I must confess, though I know many of the famous arias and chorus numbers, this is first time I have seen a full production of Il Travatore.
Full of lyrical and stirring music, it also has one of the most convoluted, confusing storylines in the history of opera. For those who have not seen this masterpiece, the story is as follows:
Count di Luna’s younger brother is sickly from birth. It is blamed on an old gypsy woman, so she is burnt at the stake. Some unknown bones are also found in the ashes. As time passes, Count di Luna falls in love with Leonora, who is a queen’s servant. But, Leonora loves a troubadour, Manrico, who also loves her in return.
Manrico’s mother is a gypsy, Azucena. She tells her son that when her mother was murdered at the stake, she stole the Count’s baby, and threw the baby in the fire. But, she made a mistake – she threw not the count’s baby but her own baby. Count di Luna arrests Azucena. Manrico is infuriated by Luna’s action and with his band of gypsies fight against Luna’s army. He condemns Manrico and Azucena to death. Leonora begs Luna to save her lover’s life. She tells Luna that she yields herself to him in exchange for her lover’s life and, she secretly takes poison. She collapses in his Manrico’s arms. Count di Luna executes Manrico. Azucena exclaims, “Manrico is your brother!”
Enrico Caruso claimed Il Travatore needs four of the best voices in the world to sing the principal roles and he was not wrong. The demands of Act 2 on the soloists are immense both in range and stamina.
Lianna Haroutounian brought great strength to Leonora. In Act 2 she runs a marathon, being hardly off the stage. However, she handled the role with ease and her death scene was particularly memorable.
Vitaliy Bilyy was every inch the Count, proud, aristocratic and dedicated both to his troupes and his love for Leonora. His rich baritone voice was a clever contrast to Haroutounian’s soprano.
Gregory Kunde as Manrico has a depth of acting rarely seen in opera (in fact, all the principals were fine actors). His tenor voice soars above the chorus, particularly the top C that had been added as a tradition started by Enrico Tamberlick. He fully encompassed the styles of lyric tenor and dramatic tenor required by this role.
Anita Rachvelishvili has long been one of my favourite mezzo sopranos and she did not disappoint in the role of Azucena. She has an amazingly powerful voice with a wide range in pitch, timbre and volume. She brought power and compassion to the opera and was my personal favourite principal.
I do not usually enjoy opera stagings that have been arbitrarily moved to a different time period. However, Patrick Bannwart’s beautifully thought-out design made complete sense. Love and conflict are timeless and his use of elements from many decades were skillfully blended. His black and white palette with red highlights evoked the opera’s bleakness and hopelessness.
Add to this the magnificent Royal Opera House orchestra under the direction of Richard Farnes and you have a nearly perfect opera.
I only had two reservations. Firstly, the English subtitles were very scant in the second half and Gregory Kunde looked old enough to be the father on his onstage mother.
These are small criticisms in a night of passion, vengeance and music that is Il Travatore!
Reviewed by Barry Hill
Twitter: @kinesguy
Rating out of 10: 9
Il Travatore will screen again on 1 March 2017 as part of the Palace Opera & Ballet cinema season, presenting The Royal Opera House, La Scala and Opéra national de Paris – exclusive to the Palace Nova Eastend cinemas.
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