Opus Opéra Gattières: La Rondine by Puccini: the triumph of youth, voices and talent
Friday August 2, 2024
Published on the website: Resonances Lyriques Org
LA RONDINE BY PUCCINI: BETWEEN CHARM AND EMOTION
The argument
Magda de Civry, a young woman kept by the rich Rambaldo, receives guests in posh salons in Paris. Prunier, a poet, reads his hostess's hand and predicts a new love for her when, regretfully, she no longer experiences this true feeling. A young visiting provincial, Ruggero, then asks where he can find the best place in Paris to spend the evening. All the guests agree to recommend the Chez Bullier ball to him. After the guests leave, Prunier returns discreetly to take Lisette, the servant, to such a party. Then, on a whim, Magda resumes her grisette clothes of yesteryear and decides, in turn, to also go to Bullier to rediscover her teenage emotions there.
There she meets Ruggero and they quickly fall in love. Rambaldo arrives and demands explanations from Madga who admits to having finally found love. She therefore leaves him to follow the young man. Magda and Ruggero shelter their romance not far from Nice. Cornered by debt, Ruggero writes to his parents and asks for financial help and above all their agreement in order to marry Magda. She, deeply moved, knows that she cannot consent to this union because of her past. Ruggero returns radiant with a letter stating his mother's benevolent assent. But Magda finally confesses everything to him. Despite the love she has for him, she cannot enter his family. Like the swallow, she returns to her nest, leaving Ruggero to his deep despair.
Literary and musical references
Romanticism, in French literature, explored the theme of the kept woman who falls in love. The work of Alexandre Dumas: The Lady of the Camellias, from which Verdi took inspiration for his Traviata, is the archetype. The subject here is almost identical: a woman richly maintained in sumptuous salons in Paris falls in love with a young provincial and experiences a strong but furtive love with him in a country place. For family reasons, their idyll will be interrupted. In the first case, Violetta dies in the arms of her lover; in the second, Magda leaves her lover, still too tied by her past life. Furthermore, it should be noted that the second act of La Rondine constitutes almost a copy of the second act of La Bohème . The Café Momus replaces the Bal Bullier with its grisettes, its students, its women of the world and the same quartet of lovers.
Opera or operetta…? The genesis of La Rondine
We obviously cannot ignore the friendship between Giacomo Puccini and Franz Lehár (one of the most eminent composers of Viennese operettas ( The Merry Widow ) nor – among others – their attraction to orientalist subjects ( Madama Butterfly and Turandot for the first and The Land of Smiles for the second).
We therefore do not owe the Carltheater's proposal to Puccini to create a work in Vienna in the form of an operetta in the style of the “great Viennese repertoire” solely to chance. For the occasion, the composer was also given a libretto by Heinz Reichert and Alfred Wilnner who were Lehár's official librettists (later, he added one of his own librettists: Giuseppe Adami ). The outbreak of war in 1914 did not allow La Rondine to see the light of day in Austria and, instead of Vienna, it was finally created in 1917 at the Monte Carlo Opera.
Verismo at Puccini?
In reaction with previous eras (and moreover with the literary trends related to them), lyricism in music, at the dawn of the 20th century, was inspired by naturalism with authors like Émile Zola in France or Giovanni Verga in Italy. On the surface, Puccini seems to apply verismo ( “ little women who love and suffer ”) to the letter. In La Rondine, the subject appears to be part of this trend (like heroines such as Mimi from La Bohème or Cio-Cio-San from Madame Butterfly ). However, the music frees itself from this by the elegance of the line as well as by the abundance and complexity of the orchestration. But above all “ by a profound emotional power, an acute sense of the climate and the text, a desire to restore to us the immense domain of human feelings ” 1 .
Conversation in music like Richard Strauss's “Rosenkavalier” and the preeminence of the waltz
As has been pointed out, being a work from the 20th century, the musical language is evidently modern. It excludes – as for example in Belcantist works – what we call “musical numbers”. This typology of “conversation in music” was undeniably inspired by Puccini by Richard Strauss, a Viennese composer – although German – and also director of the Vienna Opera. Puccini undoubtedly learned the lesson of Rosenkavalier ( The Knight of the Rose ) and the “discussion in music”. Here, it is more of a fluid conversation (therefore borrowing from the theater) and the entire first act is an obvious illustration of this (with the characters of the poet Prunier and the servant Lisette who sometimes seem straight out of Marivaux).
Furthermore, although having reworked his work, drawing it more towards opera than towards operetta, which was the initial project, the score contains a certain number of waltzes as a sort of heady leitmotif.
Recent performances of “ La Rondine ”
Before Gattières' Opus, La Rondine was performed successively at the Zurich Opera (staged by Christof Loy) then at the Scala in Milan (staged by Irina Brook: there again more rich salons, but on the other hand a theater stage) and finally at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, in a production by Nicolas Joël referring to the 1920s. Puccini's work will be on display at the Monte-Carlo Opera for the opening of its next season (in concert version).
(Extracts from the file on the presentation of the work produced by Christian JARNIAT)
oo00oo
LA RONDINE AT THE OPUS OPERA FESTIVAL IN GATTIÈRES
In the production proposed by Yohanna Fuchs at the Opus Opéra de Gattières, the action takes place in the world of cinema. Rambaldo becomes the producer who financially supports the star of his film; the three young women, actresses swapping their film costumes for evening wear; the living room, the dressing room surrounded by lights symbolizing this emblematic universe of the 7th art.
On this stage installed on the Place Grimaldi in the charming village of Gattières, the issue of the world since the dawn of time is played out: money or love, magnificently sublimated by the musical writing of Puccini who opposes for this duel the Nice hinterland to the Parisian capital.
