Customer Reviews

Donizetti - Roberto Devereux

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's a joy to see and hear Edita Gruberova, approaching 60, playing Queen Elizabeth I with almost the same agility and control as she exhibited 25 years earlier in such roles as Constanze in Mozart's "Abduction from the Seraglio" (1980) and Gilda in Verdi's "Rigoletto" (1981) - also available on DVD. She is still a master of coloratura technique; I especially love her delicate trills. Yes, some of her high notes sound strained (just as Sutherland's did toward the end of her performing career) but it doesn't detract from the excitement of her performance. The supporting cast is very good, especially Roberto Aronica (as Devereux) who has an expressive, full-bodied tenor voice. However, this opera belongs to Elizabeth. Donizetti gave her all the coloratura pieces and Gruberova doesn't disappoint.

But now I have to start subtracting stars from Gruberova's five-star effort. The setting of the opera is updated, a bold move in a opera based on historical figures. I'm game though (it's not as if Donizetti and his librettist stuck to the historical record), but the director's vision must make sense. This staging does not. The opera takes place in a big room that is unidentifiable and bears no relation to the action. It looks like it could be the waiting room at a train station or a hotel lobby or perhaps the reception area of some multinational corporation. The soloists and chorus, when not singing, alternate between reading tabloid newspapers and filling their cups from a water cooler. Almost everyone is in a suit, most of them as grey/brown as the dreary chairs and the walls around them. But most puzzling is: who is this Elizabeth supposed to be? The words are there in the subtitles - Queen, crown, kingdom - but no one treats her like royalty. (She just joins everyone in the cavernous room - no one bows or treats her with deference.) She looks like a corporate executive at a conference, even clutching a handbag as she moves around and sings. It's hard to believe this Elizabeth has the power to order Devereux's execution. During her big last act scene, she is at least in a gown and they do wheel in a crown at some point, but other than this, I'm clueless as to the concept behind this production.

Aside from Gruberova's performance, the highlight of the DVD is a 20 minute "Behind the Scenes" bonus feature with interviews of cast and crew, including Gruberova. It's a highlight because the interviews shed light on Donizetti's original work (but not, unfortunately, on the concept behind this production).

Those who are familiar enough with the opera to be able to just appreciate the music and the quality of the singing may well enjoy this production despite the unfortunate staging.

Elisabetta: Edita Gruberova
Roberto: Roberto Aronica
Nottingham: Albert Schagidullin
Sara: Jeanne Piland
Cecil: Manolito Mario Franz
Paggio: Steven Humes
Giacomo il Re: Johannes Klama (silenzio)

Bayerisher Staatsoper
Friedrich Haider conducting
Staging: Christopf Loy
Sets, costumi: Herbert Murauer
Video director: Brian Large
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Forget history, forget tradition. This is a modern conceptualization of English monarchy. A monarchy where things have not changed; executions still exist, the Queen's law still,well, LAW. Martial law, perhaps. This is a current-day England, stark, austere surroundings, not a hint of warmth. Severe, tailored suits for both the men and women; only Elizabeth is allowed any kind of color in her own outfits. The set resembles not so much a palace as a corporate boardroom that's all business, all in blacks and grays.

I'm usually against most "updatings" because they go into weird conceptualizations that have nothing to do with the premise; often times, there will be gimmicks and distractions to take us away from the music, even to the core of the drama, and worse, the singing. Not this production. It rather ingeniously conjures up another kind of kingdom, repressive, and severe, as if the royal figure wanted to keep matters in firm check against any kind of a "personal ruling" aspect. Oddly enough, it works. If you can forget history (Donizetti does anyway; he has Elizabeth abdicating to "Giacomo, il Re" at the end), this is an intriguing concept. Christopf Loy forsakes excessive gimmickry and focuses on the dramas inherent, aided by Herbert Murauer's spare sets and costumes. What this creates is an explosive drama about infidelity ( (imagined and real), betrayal and treason at its most grim. It is often brutal, tense and powerful; these figures emerge as unerringly real people. Amazingly enough, it only serves as to how astonishingly modern Donizetti's score is. No other musical drama depicts such a marvelous dichotomy of Elizabeth the Queen versus the Woman. The opera looks way way forward ahead of its time, presenting the queen in a psychological depth unheard of in the "bel canto" genre. Poor Donizetti lost his wife during a cholera epidemic in this time, and he seems to transmute his misery through this brilliant, evocative score. The queen's emotions scream out the agony of her dilemma, and this staging makes that pain really, vividly manifest. It is the score of a man beside himself with grief.

