Giuseppe VERDI (1813-1901)
Aida - Opera in four acts (1871)
Il Re, King of Egypt - Gennadi Dubinski (bass); Amneris, his daughter - Milijana Nikolic (mezzo); Radames, captain of the guards - Walter Fraccaro (tenor); Amonasro, King of Ethiopia - Michael Honeyman (baritone); Aida, his daughter - Latonia Moore (soprano); Ramfis, High priest - David Parkin (bass)
Australian Opera Ballet, Chorus and Orchestra/Brian Castles-Onion
Handa Opera, at Mrs Macquaries Point, Sydney Harbour, Australia
Stage Director: Gale Edwards; Costume Designer: Mark Thompson; TV and Video Director: Cameron Kirkpatrick
rec. live, 14, 16 April 2015
Sound format: Dolby Digital 5.1. Dolby Digital Stereo
Picture format: 16:9. Widescreen
Introductory note in English
Subtitles in English
ABC CLASSICS DVD 0762928 [141:00]
Location, location, location was Verdi's dominant thought
as he, after some persuasion, took up his pen to compose Aida. As
an appendix to this review I give some details of the background to Verdi
accepting the commission to write Aida, particularly what was demanded of
him and in turn what he demanded as his fee.
As far as this production is concerned, location here seems to be the dominant
theme rather than Verdi's vision or that of the Khedive of Egypt who
originally commissioned the work. The performance is set in the open air at
Mrs. Macquaries Point, Sydney Harbour. The view is to the fore and is seen
from time to time during the proceedings. It comprises the lit-up Sydney Harbour
Bridge, likewise the 'sails' of Sydney Opera House and the twinkling
lights of the city itself. Hardly ancient Egypt, but at least it takes ones
mind and eye off some of the banal proceedings on the stage. An eighteen metre
tall head, with one eye gouged out, commands the stage. I gather it weighed
in at fifteen tonnes. Getting it there must have been a feat of engineering
achieved at no little cost; it seems to have no practical function.
Aida has the potential to be one of the most visually spectacular
of operas. However, in terms of physical facilities and spectacle this production
has few virtues to go alongside its harbour location. Fabulous multi-coloured
costumes for the ladies, hardly period but not to worry — compared with
the men they look great. In the great act two triumphal scene, (CHs.10-12)
and with Verdi's magnificent music at its core, the entrance of the
victorious Egyptian army with all the spoils of war, sees Radames on a camel
(CH.10). Like his soldiers he is in modern army uniform, in his case it is
formal dress. Regrettably he looks much like a throwback to Mussolini or Franco.
The carriers of the spoils of war are also in modern black suits — pallbearers
at a funeral. Where is the costume cohesion? Frankly it does not exist. The
dancers are hardly in unison either, whilst the firework display is just vulgar
in the context of Verdi's opera.
Of necessity in the open air the singing has to be miked. The orchestra is
not seen. The amplified music is less than impressive lacking the dynamism
and vitality that other open-air venues achieve. Like the voices it is flat
and diffuse. On the rostrum Brian Castles-Onion's interpretation is
lyrical rather than dramatic, with his pacing and dynamics supporting the
singers well. Therein is the biggest drawback of this issue. With one notable
exception, the cast is distinctly provincial with the Radames of Walter Fraccaro
not even that. His singing is raw-toned and his effort on the final note of
Celeste Aida (CH.3) is distinctly painful on the ear. If he had read
his score or he had been required to follow what Verdi wrote, he would have
respected the composer's intentions and should at least have attempted
the softer diminuendo the composer stipulated. Instead he attempts to belt
out the final note, a virility symbol that has become the practice of some
tenors, and fails. As Amneris, the princess besotted with Radames, Milijana
Nikolic is adequate. Michael Honeyman as Aida's father and the two
basses, the high Priest Ramfis sung by David Parkin and Gennadi Dubinsky as
the King, are decidedly ho-hum. The only quality singing among the soloists
is by the afro-american Latonia Moore. She has sung at both New York's
Met and London's Covent Garden, even if she is not yet the lirico
spinto soprano of first choice at those venues. She sings with excellent
vocal expression, diction and variety of vocal colour. She can also act with
conviction. Without her quality, the evening would have been a disaster for
anyone but an operatic ingénue. With Opera Australia putting its name in the
credits, and the money spent on sets and costumes, I hardly think that would
be the objective. It is, however, the unwelcome outcome.
