{"id":83897,"date":"2016-01-27T03:54:35","date_gmt":"2016-01-27T02:54:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gbopera.it\/?p=83897"},"modified":"2016-02-01T03:54:53","modified_gmt":"2016-02-01T02:54:53","slug":"chicago-lyric-opera-nabucco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/chicago-lyric-opera-nabucco\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago, Lyric Opera: “Nabucco”"},"content":{"rendered":"
Chicago, Lyric Opera of Chicago, 2015-2016 Season\u00a0<\/i><\/div>\n
\u201cNABUCCO \u201d<\/b><\/div>\n
Opera in four acts in Italian Libretto by Temistocle Solera, based on Antonio Cortesi\u2019s ballet “Nabuccodonosor” and Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois\u2019 and Francis Cornu\u2019s play “Nabuchodonosor”.<\/div>\n
Music by Giuseppe Verdi\u00a0<\/b><\/div>\n
Nabucco<\/i> ZELJKO LUCIC<\/div>\n
Abigaille <\/i>TATIANA SERJAN<\/div>\n
Zaccaria<\/i> DMITRY BELOSSELSKIY<\/div>\n
Fenena<\/i> ELIZABETH DESHONG<\/div>\n
Ismaele<\/i> SERGEI SKOROKHODOV<\/div>\n
High Priest of Baal<\/i> STEFAN SZAKAFAROWSKY<\/div>\n
Anna<\/i> LAURA WILDE<\/div>\n
Abdallo<\/i> JESSE DONNER<\/div>\n
Orchestra and Chorus of Lyric Opera of Chicago<\/div>\n
Conductor Carlo Rizzi\u00a0<\/b><\/div>\n
Director Matthew Ozawa\u00a0<\/b><\/div>\n
Sets Michael Yeargan<\/b><\/div>\n
Costumes Jane Greenwod\u00a0<\/b><\/div>\n
Lighting Duane Schuler\u00a0<\/b><\/div>\n
Chorus Master Michael Black<\/b><\/div>\n
Stage Band Conductor Robert Tweten\u00a0<\/b><\/div>\n
Chicago, 23 January 2016<\/i><\/div>\n
\"Nabucco,<\/a>Many artists face a crisis of faith at some point in their development but few as crushing as that dealt the young Giuseppe Verdi in his still fledgling career.\u00a0 After the modest success of his first opera Oberto<\/i>, Verdi turned to comedy with Un giorno di regno <\/i>but this second piece was met with hostility at its first performance (the comic muse would not inspire Verdi again for another 60 years when he began work on Falstaff<\/i>, his final offering for the stage).\u00a0 The composition of Un giorno di regno<\/i> had been complicated by the death of Verdi\u2019s two small children and to make matters worse, his wife Margherita also died while this opera was in preparation at La Scala.\u00a0 The cumulative impact of these personal tragedies seriously demoralized Verdi, whose paralyzing depression and resulting isolation might have relegated his name to that of a footnote in the annals of opera history.<\/div>\n
But the insistent impresario of La Scala sensed unfulfilled greatness in Verdi and forced a libretto on him for consideration.\u00a0 Verdi recalled:\u00a0 \u201cI threw the manuscript with a violent gesture on the table and stood rigid before it.\u00a0 Falling on the table, the manuscript opened itself and, without my quite realizing it, my eyes fixed on the page before me at this particular line:\u00a0 \u2018Va, pensiero, sull\u2019ali dorate.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 It would prove a fateful moment as these are the opening words of a chorus that linked the composer\u2019s name inexorably\"Nabucco,<\/a> with the fate of his country.\u00a0 Its emotional and political resonances must have been overwhelming for the world premiere audience of Nabucco <\/i>in 1842:\u00a0 Italy was under Austrian dominion and first hearers were stirred not only by the haunting melody but the obvious parallels between their own oppression by a foreign power and the depiction of subjugated Hebrews longing for their lost Jerusalem.\u00a0 Nabucco<\/i> proved a decisive work for Verdi and Italian opera, establishing him as both the consciousness of and inspiration for a nation in search of a shared cultural identity. The success of Nabucco<\/i> opened the pathway to Verdi\u2019s destiny.\u00a0 He would go on to live as rich and full a life as any man could wish.\u00a0 His art served to unify a fragmented country and provided the stimulus to throw off the yoke of foreign rule.\u00a0 He took the torched passed to him by Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti and handed it to Puccini and the new generation of verismo composers.\u00a0 He worked in many of the major operatic capitals of Europe, including London, Vienna, Paris, St. Petersburg and, of course, La Scala.\u00a0 He was a tireless philanthropist and supporter of humanitarian causes.\u00a0 Above all, he was a man of the people, modest, humble and unassuming, who considered the Casa di Riposo, a retirement home for musicians still in operation today, his \u201cgreatest creation.\u201d\u00a0 Verdi\u2019s remains are now interred there and at his official state funeral in 1901, a crowd of 100,000 lined the streets of Milan to pay their respects.\u00a0 Legendary conductor Arturo Toscanini led a chorus in \u201cVa, pensiero,\u201d bringing to full circle a storied life and career that rose like the phoenix out of \"Nabucco,<\/a>the ashes of personal and professional adversity.<\/div>\n