Loy has fleshed out all the characters indelibly. Quite often, the "secondary" chracters take a back seat to the leads, but not here. Sara and Nottingham are presented as a couple truly "in extremis," where marital trust and suspicion play a horrifying reality not usually encountered in opera. Sara, tormented by love for Roberto, and torn by her wifely duties, is made a loomingly tragic figure. Misunderstood and scapegoated by Nottingham's jealousy, she is much of a victim as Elizabeth. Nottingham becomes the unwitting catalyst for the story's resolution. Jeanne Piland and Albert Schagidullin give magnificent performances, not at all the "secondary" leads. They are in the forefront of the drama, and they respond to their assignments with unerring skill. Piland has a full-bodied mezzo which she uses expressively in her aria, "All'aflitto," (whose melody inspired Verdi's "Va, pensiero"), full of foreboding and remorse. Schagidullin, frankly, has a rather gritty, Germanesque throatiness, but what an actor. He depicts his character's vengeance and horror at Sara's alleged duplicity with marvelous intensity. Roberto Aronica, in the title role, scores a triumph. No "park and bark" tenor, he seizes the opportunity to create a real 3 dimensional figure. He allows himself to be blindfolded and stripped down to his underwear in the last act aria and cabaletta. Furthermore, he strives to sing expressively, putting real meaning into his words and angling to flesh out a real character worthy of the Queen's attentions.

This documentation of Edita Gruberova's Elisabetta may in fact be her finest, most committed, and certainly most "demented" performance. She's in Rysanek territory here. This conceptualization suits her to perfection. Here, playing the aging Queen, she has no need to be a younger personage. Outfitted in severe, tailored suits with a strawberry-blond bouffant, she conjures up an unmistakable cross between Margaret Thatcher and the current Elisabeth herself. Gruberova commands the walk, motions, and stature of a Royal figure. Though some of the sudden descents into the lower regions of her tone are a challenge for her bright, high-lying voice, she is in ideal form, making the most of the text and imbuing the line with sagacious skill. Gruberova etches the slow melodies with dynamic variety, while exhibiting immense dramatic power in the tense confrontations. She shirks none of the physical challenges, her body allowing itself to be used in every possible means to depict the Queen's increasing frustration and loss of control. The final scene though, is where Gruberova pulls out all the stops. After delivering a pain-wracked "Vivi ingrato," with long-lined expressivity, the discovery of Roberto's unwarranted execution, bringing about Elisabetta's abdication, Gruberova tops all else she has done before. With nerve-shattering intensity, she delivers "Quel sangue versato" as if this were her last performance. Gruberova does her classic wig-removing bit, where you see the balding, pathetic Queen exposed as a completely broken woman; "Non regno, non VI-vo" and she means it. Gruberova seems to be living in the moment. Face slack with shock, hyperventilating in desperation, close-ups reveal the extent of her involvement. After abdicating to her nephew, the Queen staggers upstage, and collapses, topples over into insane, abject grief. Her soul is dead, she is no more. This is operatic drama at its most powerful and brutally realistic.

My title says it all. The singing is excellent, with Gruberova showing she can still pack a punch in her portrayal as Elizabeth. The updating of the opera to modern dress will deter many a traditionalist, hence my 4 star rating, although it does not bother me, as the dramatic qualities of Donizetti's score have never been acted out as well as this in previous productions. Watch it and see what I mean!

Musically this is a very nice (but not outstanding) opera. However the staging and direction detract from it. One rather uninteresting set (it looks like a waiting room with a few chairs, a water cooler (from which cast members frequently get drinks for no reason) and a newspaper rack (the cast frequently reads newspapers which is probably more interesting than watching the action on stage) serves as a hall in Westminster, the duchess's private chamber, and a cell in the Tower. Costumes are not very fashionable modern dress.

