. He no longer needed
to write two operas each year and only
agreed a contract if location, singers
and subject appealed to him. In 1857
he wanted to write an opera based on
Shakespeare’s King Lear. However, when
the ‘Teatro San Carlo’ in Naples approached
him Verdi did not believe the ‘house’
soprano to be suitable for his vision
of Cordelia, and he chose instead the
subject of ‘Ballo’ and asked the poet
Antonio Somma to prepare a libretto.
When the libretto was submitted to the
censor in Naples they made seven major
objections that involved no fewer than
297 lines of the 884 in the text! Their
objections involved the assassination
of a king, the location in northern
Europe, the inclusion of sorcery and
the use of firearms on stage. Poet and
composer agreed a transfer of location
to Boston, the King to Duke and a stabbing
not shooting. Still the censor was not
satisfied and Verdi cast around for
another theatre. The censor in Rome
was more accommodating and the opera
saw its first performance at the ‘Teatro
Apollo’ on February 17th
1859 with the King becoming Riccardo,
‘The Earl Of Warwick’ an English colonial
governor. His secretary and friend became
Renato.
Of those operas composed
between Il Trovatore and La Traviata
(both 1853) and Aida (1871), Ballo was
the only opera of Verdi’s reduced output
to maintain a foothold in the repertoire
throughout its life. Both Il Trovatore
and Aida require spinto, or large, voices.
For the soprano part of Amelia in Ballo
a large voice is needed with strength
in the lower tones to match the predominantly
dark hues of the music. The part of
Riccardo requires a tenor with lighthearted
elegance of phrase but with heft to
match the demands of the love duet.
Whilst the work has lovely lyrical moments
it is one of drama and the plotting
and realisation of murder. When I heard
Carlo Rizzi conduct the work for Welsh
National Opera in the early 1990s he
presented a sharply focused and dramatic
view. In that production the tenor Richard
Margison and the young Lisa Gasteen,
who has gone on to sing Brünnhilde,
had the requisite weight of voice. On
this performance Richard Leech as Riccardo
is rather too light and I feel that
in accommodating him Rizzi loses out
on the drama. Michele Cridèr
on the other hand has the weight of
voice but neither the legato nor the
elegance of phrase that the music cries
out for. For Amelia’s act II arrival
at the gallows, and the following aria
and love duet with Riccardo (trs. 13-16)
in what is some of Verdi’s most stirring
and melodic writing, the effect is disappointing
rather than exhilaratingly beautiful
on the ear. As Renato the Russian Vladimir
Chernov is full-toned and expressive
in his two arias (trs. 3 and 20). His
is a considerable Verdi baritone whose
strengths are marred somewhat by glottal
vocal production. This failing is even
greater in Elena Zaremba’s Ulrica, which
has not the compensation of her compatriot’s
legato (tr. 5). Maria Bayo sings an
appropriately light-toned Oscar and
her brief Saper voreste (tr. 23) is
a delight. The two conspirators are
well sung and portrayed by Peter Rose
and Gwynne Howell (tr. 17). The recording
is clear and well-balanced.
Given the competition
on CD I can well understand why the
complete performance from which these
highlights are taken did not last the
pace in the catalogue. However, highlights
are somewhat more difficult to come
by. To get a copy of Solti’s first recording
featuring the immaculate Bergonzi as
Riccardo and Nilsson, another Amelia
who also sang Brünnhilde, I had
to obtain a copy from Germany! As an
introduction to Ballo this generous
tracked 76 minutes might be adequate.
The booklet synopsis is brief and regrettably
not track-related. This omission is
partly compensated for by brief character
descriptions.
Robert J Farr
Orchestra and Chorus of Welsh National Opera/Carlo
Rizzi 