How did this metamorphosis occur?\u00a0 Something of its power can be understood in a National Geographic special where a lioness and her cubs make the sad mistake of sleeping near the nest of a cobra.\u00a0 The cobra, rendered blind while shedding its skin, inflicts a fatal bite on the cubs.\u00a0 The lioness is also bitten but endures days of agony and threat from other animals, hovering near death.\u00a0 She finally returns to her pride and resumes hunting duty, displaying an unforeseen ferocity during the kill, as if sublimating her immense grief and suffering into a new engagement with life.\u00a0 With its aggressive vigor and sweeping power, the overture of Nabucco<\/i> exudes the same rekindled vitality, practically grabbing the listener by the lapel and proclaiming \u201cI have returned!\u201d\u00a0 Although each of the acts of Nabucco<\/i> has a name, the opera itself lacks an \u2018ossia\u2019 or alternative title.\u00a0 With the benefit of hindsight, we might borrow the words and central theme of Charles Dickens in A Tale of Two Cities<\/i>:\u00a0 \u201cRecalled to Life.\u201d<\/div>\n
Lyric Opera of Chicago\u2019s current production of Nabucco<\/i>, like many Verdi performances today, was a hit \"Nabucco,<\/a> or miss affair, convincing as a totality but flawed in many of its elements.\u00a0 The laurel wreath was shared by soprano Tatiana Serjan<\/b> and the Lyric Opera Chorus<\/b>.\u00a0 In the impossibly demanding role of Abigaille, Serjan scored yet another triumph with her Chicago public, showing great fluency in the \u2018canto d\u2019azione\u2019 of Verdi\u2019s vocal writing (a style of singing notable for its forceful declamation, extremes of dynamics and wildly difficult acrobatics.\u00a0 An early exponent was Giuseppina Strepponi, the first interpreter of Abigaille and eventual wife of Verdi, who also furthered its practice through pedagogy she taught in Paris after the opera\u2019s world premiere).\u00a0 Serjan\u2019s old-school style, complete with glottal attacks and generous chest voice, was fondly appreciated by vocal connoisseurs familiar with the legacy of cult divas like Elena Suliotis and Leyla Gencer but it was the depth and integrity of her characterization that truly riveted attention.\u00a0 In a part known for campy excess, the soprano found a rare vulnerability and pathos, imbuing each of her scenes with dignity and serious intention.\u00a0 With its uneven registers, Serjan\u2019s voice was not all of a piece and it must be said that her fluttery top register, arrived at through jarring gear shifts into head resonance, was sometimes underpowered.\u00a0 But she possessed the essential quality of fearlessness necessary to do battle with the material and received a rapturous ovation from the audience for her efforts. The chorus also won the audience\u2019s approval for its full-throated, robust contributions but was also capable of hushed eloquence and subtlety in the famous \u201cVa pensiero.\u201d\u00a0 Chorus Master Michael Black<\/b> took a featured role during the final bows and this was entirely \"Nabucco,<\/a>appropriate.\u00a0 The opera stands or falls by the unison work of the chorus; Lyric\u2019s ensemble, soaring, sonorous and well blended in sound, demonstrated the strength of his leadership. In the title role, Zeljko Lucic<\/b> proved far more problematic.\u00a0 While never evoking Golden Age associations with Tito Ruffo, Leonard Warren or Ettore Bastianini, Lucic does possess a sturdy, warm baritone equal to the role\u2019s requirements.\u00a0 But what a dull, uninspiring performer he proved yet again!\u00a0 His portrayal lacked any vestige of dramatic stature, unconvincing as either arrogant tyrant or humbled madman.