Romanticism, adventure, poetry, modesty and delicacy are summoned to evoke the vertigo of a destiny between materialist aesthetics and authenticity. Luxury and illusions on the one hand; stripping and feelings of the other... To the north, play, to the south, Love. At war: reason against the heart. In combat: analysis versus instinct.
In this lyrical evocation of the “ round of the swallow ” ( La Rondine ) and its procrastination, the composer strives to paint with subtle art the character of Magda seeking in vain balance, torn between habituation to luxury and the happiness of loving, without being able to reconcile them.
The baton of the chef, Alice Meregaglia, delightfully orchestrates the antics of this romantic ideal with those of a worldly reality. Discreet and subtle, but nonetheless showing constant commitment in her swallow-tailed costume... she flies from one instrument to another with as much elegance as rigor, waltzing from note to note to the word with infinite delicacy and grace. This is how immense talents are recognized: by the apparent simplicity of their art and above all by this something invisible which makes them luminous. It is true that the Italian conductor, in residence in Germany, carried out considerable work before the performances, not only on the musical level but also by focusing on the prosody and the articulation of the text by the musicians, the soloists and choir. What a refined art to succeed in perfectly translating the very particular “ sound ” of this work by Puccini and sovereignly mastering the fluidity of the musical discourse!
Through their intrinsic qualities, the musicians of the Philharmonic Orchestra contribute to a large extent to the success of these evenings. Congratulations to the choirs of the Nice Opera (conductor Giulio Magnanini) for their intervention in act 2, brief but remarkable!
In this summery place, under the wing of an immense tree, with a country house in the distance and nearby the church – whose stained glass window will light up for the epilogue of the work – rises the voice of Chiara Polese as Magda. What breathtaking ease in the incarnation of this young and beautiful “ swallow ” with quivering sensitivity! His mere presence on stage immediately reveals the makings of an exceptional star. Time, place, night suddenly fall into the abyss of oblivion of our unconscious to leave alive only the light of an instant, enveloping the stones and the sky of our (re)unified souls. The Italian soprano, during the past season, has just triumphed at the San Carlo Theater in Naples in the role of Agnese du Maine in Béatrice di Tenda by Bellini and in that of Anna Kennedy in Maria Stuarda by Donizetti. Such jobs could only usefully prepare her for that of Magda. His generous smile and his deep gaze accompany an ardent “ art of speaking” and a superb voice in various registers blossoming in flamboyant high notes and peppered with ethereal pianissimi which fill our senses.
In Ruggero, she could not find a better partner than the Franco-Chilean tenor Diego Godoy, whose career has spanned several continents in recent years. He also moves us with the authenticity of his playing in this very primordial role of Love with a capital A. His warm timbre trained in Italian technique with an articulation and emission specific to Latin singers ideally serves Puccinian singing and the he actor manages to bring us to tears in the very pathetic scene of Act III as well as in the final duet where he combines moving accents with Magda of rare emotional power.
© Jean-Marc Angelini
Valentin Thill, in the role of the poet Prunier, exudes charm and mischief, joy and energy. Like Puccini contemplating his work, he takes an ironic and sometimes disillusioned look at the characters around him without, however, being the “ deus ex machina ” . His clear tone, his ideal diction and his powerful voice augur for this friendly artist a promising continuation of a career already brilliantly underway in important houses.
Lisette is happy to be interpreted with as much vivacity as wit by Emy Gazeilles – youngest member of the Paris National Opera troupe – in all the freshness of her young age and the virtuosity as well as the strength of a voice already (and a perfectly asserted path).
To complete this quintet, we find in Louis Morvan the coppery accents of dark and imposing bass which suit the jealous man on duty: the authoritarian, dark and proud Rambaldo.
A special mention to Rachel Duckett (Yvette/Georgette), Cécile Lo Bianco (Bianca/Gabrielle/The voice) and Noelia Ibáñez (Suzy/Lolette) who play with great brilliance, dynamism and despondency the three joyful young women and voluble, as well as Pascal Terrien who is as effective on the set in multiple roles as in his important functions as general manager.
© Jean-Marc Angelini
Several criteria contribute to the success of this show: the direction of Alice Meregaglia, essential, mentioned previously; the very high quality cast, the characteristic of which results from the young age of the performers correlated for each of them with already significant careers, which constitutes a sort of feat for which the organizers of the Opus Opéra Festival should be warmly congratulated. But we must finally underline as it should, everything that the lively, fair, precise staging brings, without the slightest downtime and very cinematographic by Yohanna Fuchs, a young theater professor based in Nice, who tackles for the whole first time – and with undeniable happiness – the opera repertoire served on the occasion by singers all gifted with remarkable acting skills.
This Puccini opera was a general enchantment in the romanticism of this village of Gattières with its rich operatic traditions. Multiple reminders punctuated by particularly heavy applause say a lot about the quality of this very high-level show, which would not be out of place in any way on the stage of a major opera theater in our country or abroad.
Nathalie AUDIN
August 2 and 4, 2024
1 Puccini the man and his work by Dominique Amy. Editions Seghers
Musical direction: Alice Meregaglia
Direction and scenographic design: Yohanna Fuchs
Scenographic elements and costumes: Nice Opera
Lights: Bernard Barbero
Distribution:
Magda: Chiara Polese
Ruggero: Diego Godoy
Lisette: Emy Gazeilles
Plum: Valentin Thill
Rambaldo: Louis Morvan
Yvette / Georgette: Rachel Duckett
Bianca /Gabrielle /The voice: Cecile Lo Bianco
Suzy / Lolette: Noelia Ibáñez
Périchaud/ A butler: Pascal Terrien With the participation in various roles of : Nina Bousrez, Victor Ferrer and Amin Chanta
Nice Philharmonic Orchestra
Choir of the Nice Opera
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