Donizetti Society

Newsletter Article

A man for all stagioni

by Alexander Weatherson, Donizetti Society Newsletter 88, February 2003

The following is part of an article by Alexander Weatherson in Newsletter 88 reflecting on the recent concert performance of Meyerbeer's Margherita d'Anjou, which was given as part of an Opera Rara recording session for a CD of the opera. The CD is expected in the autumn of 2003. Opera Rara recorded another of Meyerbeer's Italian operas, Il Crociatto in Egitto, some years ago.

The Royal Festival Hall concert on 2 November 2002 was probably one of the best-rehearsed ever heard there. A really sumptuous cast (we will keep our fingers crossed from now on). a stupendous chorus and the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by a David Parry engaged as never before. Margherita d’Anjou is a hard nut to crack. While Romani’s bold text invites rule-breaking throughout and insists upon really effective comprimari with good voices, Meyerbeer’s muse throws almost everything at the listener from the start, indeed his Introduzione, full of vocal incident and incorporating an extended cavatina for the primadonna without actually saying so epitomises the admirable iconoclasm we encounter from beginning to end in this opera whatever the various musical sources and styles. The elegance of the phrasing of Annick Massis in the title role, her dialogue with the coro and Carlo (Alastair Miles) (Meyerbeer seems always to prefer to match the soprano voice with a bass or baritone) laid the best possible example for everyone to come.

At the 1820 prima of this opera the composer had a quite important cross to bear. The famous tenor Niccola Tacchinardi (singing the Duke of Lavarenne) loathed Rosa Mariani (singing his wife Isaura) and made frequent efforts to prevent her engagement in a series of theatres, this gave an added spice no doubt (no loathing was in evidence in this concert) indeed, Patricia Bardon (as Isaura) seemed content to put aside this particular authentic touch and both her cavatina with its enchanting cabaletta, and her Act I duetto with Bruce Ford (as her Grand Senechal of a husband) were authentically brilliant (the stretta of the duet a taste in advance of Elisabetta’s sortita in Roberto Devereux - did Donizetti find some sort of parallel between the repelling of Isaura’s advances and Roberto’s rejection of his unhappy Queen?). Bruce Ford was admirably cast in this opera, his voice in fact more Tacchinardi than Rubini or David, Patricia Bardon very impressive - wide-ranging and with decibels in reserve; she, hand-in-hand with the flawless voice and technique of Annick Massis (you simply had to hear the latter’s series of glissandi in her Act II aria - all different and all perfectly finished) carried off the honours of Scotland triumphantly.

The greatest surprise was the ease with which Meyerbeer integrated the mandatory buffo - the stumbling block of every opera semiseria I have ever heard. The fact that his Michele i.e. Michael Gamautte (sung by a hugely talented Fabio Previati) is even more daunting in this opera than ever before must have presented an almost insuperable task, but Meyerbeer simply takes on his implausability, his absurd intrusions upon the sad musings of Isaura, and his role as a kind of deus-ex-machina, with perfect nonchalance, an ease that more than anything else reveals the kind of omnibus talent that would carry the young German maestro into the gloriously picaresque world of grand-opéra. He manages as a bonus even to convey a kind of filigree beauty to Michele’s patter which is not disruptive but a ground-bass of sorts, not simply comic, not brutally down-to-earth as is usually the case, but a mild rococo diatribe setting-off the passionate orisons of the principals lightly and with sympathy. The Act I trio for tenor, mezzo-soprano and buffo with its echoing horns - the piece in this opera I should most claim for Frenchified heredity - was a most beautiful example of opéra-comique avant-la-lettre in its finesse and delicate frieze of tracery.

Margherita d’Anjou has many purely instrumental delights which too point to a sonic independence, more Mayr than Rossini perhaps, notably the violin obbligato before the tenor aria, and the mini-concerto before Margherita’s Act II cri-de-cœur. There is some deft scene-painting with ingenious orchestration, a lot of noise (grand-opéra intuitive, yet again, if in bud only), voices-off, processional comings and goings, banda, and so on. Nothing much left to chance. His melodic gifts keep up beautifully. It would be hard to be disappointed by an opera like this, within yet without familiar bounds and given a performance here in London - by an Opera Rara team of real persuasion before a packed Royal Festival Hall.

The CD is cast as here with the exception of Isaura who will be sung on the recording by Daniela Barcellona. (I wonder if her performance can top that of Patricia Bardon? We shall see.). The factor most reassuring, to my mind, is that four remaining Italian operas by Meyerbeer are still beckoning from the archives, yet another treasure trove for future delectation, yet another challenge to those who have elected to trash this composer in print and on the stage for so many decades

Page last updated January 1, 2008

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