Appendix: The genesis of Aida, its writing and
the sets for the premiere in Egypt
After the Great Exhibition in Paris in 1867, where Verdi had a significant
success with his grand opera Don Carlos at the Paris Opéra, his friend
Camille Du Locle, Director of the Opéra Comique, wrote to him from Thebes
extolling the wonders of Egypt. At that stage, Egypt was in the process of
massive change and development under Khedive Ismael who had seen Verdi's
Don Carlos during his visit to the 1867 Great Exhibition. Meanwhile,
after ten years construction, under the direction of Frenchman Ferdinand de
Lesseps, the Suez Canal opened on 17 November 1869. In advance, and to celebrate
the opening, the Khedive had an opera house built in Cairo. It opened on 1
November of that year with performances of Verdi's Rigoletto.
Shortly after the events in Cairo, Du Locle visited Verdi and told the composer
that the Khedive Ismael wanted him to write an opera on an Egyptian theme
for performance at the new opera house. Verdi turned the request down, repeating
his refusal when in Paris the following spring. Du Locle was undeterred and
sent Verdi a twenty four-page synopsis by Auguste Mariette, a French Egyptologist
in the employ of the Khedive. The synopsis was full of scenic detail. Stimulated
by the synopsis, and also, perhaps that Du Locle had been authorised to approach
Gounod or Wagner if he continued to prove reluctant, Verdi wrote to Du Locle
on 2 June 1870 setting out his terms. These stipulated his control and ownership
of the libretto, and that he, Verdi, retained all rights except for performances
in Egypt. He also stipulated a fee of 150,000 francs, payable at the Rothschild
Bank in Paris on delivery of the work. This was four times the fee Verdi had
received for Don Carlos. The terms were accepted by Mariette to Du
Locle on 10 June. The fee made Verdi the highest paid composer ever.
The Khedive stipulated that the opera was to be purely ancient Egypt with
the sets to be based on historical accounts and costumes to be designed after
the archaeological bas-reliefs of upper Egypt (see account).
Mariette knew what the Khedive wanted and said that no effort would be spared
in this respect with the mise-en-scène as splendid as one could imagine. The
message was that the viceroy does things in a grand style. Mariette travelled
to Paris from Egypt to supervise the construction of the set and costumes
ready for the premiere in Cairo scheduled for January 1871, the La Scala performances
was to follow a few weeks later.
The Khedive did not merely want the theme to reflect Egyptian history, but
to be accurate in all details of scenery. To this effect, and keen to obey
the Khedive, Mariette provided these to Verdi along with detailed sketches
of the costumes, finishing them in brilliant watercolour. Verdi commissioned
the construction of the sets in Paris, with the premiere planned for December
1870. So keen was he to achieve the greatest historical accuracy in his music
the composer asked Du Locle to gather information from Mariette about the
sacred dances of the Egyptian priestesses. Verdi was intent on an opera of
spectacle and ballet as though he were writing a grand opera for the Paris
Opéra.
The best-laid plans of mice and men often go astray. On 19 July 1870, with
the sets and costumes near completion in Paris, Emperor Napoleon, almost without
warning, declared war on Prussia. Most Parisians thought the French would
crush the Germans in a week or two but on 1 September the Prussians defeated
the French at Sedan, captured the bulk of the French army and took the Emperor
himself prisoner. By mid-September the Prussians had reached Versailles, and
on 20 September they surrounded and blockaded the capital. The siege of Paris
had begun, whilst inside were the sets and costumes for the premiere of Aida
in Cairo. The Prussians saw this as an irrelevance. The consequences were
that Aida was not actually premiered in Cairo until Christmas Eve
1871. This delay also caused the postponement of the Italian premiere at La
Scala as the contract stipulated that the first performances of the opera
would be given in the Cairo Opera House. Verdi did not travel to Egypt, but
he was widely acclaimed at the La Scala premiere.
Robert J. Farr
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