As the booklet introduction points out, La Fenice, Venice's premier
theatre had a special place in Verdi's heart. It was to this theatre that he
first ventured outside Milan after his first four operas, all premiered at
La Scala. In Venice he had a significant success with
Ernani (1844)
and later with
Attila (1846) and above all
Rigoletto
(1851). It was not all rosy; there were initial failures for
La
Traviata (1853) and
Simon Boccanegra (1857). Both these became
significant successes later. Germane to
Otello, it was the revision
of
Boccanegra that brought Verdi and Boito, librettist
par
excellence, together. As indicated in the appendix to this review, if
that meeting and collaboration had never happened it is doubtful whether
Verdi's last two great operas, both based on Shakespeare, would have been
written.
This outdoor event was staged in the spectacular venue of the Courtyard of
Venice's Ducal Palace. The Palace is adjacent to St Mark's Square with its
magnificent architecture seen in the introduction to this film (CH.1). This
open-air staging, with the night stars adding to the lighting projections of
the production, followed a celebratory stage production earlier in the year
to mark the bicentenary of Verdi's birth. It paralleled a production of
Wagner's epic
Tristan staged for the same reason.
Korean Myung-Whun Chung conducted both bicentenary celebratory works. His
strong vibrant rending of Verdi's score, from memory, is a vital
contribution to the impact of the performance from the opening to the dying
chords. The opening storm is orchestrally magnificent in its aural impact
along with the chorus. It gives first sight of Otello descending the great
steps to greet the crowd dressed for the storm as they express concern as to
their hero's safety (CH.2). Visual projections of a turbulent sea, add
realism to the bobbing of hand-held model boats as the storm rages.
Projections play a vital part in the creation of atmosphere throughout,
particularly in the great love duet as the stars shine and climb and with
the seven sister Pleiades constellation lighting the sky (CH.9). Add period
costume, with Gregory Kunde fully blacked-up in the title role, rarely seen
nowadays with political correctness all the vogue, allowing the whites of
his eyes to tell their own story. Otello's opening
Esultate (CH.3)
sets the standard for what is to come for this singer taking on this most
demanding of tenor roles. I had been surprised to see Kunde cast as Verdi's
Otello. He has been better known for the last twenty or so years as one of
the Pesaro Festival's favourites in the Rossini
bel canto
repertoire with Rossini's
Otello well established in his
repertoire. As an acted interpretation, his overall impact is excellent and
he nearly convinces me that he has what it takes to fill the vacancy left by
Domingo's move to the
baritenor repertoire. Nearly, but not quite.
He lacks that ultimate tonal bite, vocal depth and sheer strength evidenced
by some vocal strain at the very top of the voice. Nonetheless I would pay
money to hear him in the role.
Much of the story concerns the evil Iago, who sows seeds of jealousy in
Otello's mind leading to his killing his wife. I was disappointed by Lucio
Gallo's acted and sung interpretation. He matches his Otello vocally in the
great duet scene of act two (CHs.16-20), but for me his rather suave
portrayal does not convey the man's evil malevolence. This is reflected in a
benign
credo (CH.11).
Carmela Remigio as Otello's lover, Desdemona, whom he abuses and then
murders, matches her lover in the acting stakes. She portrays her strength
of purpose and vulnerability as she shares her feelings and history with
Emilia in the last act. Her vocal characterization is good, but the purity
of her legato less so as heard in the last act
Willow Song and
Prayer (CHs.31-32). In this latter respect she is not in the Kiri
Te Kanawa or Renee Fleming class.
A disappointment is in the physical stage in the Palace courtyard. It
seems to be made up of trestle tables, or perhaps the walkways used when St
Mark's Square is flooded on spring tides. There is no attempt at creating a
bedroom for the last act. Desdemona goes to sleep on one such trestle and is
strangled by Otello whilst there. Idiosyncratically, she is seen to get up
and walk away before returning and proffering her hand to Otello as he
pleads for one last kiss.
The architecture of the location is magnificent as are the visual effects,
the Lion of Venice being prominent. This is a little anomalous as far as
Verdi's opera in concerned as Boito removed the whole of the Venice act in
his adaptation of Shakespeare. In both play and opera, Otello is still the
conquering hero who saves Venice to where he is recalled as Cassio, in the
ultimate irony, is appointed to take over the fortress he must leave.
Appendix:
The genesis of Verdi's
Otello, its conception and
realisation.
Otello was premiered at La Scala on 5 February 1887. It was
Verdi's first totally new operatic composition since
Aida,
premiered in 1871. It had a long genesis, becoming known to a privileged few
as "The chocolate project". It is not that Verdi had been idle. His
Requiem for Manzoni had followed
Aida in 1874 and he
travelled widely in Europe conducting his own works. However, friends among
the Milan literati, meeting at the salon of Verdi's friend, the Countess
Maffei, thought he had more operatic composition within him. This was
despite his being in his seventh decade and although he protested to her
that "the account was settled". A number of them quietly plotted to tempt
him, his knowledge and love of Shakespeare being paramount in their
thoughts. With the aid of a dinner invitation from Verdi's
wife
, who was in on the plot, his publisher, Ricordi, and
the conductor Faccio, broached the subject with the great man with Boito's
name being mentioned as librettist. The next day Boito was brought to see
Verdi and three days later he returned with a detailed scenario; quick work
unless there had been prior manoeuvring. Verdi liked it, but would not
commit himself. Verdi encouraged Boito to convert his synopsis into verse
with the words: "it will always be good for you, for me, or for someone
else". However, he would not commit himself to compose the work. Verdi was
to vacillate on the project for some time.
Time passed and Verdi went to Paris to present his
Aida in
French. Back in Italy he composed two new works, a
Pater Noster and
Ave Maria, which were presented in Milan, conducted by Faccio. To
Ricordi's frustration,
Otello seemed to be on the back-burner.
Strepponi warned Ricordi to be patient; he listened and suggested to the
composer another revision. This time of
Simon Boccanegra of 1857
(Venice), knowing Verdi felt the work did not deserve its failure and
neglect. That Boito had agreed to be the librettist of the revision tipped
the scales for Verdi. Verdi and Boito got on well, the latter adding the
completely new
Council Chamber scene, the dramatic highlight of the
revision. The new version was premiered to acclaim at La Scala on 24 March
1881. Verdi also revised his five act
Don Carlos (French) into the
shorter
Don Carlo (Italian) premiered at La Scala in 1884.
Sparked by the success of the two revisions Verdi, albeit slowly, worked
on "The Chocolate Project" its conclusion eventually coming to magnificent
fruition at La Scala on 5 February 1887. It was his first wholly new
operatic work for the stage for eighteen years. He was seventy-four years of
age and really did think his book of operatic composition was closed with
this, his twenty-seventh title. Verdi's conception of
Otello
involved greater, and significantly different, orchestral complexity
compared to
Aida and
Don Carlos. It marks a major
compositional movement from him from his previous aria, duet and chorus
scenes, to a more fluent smooth transition from one event in the story to
the next. In this conception Verdi was greatly aided by Boito's taut
libretto that reduced Shakespeare's
Othello by six-sevenths, but
without losing its essence of the destruction of the erstwhile hero by the
genie of jealousy aided by the machinations of Iago. Boito dispensed with
Shakespeare's Venice act and focused the whole of the action in Cyprus.
Robert J Farr
