The success of Anna
Bolena (1830) and L’Elisir d’Amore (1832) marked
Donizetti out as a leading contender, with Bellini, for the
pre-eminent position among Italian opera composers. He went
to Paris in 1835, at Rossini’s invitation, to present his opera
Marino Faliero at the Théâtre Italien. This visit introduced
him to the ‘Grand Opera’ style of Meyerbeer and Halévy. Donizetti
also discovered, as other Italian predecessors had done, the
significantly higher musical and theatrical standards that existed
in Paris compared with their own country; even in Milan and
in Naples where he was musical director of the Royal Theatres.
Equally appealing to a composer, who had to write and present
three or four new works each year to maintain a decent living,
was the superior financial remuneration for work in Paris. His
opera Marino Faliero was premiered in Paris in March
1835. It was rather overshadowed by Bellini’s I Puritani
premiered at the same theatre a couple of months before.
Both operas featured four of the greatest singers of the day
in Giulia Grisi, Giovanna Battista Rubini, Antonio Tamburini
and Luigi Lablache. Whilst in Paris, Donizetti was made Chevalier
of the Legion of Honour, which indicated his prestige in musical
circles.
With his opera neither
a failure nor a raging success in Paris, Donizetti returned
to Italy and presented Lucia di Lamermoor in Naples on
26 September 1835. This was a huge and immediate success. To
this day it remains the composer’s most popular serious, as
distinct from comic, opera and is widely considered a foundation
stone of Italian Romanticism. With the premature death of Bellini
shortly before Lucia’s premiere, and Rossini’s retirement from
operatic composition, Donizetti was elevated to a pre-eminent
position among his contemporaries. Based on Walter Scott’s novel
The Bride of Lamermoor (1819), Lucia was Donizetti’s
47th opera. It was the first of three he was contracted
to compose for Naples’ Royal Theatres and it was scheduled for
May 1835. Financial troubles and management inefficiency at
the San Carlo, whose management failed to get the story cleared
by the censor and a libretto commissioned, delayed the premiere
until 26 September when the work was received with acclaim.
Increasingly irritated by the working conditions in Naples and
the restrictions imposed by the censor, Donizetti’s thoughts
turned increasingly to Paris. He returned there in 1839 to present
a simplified French version of Lucia at the Théâtre de
Renaissance. He followed this with three operas in French, including
two for the Paris Opéra itself and one for the Opéra Comique.
The Théâtre de Renaissance was a privately run enterprise
operating on a restricted budget. This may have contributed
to the conflation of the original Italian version and with it
a reduction in the requirement for sets. This was done under
Donizetti’s supervision. There are fewer characters compared
to the Italian original with Lucie’s maid, Alisa, omitted altogether,
leaving Lucie the only woman in the opera; a woman bereft of
power in the face of a gang of brutes. The cynical and villainous
Gilbert is the equivalent of Normanno, but willing to play a
more devious part for anybody who would cross his palm with
money. There are other major musical differences with the Italian
original. These are particularly noticeable in the reduction
of the role of Raymond, whilst Arthur benefits by greater involvement,
his status as a rival to Edgar being enhanced by his presence
from act one. Omitted from this French version are the act two
prelude with harp, the storm and Edgardo’s recitative which
had begun act three. Lucia’s cavatina Regnava nel silenzio
from act one is replaced with a cavatina and cabaletta from
Rosmondo d’Inghiliterra, a practice seen in Italian theatres
shortly after the premiere in Naples. Gone also is Lucy’s
scene with Raimondo in act two. Raimond’s contribution is reduced
significantly. If it had been removed altogether it would have
meant the rewriting of the sextet. Whilst the orchestration
remains the same for the comparative scenes, for reasons of
prosody the vocal lines were retouched. The copied ring used
to convince Lucie, falsely, of Edgard’s faithlessness is an
invention of the French version.
