Received wisdom would have you think that Ottorino Respighi
was Italy’s most famous composer of the 19th/20th
centuries not for opera but for orchestral music. That
might well be true to a degree but it masks the fact - which
still comes as something of a surprise - that he wrote ten or
so operas, plus two major ballets plus others and re-arranged
Monteverdi’s Orfeo along the way. In fact his appointment
as professor of composition at the Conservatorio di Santa
Cecilia in Rome in 1913 was as much based on the perceived
success of his first two operas - Re Enzo (1905)
and Semirâma (1909) as anything else since
all the orchestral works on which his fame rests today lay in
the future.
Marie Victoire was Respighi’s third opera - and
a rather unloved offspring it proved to be. Respighi’s
wife in her biography of the composer relates how he struggled
with its composition and how after his death she felt her energies
were better spent ensuring the completion of his final stage
work Lucrezia. Indeed, it had to wait nearly ninety years
for a first performance in 2004. Nowhere in the notes is there
any reference to the need to edit for performance or ‘complete’
the work so it would seem that Respighi finished the work in
its long and complex entirety and then put it in a bottom drawer
- a thought I find extraordinary. This is not a world-premiere
recording; there is a review of an off-air recording of the
2004 Rome performance and detailed synopsis elsewhere on this
site. However, this new performance is in effect the first ‘recorded-for-CD’
set.
Hurrah for CPO. They really are one of my favourite recording
companies regularly releasing discs of completely unknown works
or composers. More importantly, they are one of very few companies
actively expanding our knowledge of operatic repertoire. In
this they are fortunate to be able to make use of the extensive
network of opera houses in Germany that are still dedicated
to producing high quality work. The downside for some collectors
is that this results in many of the recordings being made live
with the attendant bumps, clumps and applause that implies and
that the casts are rarely international singers of huge renown.
This Marie Victoire is just such a live performance and
the stage noise is often audible and it is substantial enough
to teeter on the edge of being distracting. CPO recorded this
performance at one of Germany’s premier houses, the Deutsche
Oper in Berlin with all the quality that implies. The large
cast (some 22 named singing roles plus chorus) are not stellar
but in soprano Takesha Meshé Kizart in the title role
they have a singer bound for stardom. So, to be blunt, did it
deserve to be ignored for ninety years? - on the evidence presented
here resoundingly no. For sure, it is not Respighi’s most
consistently inspired opera and the style of the writing changes
through its two and three-quarter hour duration but there is
enough of substantial interest to tickle the fancy of admirers
of Italian opera in general or this composer in particular.
A very brief synopsis probably helps. The work is set in France
- and curiously for an Italian composer not writing for the
French market setting a French language libretto - and opens
four years after the Revolution in the home of Count Maurice
de Lanjallay (baritone Markus Brück) and his wife the eponymous
Marie. They have managed to live in relative peace and tranquillity.
A new maid informs on their royalist sympathies and while Maurice
leaves to help his father, Marie and another old friend of the
Lanjallay’s - Clorivière (tenor Germán Villar)
- are arrested by revolutionary guards. In the second act a
year has passed and Marie and other Aristocrats/Royalists are
in prison awaiting sentencing and probable death. Oddly, her
former gardener Cloteau (bass-baritone Stephen Bronk) is now
her jailer and has split loyalties. Meanwhile Clorivière
is making advances. Cloteau sees the list that marks Marie down
for execution and kills the informant who carries it. Marie
believing herself about to die allows Clorivière to seduce
her. During the night there is a great tumult due to the news
that Robespierre is dead and the prisoners are saved. Marie,
now a fallen woman, longs to die. Another six years pass before
Act 3. Marie runs a millinery shop in Paris and is known as
Marie Victoire - her past a closely guarded secret. Cloteau
the jailer/gardener still works for her and she has a son Georges
as a result of her seduction. Ridden with guilt, she will not
allow Clorivière access to his son but he begs one last
visit before leaving France forever. Shortly after his departure
the long-thought dead Maurice appears and Marie admits to him
that Georges is not his son. Suddenly a massive explosion is
heard - a failed attempt on Napoleon’s life. The would-be
assassin is Clorivière driven by his despair to such
acts. He appears closely pursued by a mob. Maurice is broken
by the revelation of Georges’ parentage and although guiltless
confesses to the mob guilt for the bombing. Act 4 takes place
the same night in the criminal court. Maurice refuses to defend
himself so Marie tells all assembled what has happened during
and since her imprisonment. Maurice forgives her but refuses
to name the would-be assassin. Clorivière suddenly appears
in the crowd, admits his responsibility and with the words “Long
live the King!” shoots himself in the head - the curtain
falls.
If that reads like some penny-dreadful story then I would say
it’s about right. Clearly, the interest lies in the musical
setting not the narrative. My guess the reason Respighi put
this into a bottom drawer was that he sensed his musical style
was drawing him in a different direction from that he used here.
There is none - not surprisingly given the narrative! - of the
modal quasi-antique style that dominated so much of his music
from the 1920s onwards. Neither is there a great deal of evidence
of what might be termed the Mediterranean impressionism that
suffuses elements of the Rome triptych he was to start only
a couple of years later with the Fountains of Rome. Instead,
and this is of real interest to the operatic archaeologist,
he created a style which shares a kinship with some of the hothouse
fantasy operas emanating from just north of the Alps. I’m
thinking here of Schrecker’s Die Gezeichneten
(1911; 1913-1915) or Zemlinsky’s Eine florentinische
Tragödie (1915). I have no idea if Respighi knew
- or could have known - either work. The Respighi does not share
the same musical vocabulary but there is a similar heady intoxication
in the spirit of the writing. A valuable and interesting point
the liner throws up is that this libretto is ‘realistic’
- historical events portrayed in a quasi-factual manner - in
the way that no other Respighi opera - or indeed those favoured
by the composers mentioned above - are.
