Alfredo Catalani (1854-1893)
La Wally (1892)
Wally – Izabela Matula (soprano)
Giuseppe Hagenbach – Leonardo Capalbo (tenor)
Vincenzo Gellner – Jacques Imbrailo (baritone)
Walter – Ilona Revolskaya (mezzo-soprano)
Stromminger, Wally’s father Alastair Miles (bass)
Il Pedone – Zoltan Nagy (baritone)
Afra – Sofia Vinnik (soprano)
Arnold Schoenberg Chor/Erwin Ortner
Wiener Symphoniker/Andrés Orozco-Estrada
rec. live, November 2021, Theater an der Wien, Austria
UNITEL EDITION 806404 Blu-ray [135]
Catalani’s opera La Wally was largely unknown to me, either in live opera performances, audio or video, therefore this new video release is of the greatest interest. It offers the listener an outstanding introduction to this composer and his last masterpiece which has been neglected for too many years. The famous aria from the first act ‘Ebben? Ne andrň lontana’ has been sung and recorded by the great sopranos of the last century including Callas, Sutherland and Tebaldi. The aria won wide recognition after its inclusion in the 1981 French film Diva, yet the opera is rarely heard on the stage outside of Italy. Based on a libretto by Luigi Illica from the novel by Wilhemine von Hillern written in 1875 Die Geier-Wally (The Vulture Maiden), it concerns a confident young woman who refuses to relinquish her beloved and accept the marriage arranged by her father. It is set in the Tyrolean mountains, offering a colourful and exciting backdrop to Catalani’s final stage work.
Catalani was a part of the Scapigliatura cultural reformist group (which included Arrigo Boito, a fellow composer and Verdi’s librettist) influenced by German Romanticism – most notably Heine, Jean Paul and Hoffman – yet in musical terms sought to distinguish Italian music from Wagnerism. The defining characteristic of the movement was Bohemianism, foreshadowing Symbolism in Italy, and proving to be the prevailing artistic movement in the interregnum between Verdi and the verismo of Puccini and Magnani. So attracted was Catalani to the German writer’s story, that in 1891 he visited von Hillern in Munich supposedly to obtain a German translation of the libretto so that it could be performed in German theatres. In Illica’s version, however, the two central characters meet their death rather than making a happy marriage. In the staging of the opera, Catalani was fortunate to win the friendship of Toscanini who called him a genius, and introduced the work to audiences at La Scala, Milan in 1907 and at the Metropolitan New York in 1909; he even named his daughter after Catalani’s opera.
In an addition to Catalani’s score, the opera opens with Schnee played by the band Stimmhorn and written in 1997 by Balthasar Streiff and Christian Zehnder. The playing of alpine horns creates an evocative scene of the wild Tyrolean mountains, fitting in splendidly with the narrative of Catalani’s opera. The colourful prelude ‘Tra, la, la!...’ is superbly performed by the chorus and the three main male characters. Throughout the show, videos are projected onto the back drop, sometimes of Alpine scenery, or fitting in with the various scenes, whether festive, or dramatic events on stage, always emphasising the colourful Tyrolean costumes and traditions. The director Barbora Horáková-Joly uses rock formations alternating with scaffolding structures, often surrounded by gloomy darkness which allows the momentum to continue without any delay to the music drama; however, the ‘snow’ avalanche of boxes pouring onto the luckless Hagenbach seems ridiculously inept.
The first act opens with a feast during which Hagenbach returns after his successful bear hunt and becomes involved in a quarrel with Wally’s father Stromminger. A rival for Wally’s hand, Gellner persuades Stromminger that Wally is in love with Hagenbach, yet he tells Gellner to marry his daughter. In desperation Wally resolves to live alone in the mountains. In Act Two, Wally returns to the village after the death of her father where she hears that her beloved Hagenbach is to marry Afra. Bizarrely, Hagenbach taunts Wally in a traditional Tyrol kissing dance during which he develops feelings for her. The crowd make fun of the two young people and the strong-willed Wally tells Gellner to kill Hagenbach.
In Act Three, Wally regrets her words as Gellner has killed Hagenbach, and she returns to the mountains. In Act Four, Wally hears the dead Hagenbach speaking to her of his love while she tells him of how she ordered his murder. They dream of a different, new world and as darkness descends, Wally is left totally alone. The implausibility of the tale is part of the reason for this opera’s neglect despite its often marvellous music.
The central role of Wally is fully characterised by the very talented Izabela Matula, both in terms of voice and movement – in every way, she is Wally. I look forward to hearing and seeing more of this outstanding singer in future years. Her ‘rivals’ on stage, the Hagenbach of Leonardo Capalbo, the Gellner of Jacques Imbrailo and the unfortunate Stromminger of Alastair Miles, are all excellently sung and acted both in voice and character, and Ilona Revolskaya as Walter is very moving from the very first to the final scene; this mezzo-soprano is a marvellous actress with every gesture and movement on stage telling of her emotions. Throughout the four acts, the singing and scenic movements of the Arnold Schoenberg Chor are outstanding. The orchestra under the direction of Orozco-Estrada sounds world class, finding every degree of musical nuance in Catalani’s glorious score.
There are few alternatives to this new release, although there are commercial recordings by Decca with Renata Tebaldi, Mario Del Monaco and Piero Cappuccilli and another by Eurodisc conducted by Pinchas Steinberg. However, this first-class production from the Theater an der Wien makes an easy first choice on video. The standard of the recording is excellent with good sound values, and we are not disturbed by confusing sudden camera shots; everything is as one expects, mostly viewed from the central grand circle. The theatre is not enormous, and allows the action to be performed effectively.
The enclosed booklet has notes on the opera in English, French and German, while subtitles are available in German, English, Korean, and Japanese. Originally filmed in HD and mastered from a HD source, the sound format is PCM stereo. In all, this is to be applauded for both the excellent performance and admirable direction.
Gregor Tassie
Previous review: Paul Corfield Godfrey
Other Cast and Production Staff
Peasant – Zoltán Nagy (baritone)
Afra – Sofia Vinnik (soprano)
Eva-Maria van Acker – set and costume designer
Tabea Rothfuchs – video designer
Michael Bauer – lighting designer
Erwin Ortner – chorus director
Tiziano Mancini – video director
Video Details
Filmed in HD - Mastered from an HD source
Picture format: 1080i, 16:9
Sound formats: a) PCM Stereo, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Region Code A, B, C
Sung in Italian, with subtitles in English, German, Korean, Japanese