\u00a0 Lucic shuffled into his every scene with a casual physicality and slumped appearance befitting a tired businessman at the end of a difficult sales meeting, not a regal personage in extremis.\u00a0 Lucic was a black hole of theatrical inertia, draining the life and momentum from every scene in which he appeared.\u00a0 This was a sad case of an artist coasting on vocal competency in a debased age of Verdi singing, where any reasonably well-sung outcome is mistaken for true catharsis.\u00a0 In contrast to Serjan\u2019s blazing, \u201ctake no prisoners\u201d approach to her role, Lucic seemed embarrassed or intimidated by the outsized manner of 19th<\/sup><\/span> century melodrama. As Zaccaria, Dmitry Belosselsskiy<\/b> left a more positive impression.\u00a0 He displayed a good legato and a strong, buzzing sound in the middle register.\u00a0 On the debit side, his lower register sometimes disintegrated into inaudibility and for a remarkably tall performer, Belosselsskiy showed little real command of the stage or ability to take focus with the dramatic situation.\u00a0 The secondary couple was in good hands:\u00a0 Elizabeth DeShong\u2019s<\/b> velvet-toned, exquisitely phrased Fenena\"TATIANA<\/a> boded well for her future outings with the company next season as Adalgisa, while Sergei Skorokhodov\u2019s<\/b> Ismaele gave pleasure with his compact but attractive spinto tenor.\u00a0 Stefan Szkafarowsky<\/b> appeared awkward in voice and presence as the High Priest of Baal, while Laura Wilde<\/b> and Jesse Donner<\/b> rounded out the cast with distinction.\u00a0 The performance\u2019s primary liability was Carlo Rizzi\u2019s<\/b> frustrating conducting, mannered in tempo and fussy in execution.\u00a0 His leadership registered as a calculated series of effects, including an overreliance on artificial and exaggerated rubati, which served only to defuse the inherent tension of Verdi\u2019s writing.\u00a0 In contrast, Stage Band Conductor Robert Tweten<\/b> commendably blended the numerous offstage \u2018bandas\u2019 into a seamless sonic picture. Lyric Opera\u2019s production was originally staged by Elijah Moshinsky for the company in 1997 but his name was curiously missing from the production \"Nabucco,<\/a>credits.\u00a0 Perhaps he no longer wishes to be associated with a staging that now looks cheap and dated.\u00a0 Matthew Ozawa\u2019s<\/b> stage direction is standard cookbook revival and looks particularly shoddy in Michael Yeargan\u2019s<\/b> sets and Jane Greenwood\u2019s<\/b> costumes, all of which resemble \u201ctimeless\u201d designs from the original STAR TREK series–and third-season tackiness at that.\u00a0 The soloists were left to their own devices while the chorus marched on and stood dutifully in place, blank of face and devoid of any communicative expression that might heighten the dramatic narrative.\u00a0 The assembly of Nabucco\u2019s soldiers in the penultimate scene was particularly risible, with a robotic, wooden lineup worthy of an amateur Gilbert and Sullivan society. Even so, Lyric Opera\u2019s Nabucco<\/i> proved greater than the sum of its parts and illuminated once again why the work remains a seminal part of operatic history, as well as its redemptive function for Verdi the composer and man \u201crecalled to life.\u201dPhoto Andrew Cioffi & Cory Weaver<\/span><\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chicago, Lyric Opera of Chicago, 2015-2016 Season\u00a0 \u201cNABUCCO \u201d Opera in four acts in Italian Libretto by Temistocle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":421,"featured_media":83899,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[15270,9354,153,15749,15748,15747,13402,15751,15743,15750,7372,105,15745,15746,4413,4833],"class_list":["post-83897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-senza-categoria","tag-elizabeth-deshong","tag-foreign-readers","tag-giuseppe-verdi","tag-jane-greenwood","tag-jesse-donner","tag-laura-wilde","tag-lyric-opera-chicago","tag-lyric-opera-chorus","tag-matthew-ozawa","tag-michael-black","tag-michael-yeargan","tag-nabucco","tag-sergei-skorokhodov","tag-stefan-szkafarowsky","tag-tatiana-serjan","tag-zeljko-lucic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/421"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83897"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83900,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83897\/revisions\/83900"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}