The best way to enjoy this performance is to close your eyes.

It's fast becoming clear that stagings in European opera houses these days are by and large in the unwittingly trite "tradition of no tradition." To the claim that one can't do new productions in the same old manner, I'd reply that it's hard these days to see any productions that respect those historical particulars that would allegedly maim a new staging. What we are regaled with instead is an operatic theater featuring the philistine set designer and barbaric costumer as stars. These fashionistas are devoid of any depth of respect for the works they stage, focusing instead on a sort of colorless and mindless minimalism. No discernible fresh but relevant ideas are behind the changes these persons choose to introduce; if there were any, one might be able to make a case for them. Instead, what we have is a parade of repetitive and uniform ugliness.
What is not recognized is that it's the intensity and passion of the composer and the performers that allow a work from the past to transcend a specificity of time and place to achieve universality. It is manifestly not mere costumes and sets, altered for no discernible purpose. The real innovation these days would involve a demotion of these princes of decor to an appropriate subordinate place.
Fortunately, this production features an all stops out performance by Gruberova which can make one forgive much. Even in late career, her work is distinguished for its beauty and passion, and it makes the viewer wish the fashionistas involved in this production had seen the same power in the work that Gruberova surely did. Then the DVD might have merited 5 stars.

Hence, I begin this review with the said title. Prior to watching this phenomenal production of Roberto Devereux on DVD, I have watched the major scenes from Youtube and was, once and for all, changed for life. Catharsis, if one may call it. I have been listening to opera (mostly Mozart, Haydn, Cherubini, some Wagner, Berg and pre-bel canto composers like Mehul and Spontini) for a number of years but strangely it was not until the recent phenomenon of social media that thankfully, exposed me to a far greater range of bel canto operas than I previously thought imaginable. Donizetti's Lucia used to be my only world. Now, Devereux has become the universe.

Devereux enthusiasts familiar with Sills' legendary production (both studio and on-stage) would incontrovertibly entertain reservations with Loy's groundbreaking version of the opera. Drawing parallels with the modern world, it is a production that plays on the symbolic, while also having the benefit of focusing on singing, facial expression, use of space, movement and interaction between acting singers. As someone who did not grow up with earlier productions of Devereux, I find myself particularly drawn towards Loy's liberating conception, as it has a peculiar, psychological intensity which I do not find in the more 'traditional' or period-set productions.

Particularly well-made was 'behind-the-scenes', with each interview bringing a unique perspective to the opera and its produciton values. Nothing was left to chance or a moment of whim and fancy - meticulous work was in place, be it the singers, the backstage or camera crew. Nine cameras were employed to capture the entire performance, and from the interview with the video crew chief, it is apparent that he relishes a wealth of experience filming opera as well as a particular love and admiration for Donizetti's arguably greatest masterpiece.

From the interviews, conductor Haider (who was also the conductor of the studio recording made in the 90s) and the lead singers shared intelligent insights on their roles, the roles of their counterparts as well as the opera. Little wonder that the wealth of experience that they brought with them into this seminal production made it a success.

The downplay of bright and piquant colours for a solemn palette likened the cold corporate world to the dramatic intensity and sombreness of the Queen's regime. The final scene is almost black, heightening the sobriety of the atmosphere and the psychological desperation of the characters involved.

The character who brings 'life' to the drama is none other than Elizabeth I and Gruberova trumps with the psychological intensity and sophistication of her interpretation. Whereas singers hitherto had the comfort of 'hiding' behind thick powdered make-up and regalia to focus on belting out the singing, this modern adapation has turned the tables that forces the singer to enunciate the diction, melodic lines and the facial cues more expressively. Gruberova, with her wealth of experience in the role, is more than aware of the change and makes what seems necessary become an art that gives a new dimension to the role - a neurotic, delusional queen that struggles between reason and emotion, power and submission.