Both the 1839 French version - together with other
minor modifications when the work was put on at the Paris Opéra
in 1846 - and the original Italian version were put on in parallel
in France until the end of the nineteenth century. After
this the former was abandoned and disappeared from the publisher’s
lists. No autograph manuscript has so far emerged. This edition
for Casa Ricordi was realised by Jacques Chalmeu in 2000 for
the Lyon production. It has been reconstituted from the individual
band parts preserved in the library of the Paris Opéra, its
premiere being at Lyon in the performances from which this recording
was made in January 2002. Patricia Ciofi’s ornamentations are
her own and differ from those of the lighter-voiced Natalie
Dessay who sings the role on the parallel CD version recorded
23-28 January 2002 (Virgin Classics 7243 45528 3).
This Lyon production by the duo of Patrice Caurier
and Moshe Leiser has none of the colourful touches that they
bring to their Rossini. There is the rub; this is more a TV
presentation of an opera staging, than a DVD of an opera on-stage.
The video director takes a cinematographic approach with the
focus being on the faces of the singers. In fact it could easily
provide the basis for a study in tonsils, or at least in the
physical demands of an opera singer’s art. I do not know if
this decision was influenced by what seems, in the little one
catches sight of, to be a very dark and foreboding set. Unlike
many opera productions seen currently on DVD, there is no view
of the whole stage let alone the proscenium. Such an approach
may be more valid in the straight theatre, when the actors are
fully involved bodily, whether speaking or not. As opera-goers
know, this is frequently not the case with singers who often
find trouble getting their faces to express any emotion or involvement
when actually singing and often seem wholly divorced from the
proceedings when not doing so. This is a significant drawback
to Ludovic Tezier’s Henri Ashton and Roberto Alagna’s Edgard.
Tezier’s singing is strong, well-focused and with a wide palette
of colour and emotional expression. His bodily involvement is
fine although his facial expression and particularly his eyes
are relatively uninvolved and bland in the frequent close-ups.
The same is true of Alagna, whose singing is altogether better
than in his performances of Italian operas such as is evidenced
in his Il Trovatore (review)
and Verdi Arias (review).
If he does not quite caress the phrases in the Tomb scene (Ch.32)
like Pavarotti or Bergonzi, at least he sings with expression
and no little vocal grace and legato. The confrontation duet
between Edgard and Ashton brings thrilling singing from the
pair (Chs.24-25). In the much-reduced role of Raymond, Nicolas
Cavallier sings strongly with tightly focused tone. He acts
well as does Marc Laho in the significantly enlarged role of
Arthur Bucklaw. As Gilbert, new in the French version and an
Iago-like figure, Yves Saelens is rather dry toned but suitably
malevolent in his acting and facial expression. The chorus is
excellent in their articulation of the text and expression.
This can be heard whether it be as rousing huntsmen (Ch.7) or
poignantly at the return of Lucie to the wedding celebrations
having stabbed her new husband (Ch.13).
I have not yet mentioned the eponymous heroine-cum-tragic-victim
of the machinations of men. In this French version Lucie is
the only female principal and consequently more responsibility
is thrust on her shoulders. Patrizia Ciofi is wholly convincing.
She is an actress as well as a singer. Her bodily involvement
in her portrayal is exhibited in every sinew. With this video
director’s approach, you see the lot as Ciofi lives every emotion
of the mad scene (Chs.31-33). As far as I know no visual recording
of Callas as Lucia exists. If it did I would imagine her portrayal
to be as involved as Ciofi’s, but with more vocal flaws. Ciofi’s
singing is not flawless and she chooses demanding ornaments,
but it is completely and utterly involving and convincing with
the visual warts of her physical efforts adding to the gripping
situation. I saw Sutherland in her pomp in the famous Covent
Garden production. She sang wonderfully and the flowers rained
down, but she did not move me as Ciofi does in this production.
Evelino Pido on the rostrum supports his singers
well and I detected none of the sloppy ensemble evident on occasions
in the audio recording that features Natalie Dessay as a lighter-toned
Lucie instead of Ciofi. Although there is no tartan around, the
rather dark set - as far as the video director permits it to be
shown - and the costumes, are appropriate to the setting and period.
There are cinema-type effects during the entr’actes with what
look like night-vision pictures (Ch.22) which will not have been
seen in the theatre.
Robert J Farr