The first act is the shortest and the simplest by some way since
its real function is just to set up the drama to follow. So
the characters are introduced in a fairly perfunctory way and
the love-duet between husband and wife is touching rather than
passionate. Even so, there is music of some considerable interest
- if not melodies to indelibly etch on your memory - and, as
implied above, Kizart establishes herself as the dominant personality
on the stage. Hers is a fantastic voice; vibrant, exciting and
with a tremendous presence. Add to that a lustrous sound and
pitch-perfect tuning and you can understand why she makes such
a positive impression. The best compliment I can pay her is
to say that her voice reminded me of a young Leontyne Price
- her Scene 8 monologue in Act II is a prime example of the
focus and intensity of her performance. Indeed the entire sequence
from here to the end of this Act is probably the most dramatically
effective sequence in the work.
I’m guessing that Respighi’s dissatisfaction sprang
from an awareness of the musical and dramatic unevenness of
the work. The plot depends too heavily on characters introduced
solely to generate ‘an event’ which cause the central
roles to respond. Also, the basic dramatic shape of the work
is very uneven. Act II runs in performance for over an hour
- and as mentioned above in the main succeeds very well in slowly
ratcheting up the drama - but the opera’s dénouement
is the single scene fifteen minute Act IV. Brevity alone is
no sin but after the power of Marie’s defence, Clorivière’s
blustering appearance, confession and suicide feels anti-climactic
and somewhat contrived. The music lacks a core continuity -
it does sound rather like a sampler for Romantic operatic styles
1890 - 1920. For all the undoubted skill in orchestration the
fatal flaw is the lack of a great melody to embody Marie’s
love for Maurice or the lusting passion of her liaison with
Clorivière. That said, many of the ‘big’
moments work tremendously well - I like a lot the layering of
the drama in the second Act with some of the prisoners taking
their minds off their incarceration/imminent execution by rehearsing
a popular play with onstage music whilst Marie laments her fate
and others mutter prayers. For moments like this the music deserves
to be known without a shadow of a doubt. The more one listens
the more one realises that again - in the spirit of seeking
musico-dramatic balance - too often the best and weightiest
music is reserved for Marie alone. Not that this is a hardship
when sung by Ms Kizart. I wish I warmed more to Villar’s
voice - it sounds harsh and generalised next to Kizart.
A mention here for the conducting of Michail Jurowski. This
strikes me as a very assured and convincing interpretation of
a big and unfamiliar score. CPO have caught the fine orchestra
the Deutsche Oper in excellent form - rich and full-toned amply
alive to the sensuous writing. Likewise the chorus, are very
impressive when required so to be.
The centre-piece of the two final Acts are again monologues
for Marie - her Act III lament Je suis laisse and her
passionate defence at the tribunal in Act IV. As mentioned previously
the opera’s ending is unsatisfactorily abrupt. What is
it about Revolutionary subjects in opera that makes the characters
act with even more self-sacrificing heroic stupidity than normal?
Allowing for that, all credit to the performers; especially
the orchestra and Jurowski’s direction for driving the
drama as convincingly as possible through to this breathless
conclusion.
Now to gather some thoughts: Respighi’s admirers need
not hesitate - this is a big and significant work that in no
way deserved the neglect its composer and his associates imposed
on it. Yes, it might be uneven, and more tellingly for the composer,
lead in a direction he chose not to follow, but there is much
to enjoy. Every character is subservient to the eponymous Marie
- indeed her music and the performance of it here is
the over-riding reason to hear this work. Takesha Meshé
Kizart is the real deal as a dramatic soprano - I see from her
website recent roles include Tosca and Norma. If she can sustain
the thrilling intensity and control of her singing over a number
of years I suspect she will cement her position as a major international
star. Her performance does rather eclipse all the others singing
here but that is due in part to the ancillary roles Respighi
has written. Even the two men in Marie’s life are given
little chance to shine musically - decent husband baritone and
bounder lover tenor are too stereotyped in what and how they
do. CPO’s liner - in their usual rather overwritten academic
style - tries to makes a case for them representing the two
poles of aesthetic and erotic love but ultimately they have
not been given any cherries to sing. While mentioning the liner
- as well as the earnest but interesting essays, synopsis and
biographies there is a full libretto. All are supplied in CPO’s
standard three languages; German, French and English.
The ‘live’ nature of the recording will bother some
- not that there is any apparent musical fallibility. Put simply
there’s a degree of extraneous staging and audience noises
including enthusiastic applause. Against this, the voice/orchestra
balance is remarkably stable and effective. One minor observation
- the pronunciation of the French libretto is a somewhat moveable
feast - none of the principal singers is native French speakers
and it does show. However, this is most definitely not
a French opera, simply an opera in French so personally
this does not grate too much. The scale of this work and the
demands it places on any cast and indeed opera house are going
to preclude its ascension to anything like standard repertoire.
I hope though that this recording will serve two purposes: to
enshrine a fine collective performance by a high calibre team
and to provide a reference point to encourage other houses to
stage more productions.
A major release of great value and interest.
Nick Barnard
see also review of the live production by José
Mª Irurzun
Respighi
resources on Musicweb International
Marie de Lanjallay - Takesha Meshé Kizart (soprano) 