Struggling with prejudice, the Teatro Real premieres ‘La sonnambula’

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Colosseum director Joan Matabosh assures Bellini’s opera bears an undeserved “bad name”

The Teatro Real has decided to dismantle the prejudices of the opera ‘La sonnambula’. It has always been said that his libretto, by Felice Romani, was a weak text with little drama. It’s time to debunk the myth. The Colosseum hosts the opera of Vicenzo Bellini, an icon of romantic bel canto performed by great voices such as Giulia Grisi, Giovanni Battista Rubini, Marietta Alboni and Adelina Patti. It is not for nothing that the score demands a great vocal effort from the singers. Under the musical direction of Maurizio Benini, the theater offers 13 performances of a two-cast production consisting of Nadine Sierra, Jessica Pratt, Xabier Anduaga, Lawrence Brownlee and Francesco Demuro.

The opera, which will premiere on the 15th under the direction of Bárbara Lluch, who is making her debut at the Teatro Real with this production, addresses the problem of sleepwalking, a recurring theme of the romantic mind. The work lends itself to a topical reading, as it captures the desire denied to women by a macho society and reflects the era’s obsession with female sexuality.

It has often been said that the libretto for Felice Romani’s ‘La sonnambula’, based on the ballet-pantomime of Eugène Scribe’s ‘La sonnambule ou L’arrivée d’un nouveau seigneur’, was mediocre, an opinion not expressed by The director of the Teatro Real, Joan Matabosch, who begged Lluch to read unbiased before confronting the text, does not share it in any way. The show discusses violence against women, “something that still happens in Spain,” notes Bárbara Lluch, the granddaughter of Núria Espert. “The level of femicide is very high today. It was easier to put the work together because we have close references, in Spain or Iran, if we want to go further afield. We have it on the news every day.”

The opera is based on two pillars, two consecutive sleepwalking crises of the protagonist, Amina, a villager who is a victim of the disease and has to fight for her honor. “It’s a libretto that shows a very fragile story, but Bellini creates a balance and structure that works despite the fact that the text offers few possibilities from a dramaturgical point of view,” says musical director Maurizio Benini, an expert in the lyrical repertoire.Italian , who will conduct another Bellini title at Real in 2019 after his version of ‘Il pirata’.

Sleepwalking inspired Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835) to create some of his most sublime melodies, enhanced by the chorus. Those who attended the rehearsals say that Benini managed to capture the ecstasy, innocence, delirium and the inexpressible of Vincenzo Bellini’s opera.

The singers Nadine Sierra and Xabier Anduaga face the roles of Amina and Elvino for the first time, who take on the challenge of singing a difficult score that was interpreted differently two centuries ago. “More than recreation, a singer has to create,” says Sierra. For Xabier Anduaga, Elvino’s is the most complicated role he’s had to date. “The notes are more chest than falsetto,” he argues.

The choice of the subject of sleepwalking is not accidental. In the first third of the 19th century, the phenomenon was the talk of the salons. The terrible thing was that the unconscious automatisms of the sleepwalker led to anomalous diagnoses. “There is an unjustified bad reputation for the work. Sometimes stupid things are repeated so many times that they end up being believed. ‘La sonnambula’ attacks ignorance and fanaticism,” argues Matabosch.

Bárbara Lluch challenges the rural vision of the rural environment by exposing a superstitious and hostile community, reflected in the costumes of Clara Peluffo, in the choreography of Iratxe Ansa and in the landscape, which represents an abused and wounded nature, designed by Christof Hetzer, under the lighting of Urs Schönebaum.

“Sleepwalking in young children is common, but for someone Amina’s age it would mean she is under great stress and trying to control dreams which she cannot do when she is awake,” argues Bárbara Lluch.

Source: La Verdad

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