“Poche ma buone”, few but good could be the summary of the performances of “Lucrezia Borgia” at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino! From the 1933 edition, the year of the founding of Italy’s oldest festival, which featured artists of the caliber of Gigli, Arangi Lombardi, Pasero, and Pederzini, conducted by Marinuzzi, to the 1979 performances, which featured two leading Donizetti primadonna as Katia Ricciarelli and Leyla Gencer, alongside Kraus, Zilio, and Giaiotti.
After 46 years, the opera returns to Florence, to its new theater in Piazza Vittorio Gui, at the border of the most beautiful city in the world. Based on a play with a somewhat absurd plot by Victor Hugo, the opera premiered on December 26, 1833, at La Scala, to great success; it ran for 33 performances and has been revived numerous times in Italy and abroad. The composer from Bergamo made numerous variations to adapt the opera to new interpreters and new theatres, and also to experiment with new dramaturgies. For the 1840 revival, Donizetti made a significant change, eliminating Lucrezia’s grand final aria with a cantabile from the dying Gennaro, “Madre se ognor lontano,” for the voice of the great Napoleone Moriani, the “tenor of beautiful death.” That same year, the opera was mounted for Paris, prompting a plagiarism lawsuit brought by Victor Hugo. As a result, the opera was performed in France under a wide variety of titles, as was the case in Italy due to censorship. For the Parisian version, Donizetti composed an alternative cabaletta, “Si voli il primo a prendere,” for the famous Giulia Grisi, in place of the second verse of the Cavatina “Com’è bello.”
The current Florentine performances, following the 2019 critical edition edited by Roger Parker and Rosie Ward, include Lucrezia’s alternative cabaletta and the cantabile of the dying Gennaro, while also performing “Come è bello” and “Era desso il figlio mio” in their entirety, complete with da capo and variations. Excellent choice for a rarely performed opera!
The choice of subject was courageous for the time, particularly given the protagonist’s character: a cruel and power-hungry woman, yet also a loving mother to an adult son, Gennaro, who, however, will die poisoned by the intrigues of his famous mother.
The talented librettist Felice Romani fails to mention that Gennaro is the fruit of incest of Lucrezia with her brother. In an opera with strong hues and nocturnal colors, Lucrezia Borgia is a protagonist far removed from the angelic Romantic heroines, seeking redemption for her moral perversion through motherhood. The opera, which requires a true primadonna, owes its definitive rebirth in the twentieth century to a 1965 New York concert, when Montserrat Caballé replaced the ailing Marilyn Horne, launching her dazzling career.
For this new Florentine edition, the chosen protagonist was Australian soprano Jessica Pratt, one of the greatest belcanto singers of her generation, who has recently also been exploring roles of “soprano drammatico di agilità ”, such as Norma and Devereux’s Elisabetta. Pratt’s debut was triumphant; vocally, the singer relies on the beauty and solidity of her high and very high register and a luminous, mournful timbre worthy of a Donizetti heroine. Her perfect bel canto technique allows her to perform true vocal exploit, particularly in the variations of the cavatina and the final aria, in which she displays a prodigious two-octave leap and a final high E flat held ad infinitum. Also noteworthy is her intelligent use of low notes, with a striking use of the high chest register. But what was most impressive was Pratt‘s maturation as a performer: praise must be given to her in-depth exploration of the complex character, and the meticulous work on every single word and accent (in this, she stands out completely from the other famous Borgia, played by a celebrated Australian soprano), complemented by the beauty of her stage presence and her prima donna charisma. This is certainly a role of choice for Pratt, who, after this successful debut, will also perform the role of Lucrezia at the theaters of Liège and Cagliari.
In the role of Gennaro, tenor RenĂ© Barbera lends his clear and luminous timbre to the unfortunate son of Borgia. In one of the most challenging roles in the Donizetti repertoire, Barbera easily navigates the ascent to the high notes, undaunted by Pratt’s closeness, and lends himself to a phrasing that beautifully expresses the young man’s impetuosity and his brotherly friendship with his companions. The performance of the cantabile “madre se ognor lontano” was praiseworthy, with the beautiful notes of Gennaro’s dying being sung “a fior di voce”, making the revival of this aria even more appreciable.
In the role of Maffio Orsini, we find mezzo-soprano Laura Verrecchia; in this most vocally Rossinian role, the singer stands out for her assured high register and more careful use of the low and medium-low registers, in a part written for contralto. The performance of the opera’s most famous piece, “il segreto per essere felici” was very good, and in the reprise, as per the director’s choice, Orsini was already beginning to feel the effects of the poison, thus lacking the thrill of other famous performances. Mirco Palazzi plays Don Alfonso, “mio quarto marito,” with a dark voice, making the most of his bel canto background, despite some difficulty in the high notes. Giampaolo Bisanti offers a highly interesting musical interpretation, in balance between bel canto and Romanticism, choosing tight tempi that enhance the narrative and the progression of the drama. At the same time, the accompaniments in the more lyrical and pathetic moments are particularly evocative, well supported by the leading parts of the excellent Maggio Musicale Fiorentino orchestra.
The Choir performance was also very excellent. Last but not least, we must mention Andrea Bernard’s staging, which alternated interesting ideas with decidedly grotesque moments. As has become customary, the opera, set in Renaissance Venice and Ferrara, has been re-set in post-World War II Rome. During the orchestral introduction, we see Lucrezia having just given birth, and her newborn baby being forcibly torn from her by cruel nuns; the protagonist’s resulting trauma forms the basis of the director’s reinterpretation. While initially one has the impression of watching Puccini’s “Suor Angelica,” many of the following moments are well-executed and powerfully scenic, such as the cavatina “Come è bello,” sung in front of the empty cradle, with the protagonist clutching the empty sheet. Pratt deserves further praise for her ability to strike a haunted and moving tone. Unfortunately, the use of the revolving stage produced annoying noises during the aria’s magnificent orchestral introduction, nullifying its musical effect. The other key theme was the oppression of religious power, drawing parallels between the depraved Pope Alexander VI, Lucrezia’s father, and Pope Pius XII, who, regardless of historical judgment, was responsible for saving Rome from the bombings of World War II. The religious theme unfolds in a series of situations and set pieces bordering on the ridiculous, such as when Alfonso undresses to remove his cilice or the aforementioned Pope Pacelli, who is massaged half-naked while the cardinals conspire among themselves.
Cinema references to Italian neorealism are plentiful; Princess Negroni’s party was a particularly well-executed and impressive moment with its Fellini style atmosphere and homosexual kisses between Gennaro and Maffio. At the end of Sunday’s performance, the nearly sold-out theater proclaimed a resounding success for all the protagonists, with a well-deserved ovation for Jessica Pratt.
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CAST
Alfonso I d’Este: Mirco Palazzi
Lucrezia Borgia: Jessica Pratt
Gennaro : René Barbera
Maffio Orsini: Laura Verrecchia
Jeppo Liverotto: Daniele Falcone
Don Apostolo Gazella: Gonzalo Godoy SepĂąlveda
Ascanio Petrucci: Davide Sodini
Oloferno Vitellozzo: Yaozhou Hou
Gubetta: Mattia Denti
Rustighello: Antonio Mandrillo
Astolfo: Huigang Liu
Un coppiere: Dielli Hoxha
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Conductor: Giampaolo Bisanti
Chorus Master: Lorenzo Fratini
Director: Andrea Bernard
Sets: Alberto Beltrame
Costumes: Elena Beccaro
Lights: Marco Alba
