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Cavalleria lombarda

Parma
Teatro Regio
09/29/2024 -  & October 4, 20, 2024
Giuseppe Verdi : La battaglia di Legnano
Riccardo Fassi (Federico Barbarossa), Marina Rebeka (Lida), Antonio Poli (Arrigo), Vladimir Stoyanov (Rolando), Alessio Verna (Marcovaldo), Emil Abdullaiev (Il Podestà di Como, Il Console di Milano), Bo Yang (Il Console), Arlene Miatto Albeldas (Imelda), Anzor Pilia/Francesco Pittari* (Uno scudiero di Arrigo, Un araldo)
Coro del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Gea Garatti Ansini (Chorus Master), Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Diego Ceretta (Conductor)
Valentina Carrasco (Stage director), Margherita Palli (Sets), Silvia Aymonino (Costumes), Marco Filibeck (Lighting)


(© Roberto Ricci)


This edition of Parma’s Verdi Festival was spectacular. It featured two rarities, La battaglia di Legnano (1849) and the French remake of Macbeth (1865); Un ballo in maschera in nearby Busseto; a concert version of Attila (1846); a Messa da requiem (1874) and several other concerts.


Premiered in Rome during the brief Second Roman Republic (9 February‑4 July, 1849), while the Pope had escaped to Gaeta 120 kilometres south of Rome, Verdi was able to exult in the Italian nationalism that marked the Risorgimento, preceding the unification of Italy, by evoking a historical episode, the 1176 battle of Legnano, in which the cities of Northern Italy united in the Lombard League to fight the Holy Roman (German) Emperor, Frederick Barbarossa (1126‑1190). This was an obvious clin d’œil to the Italian struggle against the Austrians, who occupied Lombardy and Veneto at the time of Italy’s struggle for unification. The rather excessive nationalism of the work (the word Italia is uttered ad nauseam) is one of the reasons the opera is rarely performed despite much melodious music. Unsurprisingly, the work is almost never performed outside Italy.


Musically, La battaglia di Legnano is reminiscent of Donizetti more than Verdi’s other works from the same period, but dramatically it’s more evocative of Meyerbeer, albeit on a modest scale. Premiered nine years after Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots (1836), Verdi was aware of the changing musical taste from bel canto to grand opéra. He had already written Ernani (1844) in that style: a love story in the shadow of a grandiose historical background. Rather than featuring two lovers, or a love triangle as in bel canto, Ernani and La battaglia di Legnano use Meyerbeer’s formula of four to seven grand roles. The same grand opera formula was used in Il trovatore (1851), Les Vêpres siciliennes (1855), Simon Boccanegra (1857), La forza del destino (1862), Don Carlos (1867), and Aida (1871).


La battaglia di Legnano opens with a patriotic chorus, “Viva Italia! Sacro un patto/Tutti stringe I figli” (“Long live Italy! A sacred pact binds all her sons”). The plot is a love triangle, rendered more tragic in a time of war. Arrigo, who was thought to have died in battle, returns to Milan. He finds out that his sweetheart Lida has married his best friend, Rolando. The latter hosts Arrigo in his castle. Marcovaldo, a German warrior kept prisoner in Rolando’s castle who desires Lida, notices the latter’s expression on seeing Arrigo. Rolando prepares to leave for battle, and asks Arrigo to care for his wife and child in the event of his death. Before Rolando’s departure, the treacherous prisoner Marcovaldo tells him that Lida is having an affair with his friend Arrigo, producing a letter Lida had written him.


In the meantime, Arrigo, desperate to have lost his beloved, joins the Knights of Death, warriors whose mission is fighting to their death. Without receiving an answer to her letter, intercepted by Marcovaldo, Lida goes to Arrigo’s room. Soon after, the furious Rolando confronts Arrigo. The latter explains his broken heart and joining the Knights of Death. The friends reconcile and Rolando urges Arrigo to battle. When he opens the balcony, he finds his wife hiding. Incensed, Rolando locks Arrigo in, ensuring he will suffer the shameful infamy of not having fought.


Arrigo escapes Rolando’s castle and defeats Barbarossa. While people are celebrating, the surviving Knights of Death carry a dying Arrigo to a square in Milan where he assures his friend that Lida is innocent, before he draws his last breath while proclaiming “Italy is saved”. The opera ends with a victory chorus, “Italia risorge vestita di Gloria, invitta e regina qual’era sarà” (“Italy rises again robed in glory, unconquered and a queen she shall be as once she was!”).


The excessive patriotism of the opera contributed to its immense success at its creation. However, it is also the reason for the infrequency of its subsequent performance. These are the attributes of a pièce de circonstance. It’s laudable that the Verdi Festival revived the work for the interest of his admirers. However, it’s problematic to stage such a work convincingly, given the meagre plot and the epoch, which is less appealing than the Renaissance, Antiquity or the nineteenth century. Director Valentina Carrasco decided to concentrate on horses rather than battles or the meagre plot. Her concept that horses were man’s loyal companions in battle from the dawn of time to the late nineteenth century is hare-brained as a sustaining operatic narrative, but it’s visually appealing. Life‑size wooden horses filling the stage during battle scenes are a successful distraction from a weak plot.


The idea went overboard when a dead horse became the centrepiece, as if dead men in battle are not sufficiently worthy of our attention. To further disturb the audience, the dead horse was decapitated, its bloodied head left on stage for the following act. Gratuitous gore is plentiful enough in real life (especially in our present time); it’s not appreciated by audiences wanting relief from it.


Luckily, the singers were more brilliant than the vacuous staging. Soprano Marina Rebeka is one of the best sopranos working today. She possesses a beautifully distinct timbre; her lyric soprano is powerful enough to extend beyond her Fach with ease. She dominated the cast with her gorgeous voice and capable portrayal of a broken woman. Her Act I aria, “Voi lo diceste amiche... Quante volte come un dono”, was utterly riveting.


Tenor Antonio Poli was a luminous Arrigo, passionate in his portrayal of the doomed amorous knight. His fresh lirico spinto tenor was a welcome joy, endowed with a brilliant squillo and ease in the upper register. Veteran Bulgarian baritone Vladimir Stoyanov is still at the height of his powers, elegant in style and with an overwhelming stage presence, and his Act III aria, “Se al nuovo dì pugnando... Ah scellerate alme d’inferno”, was a veritable Verdi masterclass. Bass Riccardo Fassi was an effective Barbarossa, a relatively brief role that Fassi successfully converted into a major one.


The young conductor Diego Ceretta led the Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna with panache, ably supporting the voices while preventing the orchestra from accentuating the score’s dated, militaristically bombastic elements.


Despite the meagre plot and the vacuous equine abundance in its staging, the excellent cast brought La battaglia di Legnano to life. The public was euphoric by its end, which also marked the conclusion of the Verdi Festival. The general assessment was that this edition was one of the festival’s best ever.



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