Now to the singing. Much has been spilt over Gruberova's vocal decline, but it is more of a speculated myth than an established truth with this production. In the almost apocalyptic finale, she holds the final high D for a near 10 seconds, with no sign of faltering in intensity. Even her studio recording made more than a decade ago did not cut that. A truly astonishing feat and nothing short of a miracle. The finale scene here is exceedingly gripping; my eyes steadily welling with tears, from the opening orchestral prologue that seems to echo an eternal sigh ('un sospiro', in Italian, finally spelt out in the libretto of the succeeding aria) with its plaintive woodwinds and bass harmony.

The tempo of the earth-shattering finale's coda veers on the fast side, aptly so as it shakes off the poised but weary grandeur (and languor) of those lavish productions that have come to define Devereux for the past two or three decades.

The final aria-cabaletta, one that could very well be crowned the Last Aria of the World, 'Quel sangue', never fails to bring a shudder of pathos and welling of tears whenever I watch and hear it. Gruberova has certainly added a new dimension to the portrayal and stretched the psyche of Elisabetta's character; a character that is the supreme achievement of Donizetti's genius; a genius as such that is able to amalgamate the seemingly paradoxical human condition of abject disillusionment and delusion with relentless strength and resilience of the spirit that, continues to be testimony to the phenomenal power of great music.

Oh dear. I was about to write a full review of this wonderful interpretation when I read the review of Niel Rishol. That is very perceptive and complete; and I do not know what I can add to it.

I have seen the (unfortunately delisted) production with Pendatchanska playing Queen Elizabeth and as good as she and the other three main characters are, that is a classical production with a wallpaper chorus to stand around and sing from time to time.

In contrast this updated production is extremely well directed and choreographed. The chorus all have got into the action and.have their specific tasks. They and the principals are all deeply into their roles and as a result the film editing is made easy with many appropriate reaction shots. Therefore, as a drama it is very taut, despite the bel canto arias, and the tension increases steadily as the work progresses.

I should not be surprised by now, but I usually am when it comes to new interpretations of operas which work and shed new light on a production which one thinks one knows -- only to find how many people do not seem to be able to make the jump into the mind of the director and try to figure out why he has done what he has done. So far as I am concerned this interpretation works extremely well. Because the characters are modern and because we have at least read about abusive regimes, even when they are presented as "democratic", it shows how prescient Donizetti and his librettist were to have written an opera that not only makes sense in modern times, but can be enhanced by a modern production.

For a fuller comment, see Mr. Rishol's review.

This is a very interesting proposal of Gaetano Donizetti`s great opera. For sure, the most remarkable since the famous New York revival with Beverly Sills.
Musical conduction by Friedrich Haider is excellent, and the fantastic cast works perfectly: the troubled couple of the Nottinghams (Albert Schagidullin and Jeanne Piland), the police-style men of Elizabeth (Steven Humes and Manolito Mario Franz), the object of love and hate of the Queen (Roberto Aronica), even the small ones as the page of Devereux (Nikolay Borchev) and the silent James Stewart (Johannes Klama).
Over all, Edita Gruberova reigns supreme, as it must. Brilliant. An explosive cocktail: part of the red haired Elizabeth I, part of Margareth Thatcher... If anything else, her performance worth the price.
The lack of the fifth star is because of the settings. Interesting idea with a hint of fascist regime (it reminds me another attempt of updating... Ian McKellen`s Macbeth) but Bayerischen Staatsoper fails on giving us a more elaborated stage (there is no reason why everything happens in the same set, and the moving wall do not works as it must).

While agreeing with the appreciation of the singing expressed by other reviewers, I would like to add a defence of the staging. I think the setting is a lobby or back stage at the Houses of Parliament, where the MP's gather before and after meetings. Then it all makes sense, with Gruberova, as another reviewer has said, a stunning combination of Queen Elizabeth II and Margaret Thatcher.

It is hard to understand why american opera fans a so far behind the world's theatrical scene - this is an fascinating, very well played and sung production (No need to praise Gruberovas Elisabetta here).

The old-fashioned plunder we see on most US-opera stages today is- alas !-the taste of the old ladys who support the opera houses. The next generation should develop a better feeling for art on stage.