Customer Reviews

Leoncavallo: Zazą

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

 

 

This was an absolute 'Find' of an opera and can be strongly recommended to all lovers of verismo and romantic opera. Although considerably cut in the first and third acts, the piece's value still shines through and in many places is more sophisticated and subtle than 'Pagliacci'. An excellent performance in general with the soprano Lynne Strow being consistently excellent in the title role. Hers is a new voice for me and I shall certainly be looking for other recordings that she has made. The baritone reminds me of Panerai and the only disappointment is the tenor who lets the side down a bit, although not to the point of destroying one's enjoyment of the piece. I would have given 4 and a half stars (the tenor stops me giving it 5) if I could have given the extra half star!

I HAVE SWORN OFF THE MET REPERTOIRE. AND SURE ENOUGH, AWAY FROM PAGLIACCI, I HAVE ENTERED THE WORLD OF LEONCAVALLO'S OTHER OPERAS, WHICH ARE SIMPLY MAGNIFICENT. TAKE ZAZA, AND LYNNE STROW-PICCOLO, AN AMERICAN SOPRANO WHO SOUNDS LIKE TEBALDI AND OLIVERO ROLLED UP INTO ONE AND ABSOLUTELY SHINES IN THIS RECORDING. I FOUND NO FAULT WITH THE TENOR, LUCIANO SALDARI,ONE OF THE BEST I HAVE HEARD IN THE OFF-THE-BEATEN-TRACK VERISMO OUTPUT. AND WAIT TILL YOU LISTEN TO ANGELO ROMERO, THE BARITONE!!!! GREAT SOUND, NO LIBRETTO, BUT IF YOU ARE INTO THIS KIND OF MUSIC YOU ALREADY UNDERSTAND ITALIAN. MUSIC THAT MAKES LOVE TO YOUR EARS. TOTALLY AWESOME!

While any great composer can have an "off" day, in the world of late 19th/early 20th century Italian operas there were a group of composers that reversed the order of things. Essentially mediocre to good composers, each is famous for one huge success. Cilea had Ariadne Lecouvreur, Mascagni had Cavelleria Rusticana, and Leoncavallo had Pagliacci.

Zaza is Leoncavallo's second most popular opera, and frankly it's quite a way down the scale from Pagliacci. To be fair, he is not helped by his two librettists, who gave him a libretto of simply gooey sentimentality.

The opera is the story of Zaza, not the drag queen from Cage aux Folles but the star of a tacky music hall. When the curtain rises, she is in her dressing room waiting for her lover, Dufresne. Before he shows up, she is visited by Floriana, her bitter rival in the cast, her singing partner and ex-lover Cascart, her drunken mother Anaide, and the journalist Bussy, a friend of Dufresne's. It's beginning to seem like Grand Central Station in there.

Dufresne finally shows up, the rest of the crew clears off, and the lovers sing a nice duet, wherein Dufresne admits that although he has been hesitant to get too involved with Zaza, he does reciprocate her feelings. (Big of him.)

The second act starts at Zaza's house, where she and Dufresne are dealing with his imminent departure for America. He takes off, and Cascart shows up to try to get Zaza to dump Dufresne. (Cascart is still in love with her.) He drops portentous hints, finally coming out and saying that he's seen Dufresne in the company of a young woman at another theater. Understandably put out by this revelation, Zaza heads off, with her maid in tow, to beard the lion in his den.

Alone in his study, Dufresne sings a song about his imminent separation from Zaza. Zaza and her maid show up, and are met by Dufresne's young daughter, Toto, (Dufresne having conveniently left the stage before the ladies arrive.) Toto artlessly chats with the ladies, and very quickly Zaza realizes that the "other woman" was in fact Dufresne's wife, and that he is a happily married man with a daughter--thereby making Zaza herself the "other woman". Oops.

Toto's naivete makes Zaza reflect on her own unhappy childhood, how her father abandoned her, and how she had to face her mother's frequent drunken rages. Then Toto plays Cherubini's Ave Maria, and Zaza joins in with a descant that reflects her sadness on lost innocence and lost love. (Is no stone left unturned?) The ladies then leave. (So, probably, does half the audience.)

Zaza, understandably unhappy, goes home where she is met by her ex, Cascart, who is still pushing his suit. Dufresne shows up, Zaza tells him she went to his home and lies, claiming that she told his wife of their affair. Dufresne gets angry, calls Zaza a few unprintable names, Zaza tells him the truth, he apologizes and buzzes off, (glad to get away, no doubt.) She, realizing that this little affair isn't going anywhere (would that be why he is leaving for America--you think?) decides to give him up. End of opera.

Mercifully, the music is better than the libretto--in a pleasant, tunefull but not particularly memorable way. What rates this opera four stars is the quality of the production. This is a live 1976 Italian radio broadcast. The cast is led by the relatively unknown American soprano, Lynne Strow, who does a very credible job as Zaza. The opera is essentially a soprano vehicle, needing a soprano of sufficient ability and presence to make the audience forget (or at least forgive) the wildly overly-sentimental libretto. And Strow does very well, with a rich full voice and a wonderful artistry that rises above the obvious banality of the lyrics. She is well supported by her equally unknown Italian colleagues, including the marvelously-voiced baritone Angelo Romero as Cascart and the ardent if slightly overwrought tenor of Luciano Saldari. The RAI Symphony Orchestra and chorus also perform admirably. The sound quality, although not great, is better than most GALA recordings.

Apart from Pagliacci (and just maybe his version of La Boheme), Zaza is the only one of Leoncavallo's operas that one might just barely happen to see performed. It is, however, an endearing work, not as chock full of memorable ideas as Pagliacci, perhaps, but still a really good work that deserves to be heard by any serious opera lover (the libretto might be part of what prevents it from being staged more frequently, though).

It receives a quite good performance here as well; Lynne Strow, whom I cannot remembered having encountered before, has a beautiful voice, somewhat reminiscent - as another reviewer points out - of Tebaldi, but lacking the latter's nuances and range; her performance might - if I were to be critical - a little one-dimensional, and there are traces of strain at times, yet it is overall an eminently satisfying performance - importantly, for this is a very much heroine led opera. Luciano Saldari (another new name) is not quite in her league; his performance is workmanlike and slightly off-tone at times, yet not really objectionable when he doesn't try too hard. Angelo Romero might not exactly have achieved star status, but is at least slightly better known than the rest of the cast - and he is an underrated baritone with a wonderful voice, providing some gorgeous singing here, full of character and color. The rest of the cast is adequate.

Orchestral playing is rather fine if not excellent - sometimes the pace seems to falter a little, but in general Arena leads a commendable performance. The main objections to this recording are primarily three: first, there is no text or libretto (but any potential buyer familiar with Gala should know that already); second, the version of the opera is relatively heavily cut; and third, the sound is just so-and-so - it doesn't ruin the experience, but is noticeably glaring, unbalanced and harsh.

On the plus side, the set also includes a lengthy selection from an even more obscure work - Franchetti's Germania. This sounds like an eminently worthwhile work (there is apparently a DVD available of a performance, but I haven't heard or seen it). It is easy to see why the recording of this work didn't merit a separate, complete release, however - the sound is pretty ghastly, with distortions and very audible electric sounds due to some kind of deterioration of the tape. Still, this is overall a very recommendable release of a rarely encountered but very enjoyable work. I haven't heard any of the other available versions, but given the sources I seriously doubt that they'll displace this one. As such, this one starts to look very much like an essential acquisition (at least at present) for anyone with any interest at all in this kind of repertoire.

If you are interested in getting to know Leoncavallo's second opera, this Gala live RAI broadcast from 1978 is a much better bet than the heavily cut and stolidly performed Cetra/Warner Fonit disc; the stereo sound here is really very good, a bit of pre-echo on the tape notwithstanding, and although the opera is still cut, by all accounts this set contains most of what you need to hear.

It is the fate of a select little band of verismo composers - Leoncavallo, Cilea, Mascagni, Giordano, Montemezzi and Catalani - to be known essentially for one opera alone. They all wrote other works, some temporarily succesful and occasionally revived, but are cursed by first having struck gold and thereafter being obliged to mine a dwindling seam. It is tempting to affect superior taste by claiming that one or other of their neglected works is the equal of the famous predecessor when this is manifestly not the case; those celebrated operas are indeed sui generis in the output of their respective composers - but that does not preclude proper appreciation of the lesser works.

Certainly "Zazà" strikes me as the best second-rank opera I have discovered for many a year and I am grateful to previous reviewers such as Steven Muni "Foothills Bear" for bringing it to my attention. It is not as melodically inventive, tightly constructed or dramatically satisfying as "Pagliacci" and it is hobbled by a libretto which doubtless seems unduly saccharine to a modern audience - although I rather like the scene in which, in a speaking role, the child of Zazà's lover unwittingly causes her to realise that she is in fact the "other woman" in Papa's marriage. This extended scene was recently recorded by Renee Fleming in her recital album "Verismo" (see my review), and has a some gorgeous, swooning tunes. There is a great deal of beautiful music here and some music which probably sounds better than it is by virtue of the quality and commitment of the three principal singers.

Another undoubted attraction is the lovely voice of little known soprano Lynne Strow Piccolo, who had a very successful career in Italy before returning to the US. She often sounds like a fusion of Caballe and Tebaldi without quite their temperament and star quality - but she is a very fine, affecting vocal actress with superb control over her use of portamento and the ability to spin out long-breathed phrases; I would like to hear more of her. She is ably partnered by baritone Angelo Romero, who sounds uncannily like Panerai and makes a splendid job of the famous aria "Zazà, piccola zingara" which has survived in recital albums and concerts. The slightly throaty tenor Luciano Saldari is a cut above your average belter; he sings passionately and delivers some fine top notes. I have never heard of the conductor, but he does a fine job and the RAI orchestra plays very well, with splendid, soaring strings. The supporting cast is mostly adequate, but no more.

All in all, this is quite a find and available very reasonably. As ever with Gala, I transfer their 2 CD sets from their unnecessary, clunky box into a slimline case; I have no idea why they persist in selling them thus when they do not provide a libretto, just a synopsis and some good notes in a skinny booklet.

Another welcome Gala habit is to provide a bonus: three tracks from an even greater rarity, "Germania" by Franchetti - another one-opera-composer. This is a grand Wagner-verismo cross, here recorded in quite poor sound which makes one appreciate all the more the sonic quality of the main item. It sounds rather good - after all, it was premiered by Caruso and Toscanini! - as are the singers, especially soprano Nelly Pucci.